Position: Master’s student
Office: 121
E-mail: rahulunni25[a]gmail.com
I am broadly interested in the evolutionary and ecological significance of inter-kingdom interactions, particularly mutualistic interactions. For my Master's thesis, I am exploring the killer yeast system in a wild yeast (Saccharomyces paradoxus) population in northern Germany. Yeasts infected with the "killer" virus produce a toxin that kills other sensitive strains of yeast; resistant strains that have evolved tolerance to the killer toxins have also been detected. I am studying the effect of killer virus infection on the fitness of the host in the wild. The long-term aim is to improve our understanding of the virus-host relationship as well as interference competition in nature.
Short CV
2017-present: MS in Molecular Biology and Evolution, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany. Master's thesis at the MPI, Plon, Germany
2016-2017: Worked as Editor at CACTUS Communications, Mumbai, India
2011-2016: BSc. + MSc. in Biotechnology at the VIT University, Vellore, India. Master's thesis at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India: "Investigating reproductive conflict and chemical cue perception in a primitively eusocial wasp"