With a research focus in the areas of microfluidics, cell biomechanics and worm biology, he has published 35 refereed journal articles and has been involved with 12 successful research proposals totaling $1.88 million, including a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The impact of his work is reflected in more than 470 citations, an h-index of 14 and multiple invited talks. His laboratory was the first at Texas Tech to receive a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas grant for cancer research, as well as the first to receive an NSF Innovation-Corps grant to explore commercialization of technology discovered in his lab. Vanapalli received his bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in India, his master's degree from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.