Dr Sharan Jagdish Prakash

Research Fellow
Biofilm Biology cluster, SCELSE-NTU

Email: sharan.prakash@ntu.edu.sg

Dr Sharan Jagdish Prakash is a postdoctoral research fellow at SCELSE, working in the Biofilm Biology cluster under Prof Cynthia Whitchurch. His research focuses on the role of extracellular DNA (eDNA) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms, investigating how individual bacterial cells coordinate their behaviour to form and maintain biofilms. He is supervised by Prof Whitchurch and will collaborate frequently with Prof Laura Nolan, while leveraging SCELSE’s diverse expertise. With a background in molecular genetics, behavioural biology, and computational biology, Sharan will use advanced microscopy, molecular genetics, and ‘omics techniques to explore biofilm dynamics.

Before joining SCELSE, Sharan was a graduate student in Prof Paul Sternberg’s lab at Caltech, where he studied collective behaviour and decision-making in the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

His experimental research, in collaboration with Northeastern University, demonstrated how a sensory neuron in C. elegans larvae integrates opposing environmental cues to control a developmental polyphenism. In his computational research, he collaborated with the Gene Ontology Consortium to develop a framework for representing knowledge of C. elegans neural circuits in computable format. This will support annotation and analysis of the compact C. elegans connectome.

In the long term, he aims to lead his own research group, tackling diverse questions in experimental and computational microbiology. His work seeks to deepen our understanding of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a significant human pathogen, and the mechanisms driving biofilm formation, the dominant bacterial lifestyle.