Mridula Nandakumar

I am interested in understanding the presence of natural genetic variation in immune genes in wild populations. Specifically, I want to understand how pathogens influence selection on host immune genes. Natural populations are fascianting because of the numerous pathogens they are exposed to, the high genetic diversity and numerous adaptation strategies they display. For my PhD  I will be using bank voles as my study organism. Bank voles are natural reservoirs of the Lyme disease causing bacteria, Borrelia afzelii and are subject to infections from other pathogens as well.  I will characterize the diversity and selection in innate immune genes of the host and understand the role of pathogens in driving the increase in genetic diversity of immune genes. I am also interested in understanding the functional consequences of maintaining these different polymorphisms and determining the phenotypic effects they have. Throughout my PhD, I will be using omics datasets to drive my research.