Dr Krishnamurthy Y L is a Professor of Applied Botany at Kuvempu University, where he has been engaged in teaching and research since 1996. He completed his MSc in Botany in 1991 and obtained his PhD in 1997 from the University of Mysore. His research focuses on the biodiversity and bioprospecting of fungal endophytes and the diversity and molecular phylogeny of leaf-colonizing lichens in the Western Ghats.
He has guided 15 PhD scholars and published over 75 research papers in national and international journals, along with articles in bulletins and book chapters. He has been involved in several research projects sanctioned by UGC, DBT, DST, MoEF, Government of India. In 2009, he conducted research on fungal endophytes of switchgrass at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Oklahoma, USA, under a DBT Associateship. He has also presented his work at international conferences in the UK, Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, and Spain.