Dr. Rahul Agarwal

I am an Assistant Professor in the Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology at IIT Guwahati, where I lead the Biosensing & Biophysics Lab. My work sits between engineering, physics, and medicine, and asks two linked questions: how we can bring reliable diagnosis to the point of care, and how disease takes hold and progresses in the body. A thread running through all of it is the role of physical forces in biology, from the way blood flows and deforms to the behaviour of cells, microbes, and particles in motion, and I get at these questions with experiment, simulation, and theory together, since the interesting problems rarely respect the boundary between them.

As much as the science, this lab is about the people in it. I had a hard time as a student once, and I have not forgotten what the wrong environment can do to your confidence, and to your love for the work. I want you to be well, not only productive, and I would rather you be honest with me on a hard week than struggle in silence.

On your own work, you are the first author. Your ideas will be taken seriously, and you can disagree with me without fear. Research is hard, and you will not face it alone. My investment does not end when you leave: I will write the strong letters, make the introductions, and stay in your corner.

Away from the lab, I spend a fair amount of time behind a camera, looking for the order and beauty in the places I travel. If any of this resonates with you, I would love to hear from you.