Hello there, I'm Suraj 👋 JOHAAR!! 🙏

PhD Candidate in Gopinathan Lab at University of California, Merced.

I work at the intersection of physics and biology to understand the mechanisms that make life "living". I study how a bunch of cells can come together to form a multicellular network, the physics behind cell–cell adhesion, and how cells push, pull, shove, and squeeze their surrounding matrix. I do all of this by writing code (or asking the AI to write it for me).

Before joining UC Merced I did my Master's at National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, where I studied how the crowded environment inside a cell (and it really is crowded) can change protein–protein reactions.

To study all of this I use some theory and mostly computation—neither of which I'm really good at, but I'm excited and motivated anyway.

I have ADHD and OCD. There! I said it!

If you're reading this, I will try my best not to let this hinder our working relationship and to be clear in our communication.

I love learning about how the world works, even though I find it hard: half the time I'm distracted and half the time too focused on things that might not be important. Sometimes it feels like a superpower and sometimes it's just hard to live with. It took me years to be aware of my ADHD and OCD (and it might take a few more to truly embrace it or not be ashamed of it). I want to be open about this not because my therapist suggested it, but so you know that if we ever work together I don't want this to be an issue.

After all, we're all humans trying to accept the things we aren't and deny the things we are.

"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth." — Henry David Thoreau