|
Postdoc, Fletcher Lab, University of California, Berkeley
2024 BWF CASI Awardee 2021 Schmidt Science Fellow 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
I am an interdisciplinary scientist and engineer developing experimental tools and biophysical frameworks to understand how cell-scale biological processes shape ecological and planetary-scale outcomes, with a focus on the ocean.
My work integrates engineering, fluid physics, and cell and organismal biophysics to link microbial mechanics and molecular interactions to environmental function. As a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley working with Profs. Daniel Fletcher and Nicole King, I have established loricate choanoflagellates as a model system for studying non-equilibrium biological assembly and biomineralization in ocean microbes, processes that are relevant to particle formation and carbon cycling in the ocean. In parallel, I have develop force-based assays to quantify adhesion mechanics at the level of single molecules and cells and invented new technologies for light-based control of CRISPR-Cas13 diagnostics.
Previous work. During my PhD, I co-invented and developed Scale-free Vertical Tracking Microscopy (the Gravity Machine), enabling microscale measurements of freely behaving plankton, single cells, and sinking particles while preserving ecological context. My earlier work also includes swimming mechanics of parasitic helminths, computational models of emergent cell mechanics in protists, and active-matter behavior in microswimmer suspensions.
I am an interdisciplinary scientist and engineer developing experimental tools and biophysical frameworks to understand how cell-scale biological processes shape ecological and planetary-scale outcomes, with a focus on the ocean.
My work integrates engineering, fluid physics, and cell and organismal biophysics to link microbial mechanics and molecular interactions to environmental function. As a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley working with Profs. Daniel Fletcher and Nicole King, I have established loricate choanoflagellates as a model system for studying non-equilibrium biological assembly and biomineralization in ocean microbes, processes that are relevant to particle formation and carbon cycling in the ocean. In parallel, I have develop force-based assays to quantify adhesion mechanics at the level of single molecules and cells and invented new technologies for light-based control of CRISPR-Cas13 diagnostics.
Previous work. During my PhD, I co-invented and developed Scale-free Vertical Tracking Microscopy (the Gravity Machine), enabling microscale measurements of freely behaving plankton, single cells, and sinking particles while preserving ecological context. My earlier work also includes swimming mechanics of parasitic helminths, computational models of emergent cell mechanics in protists, and active-matter behavior in microswimmer suspensions.
