The Team
Dr. Pranitha Kamat - Science Director
Dr. Kamat obtained her PhD in the year 2011 for research in the field of cardiovascular biology. Since then she has five years of research experience in the field of vascular biology as a postdoctoral fellow. The past two years, she has also been the lab manager and co-ordinates other projects in the group. Alongside she is a trained and active Bharata Natyam dancer. Apart from delivering traditional performances she engages herself in creating art projects. In October 2018, she performed in the Kunsthalle Zurich for a festival organized by the University of Zurich. In this performance she used traditional technique of Bharata Natyam to demonstrate the results of a peer reviewed scientific study.
Dr. Gayatri Muthukrishnan - Communications Director
Dr. Muthukrishnan carries a PhD in Bioengineering with specialization in Molecular Biomechanics. She has postdoctoral research experience of 6 years in Cell Biology. She is currently a freelance science communicator, exploring traditional and non-traditional routes of communication. She was an active member in planning and executing science outreach programs at Penn State University. She initiated and executed one month weekend course for undergraduate students in Bangalore to learn biology through eyes of a researcher. She is a trained Bharata Natyam dancer and is currently teaching and performing professionally in Zürich.
Dr. Sharmila Rao Bansal - Artistic Director
Dr. Bansal is a professional dancer and dance teacher with over 20 years of experience. In her PhD in Indology she specialized in the transposition of texts into dance. Teaching Indian dance mainly to Swiss students she has developed skills to specifically teach this dance style to people who are foreign to Indian art. With her background in educational science she will assist in creating a structured syllabus, together with her project partners. As a German native speaker she will be helping in disseminating information to the high school students.