Being surrounded by trees and hundreds of ponds and the evening walks with my parents in the beautiful campus of CIFA, Orissa was the trigger for my interest in animal science. Right from the tiny insects to the cobras; the migratory birds to dolphins of Chilka, Orissa ignited a passion for learning about animals. Then the shift to the Urban jungles of Mumbai brought in another aspect of animal science, the effects of so many stressors on the animals. My teachers at Mumbai showed me the way through toxicology and I jumped into the opportunity to pursue M.Phil in aquatic toxicology. My life has taken many ups and downs but I wanted to have a doctoral degree and after a long break I joined back to take charge of my interests – research into toxicology. Now I this research group I am working on jellyfish and its venom.

Educational qualifications
PhD (Aquatic Biology and Fisheries), University of Kerala, 2020
M.Phil. (Aquatic Biology and Fisheries), University of Kerala, 2007
M.Sc. (Zoology), University of Mumbai, 2005

Research Interest
Aquatic toxicology including pesticide and heavy metals; Microplastics; Jellyfish venom; Bioactivity of venoms.

Hobbies
Travelling, Photography, Baking

Awards
• Prof. A. Gopalakrishna gold medal for securing the highest marks in M.Sc. (Zoology), University of Kerala (2005).
• Third Prize in Three Minute Thesis Competition at University level, University of Kerala, March, 2019.
• Best paper award (oral presentation) at International Conference on Rivers for Future, University of Kerala, 2020
• Best oral presentation award for paper presented in National Conference on the Life Science Ecosystem: Challenges and Opportunities in the Pandemic (AIAM-2021), March, 2021.

Publications
1. S. Swetha and R.B. Pramod Kiran (2021). Micronuclear induction in response to methylmercury exposure in the air breathing fish Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792). Indian Journal of Fisheries,68(1). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21077/ijf.2021.68.1.89562-17

2. Swetha, S. and Pramod Kiran, R.B. (2019). Toxicity of methylmercury to an indigenous airbreathing fish, Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792). Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 7: 106 – 109.

3. Thansi, S., Akhila, S. Nair and Swetha, S. (2017). Malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase and catalase responses in Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792) exposed to laundry detergent. Global Journal of Current Research, 5(1):27-31.

Curriculum vitae

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