Purva Naik, PhD

1. What fascinates you most about plant science?

To be honest, I initially experienced what’s often called plant blindness, I was indifferent to plants. That changed when I worked in a plant-focused bioinformatics lab, where reading plant literature opened up an entirely new way of seeing them. I began to realize how intricate plant development really is, especially leaf morphology, where precisely regulated and coordinated local and global growth can generate intricate morphologies such as diverse leaf forms . What truly motivated me was the curiosity that grew over time, the more I read and analysed data, the more questions I had. That sense of curiosity is what continues to drive my work as a PhD student today.

2. Tell us briefly what scientific questions you are pursuing at MPIPZ.

In nature, living forms exhibit a diversity of shapes and sizes. A key question in biology is how do genes shape morphology and give rise to these diverse forms? I use plant leaves as a model to study this, as they exist in a variety of shapes and sizes. How is the growth coordinated at the cellular and tissue level? How is growth repression regulated by genes and how does it affect the final form? How do genes modify cell wall dynamics to facilitate growth? These are the key questions that I am currently working on.

3. Who has inspired you greatly in your career so far?

I have been fortunate to work with and meet many people who have inspired me along the way. The dedication and enthusiasm of my PI, colleagues and friends at MPIPZ and IISER continually motivate me and push me to do better science. At a more personal level, my aai (mother) and baba (father) have been my constant sources of inspiration since childhood. My aai taught me how to learn, think deeply, and understand things, while my baba nurtured my curiosity about nature and science. Their influence has shaped both who I am and how I approach my work today.

4. What did you find most challenging in your career so far?

One of the major challenges for me has been learning to understand and develop my own style of research. Starting a PhD can be overwhelming; managing a project, organizing work, deeply understanding research questions, designing experiments, and learning to think creatively and critically, all while embracing uncertainty and overcoming self-doubt when things don’t go as planned. What I’ve learned so far is not to be afraid of making mistakes, but to learn from them and avoid repeating them.

5. How do you see your future in science and why?

I strongly believe that science is for anyone with curiosity. One of my goals is to nurture this curiosity, especially among children and people around me so they can see science as accessible and exciting. At the same time, I deeply enjoy both research and teaching, and I hope to continue pursuing a career that allows me to explore scientific questions while inspiring others to engage with science.