Name: Dr. Aparajita

Gender : Female

Department : Zoology

• Course	College/school	University/board	Percentage/grade	Year
  PhD Thesis title: Investigations into the eco-immunological interactions between Drosophila melanogaster and its bacterial pathogens using experimental evolution.	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, Punjab	IISER	Awarded	2023
  M.Sc. (HONOURS) Specialization: Cell and Molecular Biology	Patna Science College, Patna	Patna University	72.4%	2012
  B.Sc. (HONOURS)	Patna Women’s College, Patna	Patna University	72.9%	2010
  XII	D.A.V. Public School, Khagaul, Patna	C.B.S. E	74.2%	2007
  X	D.A.V. Public School, Khagaul, Patna	C.B.S. E	82%	2005

• ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, AUGUST 2025-TILL DATEDepartment of Zoology, Patna Women’s College, Patna University, India.

   

  GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT, AUGUST-DECEMBER 2015

  Department of Biological Sciences, IISER Mohali, India.

   

  LECTURER, AUGUST 2012-MARCH 2013

  Department of Zoology, Patna Women’s College, Patna University, India.

• Joint CSIR-UGC NET for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), 2014| Life Sciences, Rank: 54.
• Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), 2014| Life Sciences; Score: 697; All India Rank (AIR): 73

• 4^th BANGALORE SCHOOL ON POPULATION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION, 2020International Centre of Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru, India; Fully funded by ICTS. 

  7^th BANGALORE BENNY SHILO COURSE IN DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY, 2015

  National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, India; Fully funded by NCBS.

ORAL PRESENTATION

• Ecological Immunology Workshop 2022, Blossin, Germany.

Title: Adapting to a single pathogen helps Drosophila melanogaster survive co-infections with newly encountered pathogens

 

• Virtual Evolution 2021 (online).

Title: Cheap immunity: Fly populations evolved for improved immunity retain evolved features even after prolonged withdrawal of selection pressure

 

• OIKOS Denmark 2021 (online).

Title: Generalized immunity of immune evolved flies: Dealing with two pathogens at a time

 

• Ecological Immunology Workshop 2020 (online).

Title: Jack of all trades or master of one: Cross-reactivity in Drosophila populations experimentally evolved against bacterial pathogens

 

• 24^th European Meeting for PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB), Granada, Spain, 2018.

Title: Is immunity costly? A study done on Drosophila melanogaster populations selected for higher survivorship post infection

 

• Conference on Evolutionary and Integrative Biology (CEIB), IISER Pune, India, 2017.

Title: Cost of immunity: A reverse selection approach

 

• Ecological Immunology Workshop 2017, Blossin, Germany.

Title: Is immunity costly? A study done on Drosophila melanogaster populations selected for higher survivorship post infection

• ISEB 3: International Conference on Insect Systematics and Evolutionary Biology, 2022 (online).

Title: Life-history alterations associated with experimental evolution of defence against bacterium Enterococcus faecalis in Drosophila melanogaster

• Indian Drosophila Research Conference (InDRC) 2021 (online).

Title: Evolution of generalized defence helps Drosophila flies counter co-infections by bacterial pathogens

• Research Frontiers in Animal Behavior and Parasitism, Centre for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases (CEID) 2021 (online).

Title: Generalized immune defense: Fly populations evolved for improved immunity survive better against novel and co-pathogenic encounters

• 4^th Bangalore School on Population Genetics and Evolution, 2020, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) Bangalore, India.

Title: Role of juvenile nutrition on adult immunity: Experimental evolution approach using Drosophila melanogaster

• 5^th Asia-Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC) and 4^th Indian Drosophila Research Conference (InDRC), Pune, India, 2020.

Title: Experimental evolution of cross-reactivity to bacterial pathogens

• 2^nd Biennial Indian Drosophila Research Conference (InDRC) 2015, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India.

Title: Investigating the cost of immunity on Drosophila melanogaster populations selected for higher survivorship post infection

• National Conference on Ethology and Evolution (NCEE), IISER Mohali, India, 2015.

Title: Investigating the cost of immunity on Drosophila melanogaster populations selected for higher survivorship post infection

GRANTS/RECOGNITIONS

• Selected and delivered oral presentation at Ecological Immunology Workshop (2022, 2020, 2017), Blossin, Germany.
• Awarded travel grant from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Germany (2022).
• Awarded Junior Scientist Grant by The Genetics Society, UK (2020).
• Selected for fully funded, 4th Bangalore School on Population Genetics and Evolution, International Centre of Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru (2020).
• Awarded International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) Award (2018).
• Awarded Science and Engineering Research Board-International Travel Support (SERB-ITS) grant, India (2018).
• Elected Hostel Representative (Hostel 6), member of the Student Representative Council (SRC) of IISER Mohali (2017-18).
• Received IISER Mohali travel support (2017).
• Selected for fully funded, 7th Bangalore Benny Shilo course in Developmental Biology, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru (2015).
• Awarded fellowship under Basic Research Scheme (BSR) for undergraduate students, University Grant Commission, Government of India (2010). 

PUBLICATIONS

RESEARCH ARTICLES

1. Singh, A., Basu, A., Hegde, T., Shit, B., Bansal, N., Chauhan, A. and Prasad, N.G.,2025. Life‐history trade‐offs and stress resistance in Drosophila melanogaster populations adapted to pathogenic bacterial infection. Physiological Entomology, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/phen.12477
2. Basu, A., Singh, A. and Prasad, N.G., 2025. Timing of starvation determines its effects on susceptibility to bacterial infection in female fruit flies independent of host evolutionary history. Journal of Insect Physiology, 162, p.104794. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.11.612402
3. Singh, A., Basu, A., Shit, B., Hegde, T., Bansal, N. and Prasad, N.G., 2025. Experimental adaptation to singular pathogen challenge reduces susceptibility to novel pathogens in Drosophila melanogaster. Current Research in Insect Science, 7, p.100105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cris.2024.100105
4. Basu, A., Singh, A., Sehgal, S., Madaan, T., and Prasad, N.G., 2024. Starvation increases susceptibility to bacterial infection and promotes systemic pathogen proliferation in Drosophila melanogaster females. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 207, p.108209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2024.108209
5. Basu, A., Singh, A., Ruchitha, B.G., and Prasad, N.G., 2024. Experimental adaptation to pathogenic infection ameliorates negative effects of mating on host post-infection survival in Drosophila melanogaster. Zoology, 166, p.126198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2024.126198
6. Basu, A., Tekade, K., Singh, A., Das, P.N. and Prasad, N.G., 2024. Experimental evolution for improved postinfection survival selects for increased disease resistance in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution, 78(11), pp.1831-1843. https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae116
7. Ahlawat, N., Geeta Arun, M., Maggu, K., Jigisha, Singh, A. and Prasad, N.G., 2022. Drosophila melanogaster hosts coevolving with Pseudomonas entomophila pathogen show sex-specific patterns of local adaptation. BMC Ecology and Evolution, 22(1), p.77. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02031-8
8. Aparajita, Sharma N, Rastogi N. Quality of Drinking water in Patna. Explore, 2010;2(2): 25-28.

PRE-PRINTS

1. Singh, A., Basu, A.K., Bansal, N., Shit, B., Hegde, T., and Prasad, N.G., 2022. Effect of larval diet on adult immune function is contingent upon selection history and host sex in Drosophila melanogaster. bioRxiv, pp.2022-03.  https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.03.482770