WKU Southern Kentucky Center for Advanced Microscopy

Dr. Srivastava's research takes advantage of the sophisticated genetic tools available in the model organism Drosophila to better understand and dissect the underlying mechanisms of normal development and disease. He is particularly interested in understanding the contributions of Extracellular Matrix to normal development and tumorigenesis. Development of Drosophila wing is another area of his labs’ interest as this is an excellent model for organogenesis where various events that give rise to an adult structure can be studied. 

Ajay grew up in the Northern Indian city of Varanasi where he obtained his BS (Hons) and MS degrees in Zoology with a specialization in Molecular Biology and Cytogenetics from Banaras Hindu University. He travelled to Canada to pursue a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB. Upon completion of his Ph.D. he moved to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Genetics at Yale University for a Postdoctoral stint. Ajay joined WKU in 2010 and while there also obtained an MBA in general management from the University of Louisville in 2013. 
He lives in Bowling Green, KY with his wife Wendy, son Arivumani and a pawed family member, Snoopy.