Mruthyunjay Kubendran Sumathi

Imagine visiting Yellowstone National Park, with all its geysers and bubbling hot springs. The water there is hot enough to burn you instantly. But if you look at just a tiny drop under a microscope, you will find something surprising: microbes thriving in that heat. As an astrobiologist, I study how these microscopic survivors keep their cells running when everything else would fall apart. By examining their DNA and measuring how they manage energy under heat stress, I try to predict which microbes will survive. Using the experiments and mathematical models I build, I wonder what these tiny survivors can teach us about the possibilities for life on other worlds like Mars or Jupiter’s icy moons. I love discovering how life finds a way in unexpected places, and when I am not in the lab, I enjoy climbing, running, and practicing yoga, exploring the world and staying curious about life in all its forms.