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Prateek grew up in Shivpuri, a small town in India, and completed an integrated BS-MS degree in Physics from IISER-Kolkata. During his studies, he became especially interested in evolutionary dynamics and the application of mathematical techniques for understanding complex social and biological phenomena at different scales.

PhD Research

Prateek completed his PhD at IISER-Kolkata where he analyzed evolutionary game theoretical models of harassment bribery and bacterial competition involving antibiotic producer, sensitive, and degrader cells in spatial environments. Both research topics were motivated by current societal issues.

Postdoctoral Focus

As a postdoc, Prateek focused on understanding synthetic gene drive systems. His research assessed the risks of synthetic gene-drive systems in terms of spread and resistance evolution using mathematical modelling and simulations. Synthetic gene drives are genetic engineering technologies that bias the inheritance of desired genes in populations, with applications in human health, agriculture, and conservation, but also significant risks that require careful analysis.

Notable Tool Development

Prateek developed DrMxR (Drive Mixer), a handy online tool to explore the population-level consequences of different drive systems, available at https://pverma.shinyapps.io/DrMxR/

Research Interests

  • Evolutionary game theory
  • Network science and complex systems
  • Origin of life research
  • Computational social science
  • Synthetic gene drive systems
  • Resistance evolution and spread dynamics

Publications

Pathak, S., Verma, P., Ram, S. K. & Sengupta, S. (2020). How strategy environment and wealth shape altruistic behaviour: cooperation rules affecting wealth distribution in dynamic networks. Proc Royal Soc B, 287, 20202250.

Kosakowski J, Verma P, Sengupta S, Higgs PG (2018). The evolution of antibiotic production rate in a spatial model of bacterial competition. PLoS One 13(10):e0205202.

Verma P, Nandi AK, Sengupta S (2018). Bribery games on interdependent complex networks. J Theor Biol 450:43-52.

Verma P, Nandi AK, Sengupta S (2017). Bribery games on inter-dependent regular networks. Sci Rep 7:42735.

Verma P, Sengupta S (2015). Bribe and punishment: An evolutionary game-theoretic analysis of bribery. PLoS One 10(7):e0133441.

Presentations and Visits

  • SLiM Workshop at University of Iceland (March 2020)
  • Department seminar talks at various institutions (2019-2020)