Sharath Chandra Thota is a second-year PhD student at CIIMAR, Portugal. He holds a Master’s degree in Biology of Extreme Environments from Italy and a Master’s in Biotechnology from India.

  With a deep interest in the life that thrives under extreme conditions, his research focuses on the impact of atmospheric rivers on extreme weather events and microbial biodiversity in the Antarctic Peninsula. His work is conducted under the supervision of Irina Gorodetskaya and Catarina Magalhães (CIIMAR, Portugal) and Markus Frey (British Antarctic Survey, UK), and is supported by an AIR Center grant. Sharath has hands-on experience working with a wide range of microorganisms, including fungi, bacteria, viruses, haptophytes, and diatoms.

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, he contributed to the evaluation of airborne SARS-CoV-2. His earlier research spans topics such as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and microbial diversity in Svalbard permafrost.