Doing science is often viewed as a reclusive enterprise. It conjures up the picture of a wild-eyed genius working in a stuffy laboratory day and night. In this talk Laasya will bust these and other myths using real world examples. In particular, Laasya will focus on the work of a renowned Indian scientist and Odissi performer Dr Priyambada Mohanty-Hejmadi, who studied how lost body parts can be regrown in some organisms (regeneration). In the Harry Potter series, the transfiguration spell is used to change one object into another. Similarly, sometimes the wrong body part grows in place of a lost one; for example, when the tail is cut off, a leg grows in its place. This phenomenon is called homeotic transformation, and work from her lab contributed greatly to our understanding of how and why this dramatic change occurs.
Laasya will briefly discuss the history and biological principles behind such transformations. She also hope to illustrate how every new discovery throws up more questions, creating a self-sustaining system for young researchers.
Speaker:
Laasya Samhita
Assistant Professor, Biology
Ashoka University
