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IITK
Dr. Praneet Prakash

Dr. Praneet Prakash

PhD (IISc, Bangalore)

Assistant Professor, Kotak School of Sustainability (KSS)

Research Interest

  • Environmental Active Matter 
  • Sustainable Biotechnology 
  • Physics and Engineering of Living Materials 
  • Microfluidics 
  • Complex Systems

Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE), Room 206, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur 208016

Education

PhD, Centre for Nanoscience and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (2018)

MS (Engineering), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (2015)

BS-MS (Physics), Department of Atomic Energy - Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai (2013)

Previous Work Experience

Postdoctoral Fellow, DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK (2021-2025)
WISB Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Warwick, UK (2019-2020)
Newton-Bhabha Fellow, The Cavendish Lab, University of Cambridge, UK (2018-2019)

Selected Publications

P. Prakash, Y. Baig, F. J. Peaudecerf, R. E. Goldstein, “Dynamics of an algae-bacteria microcosm: photosynthesis, chemotaxis, and expulsion in inhomogeneous active matter”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2025, 122, 12. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2410225122

P. Prakash*, M. Vona, R. E. Goldstein, “Feeders and Expellers: two types of pullers with outboard cilia, have distinct surface interactions”, Phys. Rev. Fluids, 2024, 9, 103101. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.9.103101  
See highlight from Physical Review Fluids: https://x.com/PhysRevFluids/status/1891382154556285076

P. Prakash, X. Jiang, L. Richards, Z. Schofield, P. Schäfer, M. Polin, O. Soyer, M. Asally, “Emergence of synchronised growth oscillations in filamentous fungi”, J. Roy. Soc. Interface, 2024, 21, 20240574. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2024.0574

P. Prakash, O. A. Croze, “Photogyrotactic concentration of a population of swimming microalgae across a porous layer” Front. Phys., 2021, 9, 744428. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2021.744428

P. Prakash*, A. Z. Abdulla, M. Varma, “Contact force mediated rapid deposition of colloidal microspheres flowing over microstructured barriers”, Langmuir, 2021, 37, 6915–6922. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c00370

P. Prakash*, A. Z. Abdulla, V. Singh, M. Varma, “Swimming statistics of cargo loaded single bacteria”, Soft Matter, 2020, 16, 9499–9505. 
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SM01066A

P. Prakash, A. Z. Abdulla, V. Singh, M. Varma, “Tuning the torque speed characteristics of the bacterial flagellar motor to enhance swimming speed”, Phys. Rev. E, 2019, 100, 062609. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.062609

Awards & Fellowships

WISB Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Warwick, UK (2019-2020)
Newton Bhabha Fellow, British Council, UK (2018-2019)
INSPIRE Fellow, Department of Science and Technology, India (2013-2018)
INSPIRE Scholar, Department of Science and Technology, India (2008-2013)

Conference Presentations

Invited Talk, Fluids and Materials Seminar, Bristol University, UK (2025)
Invited Talk, BioActive – Early Career Researchers Online Seminar, UK Fluids Network (2025)
Talk, 17th Young Investigator Meet, Agra, UP (2025)
Invited Talk, British Applied Mathematics Colloquium, New Castle, UK (2024)
Talk, Complex Fluid Meeting (CompFlu), IIT Madras, India (2023)
Talk, Multiscale Integration of Biological Systems, Institut Curie, Paris, France (2023)

Professional Experience

Assistant Professor, Kotak School of Sustainability, IITK (2025 onwards)

Research Affiliate, Trinity College, Cambridge (2021-2024)

UG/PG Courses Developed

Biophysics, Ecology, and Sustainability

Administrative posts held in academic organizations

Co-organiser, BioLunch Seminar Series, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge (2021-2025)

Academic Workshops Attended

Panelist, FACE Symposium at Stanford University (2025)
Workshop on Biological Fluids and Flows, University of Cambridge (2022)
Workshop on Motility in Microbes, Molecules and Matter, Institute of Physics, London (2021)
Online Workshop on The Physics of Life, Princeton University (2020)