The Centre for Ecological Sciences is delighted to welcome Dr Kartik Sunagar.

Kartik Sunagar studies animal venoms - nature’s most complex biochemical cocktails, to address broad and interesting questions relating to evolutionary biology, molecular genetics, and ecology. He has investigated the venoms of animals across the breadth of the animal kingdom, including those of snakes, lizards, cnidarians – the first venomous animals (jellyfish, sea anemones, corals and hydras), scorpions, spiders, centipedes, vampire bats, and coleoids (octopus, cuttlefish and squids). He employs an interdisciplinary approach, spanning omics (transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics), bioinformatics and molecular biology to uncover the molecular and biochemical diversity and the fascinating evolutionary history of animal venoms.

Kartik will establish a new laboratory, the Evolutionary Venomics Lab (www.venomicslab.com), in CES using state-of-the-art technologies across multiple disciplines. The major research interests of the lab will include i) molecular and functional characterization of snake venoms for developing novel and revolutionary snakebite therapy; ii) investigating the genetic basis of venom production, regulation, evolutionary origin and diversification; iii) understanding the evolutionary origin of venom resistance in prey and predators of venomous animals; iv) unravelling the biogeographical forces that have shaped the current distribution of venomous animals in the Indian subcontinent; v) understanding the population genetic structure of venomous animals and its impact on venom evolution; vi) evolutionary origin of the venom delivery systems; and vii) venom based biodiscovery / drug discovery.

Visit his profile (www.venomicslab.com) for more details.