About us

TGFI has always been fascinated by two areas of science the most, astronomy and biology. Over time, the double helix has won her over and she decided to get a Ph.D in molecular biology way back when she was in high school. Fundamental processes in which genes operate, regulate and interact within a system fascinate her the most, which also happens to be the area in which she is getting her Ph.D. Five years at it and she realises how hard it has become for her to think outside her little world. Which is why she think this collaborative blog is a great idea, will make her get out of her world a bit, and talk about science in layman's words. She hopes to contribute on here once a month.

Sakshi is a grad studnet in UK and work on splicing and spliceosome assembly in the budding yeast. Her project focuses on how a cell targets misformed or locked spliceosome and activates turn over. Her interests in science lies in molecular / genetic underpinnings of life. Though she makes frequent forays into other aspects of biology, she is interested in regulation of gene expression (she believes RNA to be the coolest thing, ever). To keep her sanity in the ever crazed world of an underpaid, over-worked graduate student, she indulges in photography, reading (she prides herself on reading everything she can lay her hands on) and listening to music or watching movies.

Prashanth is an incurable romantic and an incorrigible geek from Chennai who tries to convince himself that they are both desirable qualities. He can be bribed into doing almost anything by lending him a good book. He is currently doing his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University.

Murthy is a grad student (and an engineer by birth) who is interested in many things some of them being: Control systems application to biological systems and control systems in nature(They are more interesting and far more elegant than the crude imitations scientists try to build and feel proud about). Algorithms and coding, Fluid mechanics and ofcourse Biology, specifically immune system of mammals and behavior of microorganisms as influenced by evolution are all part of his scientific interests. He is an Agricultural engineer(Specifically Dairy, food Engineer by training) now working in biofuels and control systems.

Back in high-school, BioPondit was aiming to be an engineer, loved physics, but ended up with a undergraduate degree in chemistry. Continuing in this vein, he trained as a Biophysicist in graduate school and is currently engaged in post-doctoral research in Cell Biology, shedding light on cellular signaling mechanisms. Love of books, cinema and an esoteric taste in music is what drives him - that and an ice-cold martini (stirred not shaken). A desire to communicate the beauty of science is what brings him here.

BaL is a grad student in the Chemistry department at the U of I. Broadly, he works on Computational Biophysics, Bioinformatics, and Evolution and these interdisciplinary fields keep him on his toes most of the time. He is also fascinated by cricket, movies (both Hollywood and Bollywood), and photography. He also tends to listen to a lot of desi music (especially Rehman), and classic rock.

Sonya is and always will be a science dork. Since a very young age, she has been fascinated by animal behavior of all aspects. She has long been amazed with how interactions within species, as well as, across species are affected by evolution and how they often eventually lead to speciation events. Although she believes that studying behavior in a natural environment is important, she is now more interested in how neuronal control (neuromodulators) may affect behavior. It is with this goal in mind, that she is working on her Ph.D in a Neurophysiology lab at University of Kentucky and currently working on understanding physiological mechanisms that may influence behavior in invertebrates. Since she is very engrossed in the early stages of her projects, she does not have things to keep her sane. You may on any given day find her talking to her crayfish..luckily they haven’t started talking back yet.

Curious Cat is a theoretical physicist. Her chosen tools of trade include non equilibrium statistical mechanics (the pen and paper kind) and her focus is the dynamics of fluids and fluid-like systems. She is currently post-doc-ing in the New York and Boston area. But this is just the way she earns her bread so to speak. She likes to read widely outside her area of specialization and likes to reduce all that information into minimum models that are easier to understand but still contains the essential features of the true science of the system. And that is why she is a physicist, becuase it gives her the training to be able to do that. She blogs about this and that at http://virtualcuriosityshop.blogspot.com. You can see the few physics posts she has written so far on this blog as well.