Rupinder Kaur

Dr. Kaur received her Ph.D. from University of Vienna, Austria in close collaboration with Edmund Mach Foundation, Italy and University of Cambridge, UK. Her broad scientific interests include understanding of host-Wolbachia interactions. She is particularly focused on uncovering the long-sought mechanism behind Wolbachia-induced drive system named Cytoplasmic Incompatibility (CI) that results in embryonic lethality when modified sperms from Wolbachia-infected males fertilize eggs from uninfected females. CI is currently at the forefront of approaches targeting pest populations and mosquito-borne viral diseases, and can also impact arthropod speciation. Dr. Kaur's recent work sheds lights on the incipient and crucial aspects of pre-fertilization events that impact spermatogenesis and post-fertilization embryogenesis, and elucidate the biochemical functions of enzymes driving the CI mechanism.