New Max Planck partner group at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore

January 20, 2021
Samay Pande´s research group in India and Paul Rainey´s group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Ploen, Germany, will closely work together on the evolution of microbial life cycles.

Dr. Pande´s work at the Indian Institute of Science revolves around predator-prey interactions between microbial species and their influence on the development of spores (dormant cells that do not procreate) into vegetative, procreating cells.

“The importance of studying the escape from dormancy is increasingly recognized for its role in mediating long-term changes in natural community composition and dynamics”, he explains.

Here, he finds an excellent link to Prof. Rainey´s recent, influential work at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology on the importance of life cycles for the evolution of multicellular organisms. “I am delighted at Samay’s appointment.  He is a super young scientist whose ideas, enthusiasm and drive will lead to many positive interactions”, Rainey says.

Samay completed his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena and worked as a postdoc at ETH in Zurich before starting his own group at the Indian Institute of Science. This group has now become one of 38 active Max Planck partner groups in India. Successful nomination as a partner group involves financial support from the Max Planck Society of 20,000 € per year over a period of five years.

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