I started my doctoral research in 2009 on the topic “Occurrence, moult and reproduction of parasitic crustaceans infesting the fishes” under the guidance of Dr. K. Sudha in the Department of Zoology, Sree Narayana College, Kannur, and was awarded my PhD degree in 2014 from Kannur University.

During this period, I learned the basics of taxonomy by reading taxonomic papers and books and interacting with several renowned taxonomists worldwide. Later, I worked at Sree Narayana College, Kannur, and Nehru Arts & Science College, Kanhangad, Kerala, as a Guest Lecturer, and at ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), Chennai, as a Senior Research Fellow on EHP, a microsporidian parasite infesting shrimps, where I learned techniques such as histopathology, microscopy, microbiology, in-situ hybridization, isolation of nucleic acids (DNA & RNA), PCR, nested PCR, and real-time PCR. Recently, at the Zoological Survey of India as a Post-Doctoral Fellow, I worked on the “Taxonomy of Cymothoids.” I then worked in the Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, University of Kerala, as a UGC-DS Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellow. The outcomes of my research work were published in various reputed international peer-reviewed and impact-factored journals. My research focused on the occurrence, taxonomy, phylogeny, moult, and reproduction of parasitic crustaceans infesting marine invertebrate and vertebrate hosts of Indian waters. I described/redescribed more than 25 species.