Srinivas Gorur Shandilya

EDUCATION

College / University:
St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, India

Highest Degree:
B.Sc. in Physical Sciences

Major Subjects:
Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics

Lab Experience:
Elementary techniques in biochemistry, and Drosophila and C.elegans genetics

Projects / Research:
2008: Worked on pilot experiments involving behavioral assays to study if Soldier flies pay attention to visual cues while exhibiting landing behavior
2008: Implemented a technique using the MATLAB language to find regions of similar anisotropic spectral distribution on a cell surface. Such regions could indicate the location of 'rafts' on the cell surface
2007: Built an experimental protocol to screen C.elegans mutants for deviations in distributions of mitochondrial volume along the axon
2006: Worked on a project that studied the genetic basis of photophobic response in Drosophila melanogaster

Scholarships:
2008 – 2009: Stipend of the Excellence Foundation for the Promotion of the Max Planck Society
2005 – 2008: KVPY Fellowship, Indian Institute of Science/Government of India

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS AND GOALS:

I believe that understanding the molecular and cellular bases to the mechanisms of brain function
are an essential but incomplete step to significantly understanding cognition. I am interested in quantifying degrees of interconnectedness and dependencies in complex, interacting systems such as the brain. This may be possible by evolving a new formalism to describe, manipulate, and construct models of systems with structural and functional profiles like the brain.