Research Interests
I am interested in molecular evolution and population genetics of wild populations. I really like studying evolution over longer time scales- my thesis work is focussed on using museum collections from around the world to study changes in genetic variation over time in tigers and use this to address current conservation needs. Other parts of my work include long term monitoring of the genomes of an isolated population of tigers over generations in Ranthambore, Rajasthan to assess their extinction risk in the future. My overall goal is to use temporal genetics to uncover historic genetic baselines for species and prioritize populations for urgent conservation action and I hope to continue extending this work to additional endangered species and demonstrate how museomics and wild pedigrees can directly inform which populations need immediate intervention to prevent extinction.

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I am trained as a wildlife biologist and am interested in exploring the application of genetics in biodiversity conservation. I work in the field of connectivity conservation utilizing non-invasive samples and landscape genetics analysis to prioritize areas important to maintaining gene flow. With a keen interest in carnivores, especially small cats, my doctoral work tries to understand the role of tiger corridors in maintaining functional connectivity of sympatric felids across multi-use landscapes of India. Moving from species to landscape, population numbers to their connectivity, and single-species to multi-species approaches are the central ideas that my ongoing research work attempts to address.