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2024 BWF CASI Awardee
2021 Schmidt Science Fellow Fletcher Lab, University of California, Berkeley PhD (Mechanical engineering), Stanford University M.S (Engineering mechanics), JNCASR, Bangalore, India B.E. (Hons) Mechanical engineering, BITS-Pilani, India Research Interests: Ocean biophysics, Fluid mechanics, Microscopy, Active Matter |
About me
The goal of my research is to mechanistically connect the self-organization of ocean ecosystems to their microscale underpinnings by measuring and elucidating fundamental biophysical phenomena. To achieve this, I leverage my interdisciplinary training in engineering, fluid physics, and cell and organismal biophysics. As a postdoc, I'm developing high-throughput assays to apply precise forces on single molecules and cells, using these tools to probe how cell surface topography mediates adhesion processes. During my PhD, I co-invented and developed Scale-free Vertical Tracking Microscopy (aka the Gravity Machine), a novel technique enabling microscale measurements of freely-behaving planktonic organisms, single cells, and sinking particles while preserving ecological context. My past work spans a diverse set of problems, including the swimming mechanics of the schistosomiasis parasite, computational modeling of emergent cell mechanics in protists and active matter phenomena in micro-swimmer suspensions.
