Arvind Varsani is a molecular virologist who works across ecosystems from plants to animals and from the tropics to polar regions. Arvind Varsani and his collaborators have focused on addressing the diversity, demographics and evolutionary dynamics of viral communities in various ecosystems. Studies in the last decade have shown that viruses are the most common and abundant entities on earth, yet very little is known about their evolution and ecosystem roles. Our current knowledge of viruses is heavily biased to those that cause disease in humans, animals and plants. This equates to a very small portion of the viral diversity on the planet and a very minute fraction of the virome associated with humans, animals and plants.

His broad research objectives are to: 1) study viral dynamics in Antarctica ecosystem, the least human-altered marine system on the planet 2) unravel the viral evolutionary dynamics as a consequence of climate change; 3) study viral ecological interaction networks within a microbiome and more broadly within phytobiomes in order to unravel the dynamics of pathogen emergence.