In-House Illustrator
I am a Junior Research Fellow with Dr Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan at the Center for BioSystems Science and Engineering (BSSE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. Here, I mostly spend my time peering into the insides of tiny fungi. When I’m not working in the lab, I write science articles on topics ranging from mitochondrial inheritance during reproduction to alternatives to single-use plastics in labs. I also love painting and sometimes use art to express my understanding of science.
I began communicating science when my father said he couldn’t understand one of my journal articles. Thus, in order to help him, I decided to simplify my research using illustrations, 2D animations and writing. I believe it is important to bridge the gap between researchers and non-experts to enable fruitful scientific discussions and to empower people to be able to differentiate fact from fiction (particularly in this era of misinformation). When I am not conducting research or communicating science, I play guitar riffs to my houseplants.