Ajeet Mohanty

Dr. Ajeet Kumar Mohanty is an Assistant Research Scientist at the ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR) in New Delhi and serves as the Officer-in-Charge of NIMR's Field Unit in Goa. Dr. Mohanty specializes in Epidemiology, Entomology, and Vector biology. He is the Principal Investigator for several national and international grants funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and the National Institute of Health (NIH). His current projects focus on examining the susceptibility status of Plasmodium and vector competence towards the human malaria parasite in non-vector Anopheline species (ICMR 2021-15218), creating a seaweed-based formulation for vector control (ICMR 2021- 8432), and using machine learning approaches to understand the impact of environmental conditions and air pollution on malaria in India (ICMR 6/9-7(253)2020). Additionally, he is investigating the role of juvenile hormone-mediated immune suppression and its potential anti-plasmodial effects in the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi (DBT-BT/PR44570/MED/29/1581/2021). Recently, Dr. Mohanty completed a research project on Malaria Evolution in South Asia, part of the International Centers for Excellence in Malaria Research (MESA-ICEMR) NIH-funded study at NIMR, Goa (U19 AI089688) where he studied the kinetics of Plasmodium vivax sporogony in Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles subpictus to determine the vector competence of these two Anopheline species using membrane feeding assays. Dr. Mohanty has authored several articles on malaria epidemiology, vector biology and control, entomology, and vector infection studies. At present, Dr. Mohanty is supervising 2 PhD students, and in the past, he has trained 12 master's students. Dr. Mohanty has conducted various training programmes on malaria microscopy and entomology for the technicians and Insect collectors working at different primary health centres (PHCs) in Goa.