TITLE: Postdoctoral Fellow
EMAIL: haripriyavn@nullucla.edu
OFFICE: Boyer Hall 570
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University – 2019
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University – 2013
B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering + M.Tech in CAD/Automation, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay – 2011

Biography

I’m a hybrid between an engineer and a biologist, with research interests centered on infection and immunity across scales. I want to study human immunity from the perspectives of systems biology and robotics. In my current work, by combining experimental tools and techniques with computational modeling, I aim to dissect how the dynamics of B-lymphocytes across scales – gene regulatory networks, cell-cell interactions, and population-level competitive selection – shape the evolution of highly specific, robust, and diverse antibody responses.

Alongside this primary research interest, I love learning about the wonderfully weird biology of exotic “non-model” organisms. I’m also passionate about global development and improving health outcomes among vulnerable populations through my work. I initiated and still contribute towards a web/mobile-based citizen science effort to crowdsource mosquito ecological data for monitoring and predicting mosquito-borne disease outbreaks [Abuzz].

As hobbies, I love hiking, cooking, playing racquet sports, Indian classical and epic music, reading comics from various countries and drawing my own, and reading sci-fi, fantasy, and non-fiction books

Publications

1. Using mobile phones as acoustic sensors for high-throughput mosquito surveillance. (2017) eLife 2017;6:e27854
2. Surface tension dominates the biomechanics of insect flight on fluid interfaces. (2016) Journal of Experimental Biology 219, 752-766

Awards & Fellowships:

2021-2024: Damon Runyon Quantitative Biology Postdoctoral Fellowship
2019-2021: James S McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) 21st Century Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in Understanding Dynamic and Multi-scale Systems
2013-2016 : Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Graduate Student Research Fellowship
2015 : DARPA Rising Stars Award
2011 : IIT Bombay Technical Activities Citation
2008 & 2009 : IIT Bombay Institute Academic Prize
2008 : IIT Bombay Heritage Fund Shantilal H Goradia Memorial Scholarship
2003 : Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) Fellowship (Government of India & Indian Institute of Science)
2003 : National Talent Search Scholarship (Government of India)