Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots.

Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots

Research fellow
University of Edinburgh

Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots is a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh. He also serves as chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board for the British Neuroscience Association and as an ambassador for the ALBA Network. His research interests include interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences, with a focus on teaching and global health. He works primarily in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Rakshasa-Loots is a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, having previously traveled globally to explore ways of creatively disrupting the HIV epidemic at local, national and global scales. He earned a Ph.D. in translational neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh and a B.A. in neuroscience, biochemistry, and ancient & classical studies at Earlham College. 

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research figure of fly neurons transforming taste information into movements.

Fly taste connectome traces paths from sensation to action

The map—the first of its kind for an animal more complex than Caenorhabditis elegans—gives neuroscientists a trove of testable hypotheses about how neuronal circuits guide feeding behaviors.

By Lauren Schenkman
30 October 2026 | 5 min read
Gerry Fischbach at a podium.

Remembering Gerry Fischbach, ‘orchestra conductor’ who brought scientists together

Fischbach, who died 25 October, elucidated the dynamic changes in neuromuscular junctions. Beyond the lab, he shaped careers, academic departments and scientific societies.

By Claudia López Lloreda
29 October 2026 | 8 min read
Mouse wearing a white, cube-like device on its head.

WILD platform levels up ability to record brain activity, behavior in nature

The customizable rig combines multimodal recording, onboard processing and neuronal manipulation to power more complex experiments.

By Simon Makin
29 October 2026 | 6 min read