Inlaks Ravi Sankaran Interns 2021: Rohit Negi and Sharad Bayyana

The 2021 recipients of the Inlaks Ravi Sankaran Internship are Rohit Negi and Sharad Bayyana.

Rohit will be conducting behavioural experimentation and phylogenetic analysis in captive and free ranging non-human primates at the at the Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Göttingen, Germany.

Sharad will be pursuing a project on coral husbandry and breeding at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, Forest Hills, London, United Kingdom.

Rohit Negi

I am a biology major BS-MS graduate from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali (IISER-M), India. I come from a small village, ‘Pangi’, district Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh. Growing up in Himachal offered exposure to a lifestyle consistent with human-wildlife coexistence. As a child, I was always fascinated by the diversity and complexity of life forms around me and consequently developed an interest in science because of its uncanny ability to make sense out of chaos. As a result, I opted to pursue basic science. Through my college education, I received extensive training in studying animals through the lens of behavioural biology. Presently, I seek to build on the knowledge in conservation genomics and population statistics. The same, in conjunction with my already existing skills, shall allow me to pursue behavioural research and construct management strategies based on the behaviour of the animals. To this end, I intend on pursuing this internship at the Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Göttingen, Germany. The same will facilitate me with the tools and techniques that I presently lack and help me in my journey of becoming a better researcher. Lastly, I would like to thank the Inlaks Foundation to support me with the internship.

Sharad Bayyana

Being born and brought up in a landlocked state of India, I have always been fascinated by the sheer enormity of the ocean. With the passage of time, this fascination grew, and I pursued my higher education in Zoology and Marine Biology. Meanwhile, this journey took me to the far lands of Andaman-Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands, India. Conducting research in these archipelagoes, I gradually started to develop an affinity for coral reef physiology and since then, I wish to pursue my research in this field.

With the present grant, I would be actively taking part in a project titled “Enhancing reproductive output in brooding and broadcast spawning scleractinian corals through endocrine manipulations” under the guidance of Dr. Jamie Craggs at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, London. This project aims to apply synthetic hexamer peptide, for the first time, to scleractinian coral species to investigate its impact on the reproductive output of ex-situ managed populations. I will be overseeing the management and data collection of this experiment during my time in the United Kingdom, supported by the aquarium team at the Horniman Museum and Gardens. I would engage in lab-based larval experiments and help with the larval settlement and monitoring of coral recruit survival ex-situ. This project will continue to enhance the work being completed on ex-situ coral spawning. In addition, we hope that if peptide dosing can enhance reproductive output in both brooding and broadcast spawning coral species this novel approach can support the production of the coral offspring from ex-situ coral reproductive events to support reef restoration practices.

This experience will ensure the opportunities to bridge the gap in coral reproductive biology research and to bring advance techniques for restoration efforts in the context of Indian reefs.