We are very happy to formally welcome Adrita as a PhD student in the lab. Adrita is trained in Microbiology from Calcutta University and has a Master’s degree in Life Science from NIT Rourkela. Adrita is currently looking at factors that facilitate the short-term emergence of antibiotic resistance. She enjoys listening to Hindustani classical music... Continue Reading →
Many key molecules in our cells are specific enantiomers, and their mirror image forms are not found in living beings. For instance, the sugars in DNA are all left-handed, while amino acids are right-handed. For decades, scientists have wondered whether a completely "flipped" mirror organism would be viable and how it would function. With major... Continue Reading →
Some of the most famous time series in population ecology describe beautiful oscillations in population size, including our favourite flour beetles. Even in the absence of external forces (such as predation) such oscillations are not uncommon, and are typically attributed to negative density dependence. As populations become more crowded, the growth rate drops, and this... Continue Reading →
Our recently completed multi-year project suggests that there is no straight answer to this question! We sampled the leaves of different rice varieties across 3 years, finding that bacterial communities that live inside vs. on the surface of leaves differ in many ways, and over time. As expected from greater exposure to environmental influences (including... Continue Reading →
A new study led by Tapomoy Bhattacharjee's group shows that rods vs. cocci grow in distinct ways in porous 3D matrices, and these differences make rods more robust to increasing matrix viscosity. Bacteria in natural habitats likely live in such matrices; indeed, the bacteria used in this study were isolated from flour beetle guts in our... Continue Reading →
We are looking to recruit a Postdoctoral Fellow with a start date of February or March 2025. The position is for a minimum of 2 years (extendable for up to 4 years), supported by an ongoing grant from the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance to study the evolutionary effects of mutation bias. Salary and benefits will... Continue Reading →
NCBS had an Open day in September this year, where the campus opened to visitors, and several labs put up posters, demos, games and other activities for children and members of the public. The lab put up a stall showcasing activities based on our work, and it was a hit! Featured: a beautiful Mandala highlighting... Continue Reading →
We are pleased to welcome Swastika Issar as a Postdoctoral fellow. Swastika completed her PhD from the University of Cambridge, and in the coming months she will analyze population dynamics data from laboratory experimental evolution studies. Swastika worked as a project assistant with us several years ago, and we are happy that she is back... Continue Reading →
AdaptationLab 