Ananda Kalukin

Ananda Kalukin is a 2026-2030 Self Graduate Fellow pursuing a PhD in the Molecular Biosciences Department at the University of Kansas. He graduated with a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University. Ananda has been involved in molecular biology research since his senior year of high school. His undergraduate research studied the metabolic costs of chronic bacterial infection across host genotype using the powerful biological model Drosophila melanogaster. This work was presented at numerous conferences, including an oral session talk at the 66th Annual Drosophila Research Conference, and will be submitted as a first-author manuscript to the Journal of Insect Physiology. In graduate school, Ananda is in using genomic tools to investigate the genetic basis of immunity and host-pathogen interactions. With Dr. Rob Unckless in the Molecular Biosciences Department, Ananda wrote a successful NSF GRFP proposal for a project that would identify Drosophila alleles that control resistance to a DNA virus and explain species-specific differences in susceptibility to this virus. This project would inform our understanding of how viruses jump between host species. Ananda looks forward to conducting graduate research and to developing professional and communication skills at the University of Kansas. After graduate school, Ananda intends to pursue a research career as a principal investigator or a scientist in the biotechnology sector to advance our understanding of immunity.

Mentor: David Davido, Ph.D., Molecular Biosciences Director of Graduate Studies