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From left: Akhil, Ullasa, Anaswara, Kushankur, Indukala, Shreya, Abin, Akshaya, Nikhil and Bhanu. Perunad, during lab trip to Vagamon, Apr 2024.
Professor
Ullasa did his BSc (Forestry) from the University of Agricultural Sciences (Bangalore), PhD from Stockholm University and joined IISER-TVM in 2013 after two postdocs - in Stockholm University and University of Cambridge. Personal webpage.
Postdoctoral Fellow (Mar 2024 - )
Kushankur did his masters and PhD from IISER Kolkata. His PhD was on the effect of monsoon on the nesting biology of an Indian ant Diacamma indicum. As part of his postdoc, he works on the evolution of desiccation tolerance of butterflies
PhD student (Aug 2018 - )
Tarunkishwor did his BS-MS from IISER Mohali. He worked on the adaptive phenotypic plastity of colour patterns in butterlies. He has submitted his thesis and is expected to defend soon
PhD student (Jan 2020 - )
Anaswara did her masters in Zoology from the University of Calicut. She works on butterfly hostplant interactions.
PhD student (Aug 2020 - )
Akhil did his masters in Environmental Studies from University of Delhi. In our lab, he worked on what makes camouflage effective in avoiding predation. He submitted his thesis in Jan 2026.
PhD student (Aug 2021 - )
Bhanu did his masters from Sikkim Central University on altitudinal variation in lizards. As part of his PhD, he is trying to understand the evolution of desiccation tolerance in insects.
PhD student (Aug 2023 - )
Shreya did her M.Sc in Zoology from Visva-bharati University with specialisation in ecology. She works on butterfly-host plant coevolution.
PhD student (Aug 2024 - )
Sharafudheen completed his Masters in Zoology from the University of Kerala. He works on aaptive plasticity in early buttefly life stages.
PhD student (Aug 2025 - )
Malavika completed her Masters in Ecology and Environmental Sciences from Pondicherry University. She works on understanding how herbivorous insects cope with plant defenses.
PhD student (Jan 2026 - )
Mrittika completed her Masters in Botany from the University of Delhi. Her dissertation focused on the bacterial endosymbionts of whiteflies. She is currently exploring research topics for her PhD.
Masters student (Aug 2025 - )
Rugma is a BS-MS student at IISER-TVM. Her thesis work focuses on evolution of butterfly-hostplant interaction.
Masters student (Aug 2025 - )
Prajna Bandyopadhyay is a BS-MS Biology major student at IISER Berhampur, currently pursuing her Master’s thesis at IISER Thiruvananthapuram. Her research investigates whether male spermatophore size influences female reproductive output in the common castor butterfly.
From left: Nikhil, Kushankur, Anaswar, Bhanu, Shreya, Indukala, Ullasa, Akshaya, Akhil, Ullasa. Lab trip to Vagamon, Apr 2024.
From left: Bhanu, Indukala, Ullasa, Arsha, Anaswara, Sneha, Tarun, Simran and Akhil. Lab trip to Meghamalai, Apr 2023.
From left: Balu, Jose, Ullasa, Sumayya, Manas, Sraman, Birupaksha, Harshad, Tarun and Vedant. Lab trip to Vagamon, Dec 2018.
From bottom row to top. First file from Right: Ullasa, Freerk, Harshad, Gopal. Second file: Ravi, Mruganka (red), Sridhar, Srikanta Third File: Sora (blue), Sumayya, Avantika, Ranjit. May 2016.
Ranjit, Sumayya, Ullasa, Ritwika and
Harshad.
Kovalam, April 2014.
