I am an evolutionary biologist who is a fan of neat experiments and effective metaphors. I have wide-ranging interests in the evolution of asexual systems at both micro- and macro-evolutionary scales.

In the proximate future, my lab plans to address both how- and why- questions on four broad themes concerning the evolutionary biology of asexual organisms:

1. The origin and evolution of multicellularity
2. The origin of cell differentiation in nascently multicellular lineages
3. How does phenotypic plasticity shape the ecology of interspecies co-existence?
4. The fundamental problem of complex adaptation: how do asexual populations cross fitness valleys?

My lab will use experimental evolution, genomics, and transcriptomics to achieve its goals. We will primarily work with bacterial, protozoan, and bacteriophage populations, but we also plan to conduct individual-based simulations to better understand the underlying phenomena.

My future research will be shaped by my students’ interests; depending on the latter, it can also develop in a significantly different direction in addition to the above four themes. If you want to use experiments to study microbial evolution in action, I would be very happy to discuss your ideas and would encourage you to turn them into an interesting project in my lab. If you want to join the lab or have any questions about our work, please write an email to me at yashraj[at]iisertvm[dot]ac[dot]in.

For more information, please visit my lab website at https://www.yashrajchavhan.com.