Personal Data
| Citizenship | Indian |
| Place and Date of Birth | Pune, Maharashtra, India |
| Languages | Marathi (mother tongue), English, German, Hindi |
Academic Positions
Current positions
| 2023- | Professor for Theoretical Biology, Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology, Würzburg |
| 2016- | Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany |
| 2016- | Full Member, Kiel Evolution Center, Kiel, Germany |
Post-doctoral experience
| 2014 - 2016 | Postdoctoral researcher, New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand |
| 2011 - 2014 | Postdoctoral researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany |
Visiting researcher
- Max Planck Institute for Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, U.S.A.
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, U.S.A.
- National Centre For Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India
- Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India
Recognition & Funding
Recent
| October 2023 | |
| Funding from Bayerische Forschungsallianz | Fonds 863050 to cooperate with Dr. Linh Phuong Nguyen (University of Fribourg, Switzerland) ‘‘Ueber multiple Infektionen und Wirtsmanipulation von Parasiten mit komplexen Lebenszyklen’’ |
| April 2022 | |
| Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB) | Invited as a scientific expert to attend the discussion - TA im Dialog: Impfungen und Gene Drives gegen Malaria |
| 2021-2024 | |
| Marie Curie Innovative Training Network | EvoGames+ , Theoretical Developments and Applications in Evolutionary Games |
| 2019-2022 | |
| KAKENHI Project, Japan (with Jai Denton) | Project 19K06795 - Understanding How The Environment Shapes Mutualism |
Previous
| 2020-2021 | |
| Bundesamt für Naturschutz (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation), Germany | Original Project extension - Potential risks of synthetic gene-drive for monitoring. |
| 2019-2020 | |
| Institute for Advanced Study, Toulouse, France | Visiting Fellowship (Bridging Evolutionary and Economic principles especially in agriculture) |
| 2019-2020 | |
| Bundesamt für Naturschutz (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation), Germany | Original Project - Potential risks of synthetic gene-drive for monitoring. |
| 2014-2016 | |
| Royal Society of New Zealand | Marsden Fund, Associate Investigator with Paul Rainey: “Lineage selection and evolution of cancer” |
| 2012-2014 | |
| DFG Priority Program | SPP 1590 Principal Investigator grant - “Probabilistic Structures in Evolution” |
| 2011 | |
| Otto Hahn Medal | Max Planck Society |
Reviewing & Board memberships
- Editorial Board
- Scientific Reports
- PLoS Computational Biology
- BioPhysMath
- Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
- Committees
- International Max Planck Research School
- PhD thesis evaluation committee member, Massey University
- L’ORÉAL Austria - Fellowship for Young Female Scientists in Basic Research
- Santa Fe Institute Complex Systems Summer School
- Reviewer for DFG research grants
Education
| 2011 | ||
| Doctorate in Natural Sciences | Christian Albrechts University of Kiel, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, | Thesis “Evolutionary dynamics on multi-dimensional fitness landscapes” Advisor Dr. Arne Traulsen Grade Summa cum laude |
| 2008 | ||
| Master of Science in Bioinformatics | Sikkim Manipal University of Health Medical and Technological Sciences, National Center for Biological Science, Bangalore, India | Thesis “Ab initio calculations in the HGPRT active site and the analysis of select mutations” Advisor Dr. Mrinalini Puranik |
| 2005 | ||
| Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Biotechnology | Fergusson College, Pune, India | - |