Complete Academic CV
Go to Technical Resume instead
Education
Ph.D in Quantitative Biology, University of Lausanne, 2020 – 2025 (expected)
M.S. in Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 2019 – 2020
B.S. (research) in Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 2015 – 2019
Research experience
PhD candidate, University of Lausanne
Aug 2020 - Present
Ecology and evolution of the honeybee gut microbiome
Master thesis research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
May 2019 - May 2020
Analysis of the human gut microbiome by Nanopore-based metagenomic sequencing
Undergraduate thesis research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
May 2019 - May 2020
Metaproteomic analysis of gut microbiomes from fecal samples
Summer project student, Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bengaluru
May 2017 - Jul 2017
Cloning and expression of native cockroach milk protein in yeast
iGEM undergraduate research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
May 2016 - Oct 2016
Cellfiefuge: Auto-inducing and Auto-aggregating Bacteria
Publications
Mazel, F., Prasad, A., Engel, P. (2024) Host specificity of gut microbiota associated with social bees: patterns and processes. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews (In Press)
Prasad A., Pallujam A. D., et al (2024). Symbiont loss and gain, rather than co-diversification shapes honeybee gut microbiota diversity and function. bioRxiv, 2024.09.11.612390 (In Review)
Baud, G. L., Prasad, A., Ellegaard, K. M., & Engel, P. (2023). Turnover of strain-level persity modulates functional traits in the honeybee gut microbiome between nurses and foragers. Genome Biology, 24(1), 283.
Sarton-Lohéac, G., Nunes da Silva, C. G., Mazel, F., Baud, G., de Bakker, V., Das, S., El Chazli, Y., Ellegaard, K., Carcia-Carcera, M., Glover, N., Liberti, J., Nacif Marçal, L., Prasad, A., Sommerville, V., SAGE class 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, Bonilla-Rosso, G., & Engel, P. (2023). Deep divergence and genomic diversification of gut symbionts of neotropical stingless bees. Mbio, 14(2), e03538-22.
Beal, J., Haddock-Angelli, T., Baldwin, G., Gershater, M., Dwijayanti, A., Storch, M., … & with the iGEM Interlab Study Contributors. (2018). Quantification of bacterial fluorescence using independent calibrants. PloS one, 13(6), e0199432.
Fellowships and Awards
Faculty of Biology and Medicine (FBM) PhD Fellowship
2020 - 2023
International PhD fellowship award granted by the Faculty of Biology and Medicine (FBM), University of Lausanne
Mathilde Agassiz scholarship
2020 - 2021
Scholarship of CHF 70k awarded to one chosen candidate recommended by the FBM.
KVPY Fellowship
2015 - 2020
Stipend and contingency to fund BSc and MS awarded by the Indian government (All-India Rank: 335)
Bronze Medal (IISc iGEM team)
2016
iGEM Competition, Boston, USA
Co-founded the first team from the institute and was awarded a bronze medal at the synthetic biology competition, iGEM, for developing novel genetically engineered organisms to solve global and local challenges. Secured 3 grants for research and travel from the Wellcome Trust Indian Alliance, the Govt. of India, DBT and the State government of Karnataka.
Invited Talks
The Local Pangenome
Oct 2023
Alicante, Spain
Variation and specialization of structure and function of gut microbial community across host species
Academic Seminar Series
Apr 2023
School of Science, Monash University Malaysia
Evolutionary and functional insight into gut microbial community persity across honeybee species
Conferences
Microbiome Virtual International Forum
Nov 2024
Online
Selected talk: Evolution and Functional Potential of Gut Microbiota in Honeybees: A Comparative Metagenomic Approach
Gordon Research Conference and Seminar (Animal Microbe Symbiosis)
Jun 2023
Lucca, Italy
Poster: Evolutionary and functional insight into gut microbial community persity across honeybee species using metagenomics
CSHL Meeting: Microbiome
Oct 2023
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, USA
Poster: Whole-genome shotgun metagenomics reveals differences in gut microbiomes among honeybee species
SymbNET PhD Summer School on Host-Microbe Symbiosis
Jul 2022
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Lisbon
Poster: Understanding the evolution of the gut microbiome across honeybee species
Teaching
Teaching Assistant – SAGE (Sequence A GEnome) course
2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Masters-level course teaching bioinformatics through research
Professional activities
Peer review of journal publications
2023 – Present
Ecological monographs (1) and Insect Molecular Biology (1)
Workshop Evaluation Committee
Jan 2023
Workshop and tutorial selection for the BC2 (Basel Computational biology Conference)
Local volunteer
Aug 2022
ISME-18 (International Society of Microbial Ecology) conference
Organizing committee
Sep 2023
Annual DMF department Science Retreat
DMF Faculty Hiring Committee
May 2023
Postdoc/PhD representative group
Extracurricular activities
Open Science Meeting
Nov 2023
National center for competence in Research (NCCR) Microbiomes, Switzerland
Decolonizing North-South Research Collaboration
Aug 2022
Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern
Moderator – Health and Data Privacy Committee
Jul 2020
iGEM India BioSummit (Online)
Delegate at United Nations Convention on Biological persity
Nov 2018
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt