Aarathi has a PhD in mammalian cell cycle biology from Imperial College London and worked on a CRUK-funded post-doctoral project using chemical genetics to identify early therapeutic targets in cancers.
She was a recipient of the Wellcome Trust Mentoring Award for Emerging Talent, and over the last 5 years she has developed television science documentaries; interpreted research relevant to health policy at the UK Parliament; and communicated the science behind topical issues (like GM foods, chemicals and cosmetics, clinical trials, health screening) to policy makers, journalists, teachers and patients for the UK charity Sense About Science. She has chaired a parliamentary briefing on the regulation of health tests and has spoken on the use of science in policy making at the 2007 Liberal Democrat party political conference and the portrayal of science in the media at the 2008 Labour party conference.
She has been a science advisor to the British Council, the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations, where she worked on developing international research collaborations and policy.
Aarathi’s writing has appeared in BioNews (an online news and comment service which aims to improve public and professional understanding of, and engagement with genetics, assisted conception, embryo/stem cell research and related areas), and in other publications including Prospect Magazine, The Guardian, The Telegraph and Wired UK.
She has written and presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary called The Quest for Virgin Birth, an episode of Channel 4′s Race and Science season called Is it better to be mixed race?, and was a presenter on Channel 4/ Discovery Channel’s Brave New World with Stephen Hawking. In 2011 Aarathi was a judge on the Royal Television Society’s Science and Natural History awards panel.
Her first book - Like A Virgin: How Science is redesigning the Rules of Sex was published in the UK in August 2012.
[Photo credit: Ade Okelarin http://www.asiko.net/]
