Principal Investigator
Dr. Karthick Balasubramanian
Scientist E, Biodiversity & Paleobiology Group
Agharkar Research Institute, Pune
Email: karthickbala@aripune.org
Research interests: freshwater diatom taxonomy, ecology, biogeography, paleolimnology, environmental reconstruction, river health monitoring, environmental archaeology, and science outreach.
Maintains South Asia’s largest curated diatom collection and leads multiple national collaborative programmes.
PhD Students
1. Mital Thacker (Awarded, March 2024)
Topic: Diatoms as indicators of environmental and climatic changes in the Myristica swamps of the Western Ghats
Current focus: Diatom-based paleoecology, environmental change indicators
2. Neha Wadmare (Awarded, November 2024)
Topic: Systematics and biogeography of the genus Stauroneis from the Indian subcontinent
Current focus: Diatom taxonomy, molecular phylogeny
3. Cheran Radhakrishnan (Awarded, November 2024)
Topic: Aerial diatoms of the Eastern Himalayas and Indo-Burma region
Current focus: Aerophilic diatoms, biogeography, environmental gradients
4. Vigneshwaran Anbukarasu (Submitted October 2025)
Topic: Diatom diversity across Western Ghats streams and biomonitoring applications
Current focus: River diatom ecology, indicator development
5. Pratyasha Nayak (Ongoing, from May 2022)
Topic: Integrated morpho-molecular analysis of diatom assemblages for ecological assessment in the Mula–Mutha River Basin
Current focus: Diatom molecular tools, biomonitoring indices
6. Samadhan Pardhi (Ongoing, from May 2022)
Topic: Diversity and distribution of the genus Gomphonema in the Western Ghats
Current focus: Western Ghats diatom systematics and biogeography
7. Yogeshwaran Murugesan (Ongoing, from May 2023)
Topic: Ecological and evolutionary drivers of Gomphonemoid diatoms from the Western Ghats
Current focus: Environmental drivers, lineage diversification, diatom traits
Post-Doctoral Fellows
1. Dr. Priyanka Joshi (Ongoing, SERB–N-PDF)
Research focus: Environmental DNA (eDNA), glacial lake diatoms, and high-altitude ecosystems
2. Dr. Surajit Roy (Completed, SERB–N-PDF)
Research focus: Aerophilic diatoms, taxonomy, and Eastern Himalayan freshwater systems
Doctoral Advisory Role
Active guidance provided for:
- Arun Kumar, MAHE, Manipal (Awarded 2024)
- Anushree Jadhav, ATREE (Awarded 2024)
- Abhisikta Roy, ATREE
- Junngam Khiham, WII, Dehradun
Visitors, Trainees & Collaborating Students
The lab regularly hosts:
- MSc dissertation students (taxonomy, ecology, sediment analysis)
- BSc/BTech interns
- Project assistants working on microplastics, river monitoring, and diatom imaging
- Visiting researchers from national and international institutions