Mahendar earned a BS in Biological Science from Kakatiya University, India, an MS in Molecular Biology from the University of Skövde, Sweden, and a PhD in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Science from the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Following postdoctoral research at Lund University, Sweden, Mahendar joined the Lawrenz Lab in 2022, where he is working to elucidate the mechanisms that allow Yersinia pestis to overcome nutritional immunity to colonize the mammalian host. In his free time, Mahendar enjoys spending time with his family.