Career Stories – Page 2 – Academia Plus Educational Services

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the story of Sana Jalili, who is a microbiologist by training and an iGEM supporter. She is passionate about science communication and always on the lookout for avenues where she can engage with citizens through different platforms. In this candid chat she shares her experiences with frugal science, speaks in depth about her passions and her journey so far.

Could you share some important milestones in your professional journey so far?

I am a person with a microbiology and academic background. My work has mainly been related to frugal science and synthetic biology. My first milestone was being accepted into the student cohort at the Frugal Science Course, at Stanford University under the guidance of Dr. Manu Prakash in 2020. The second was being part of the Friendzymes Team, and winning a Gold in the iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition in 2021 (in the middle of a pandemic). The third is getting felicitated with Anil Sadgopal Award for Popularization of Science, and Contribution to Science Outreach by CUBE-TIFR (Collaboratively Understanding Biology Education) for scientific communication in 2022.

You have done a lot of work regarding frugal science. Could you explain what frugal science is all about and how did you get introduced to it?

In simple terms, frugal science is all about duplicating or reproducing the experiments from a scientific setup to a DIY (Do it Yourself) setup at home. I was introduced to this concept through the Frugal Science Course by Dr. Manu Prakash in 2020 during the pandemic. As we all know, during the COVID-19 lockdown, it was very difficult to even carry out even simple experiments because access to laboratories was restricted. It’s in these scenarios that frugal science becomes truly meaningful. My first Project was working on the Incubator which we showcased as a part of coursework. Then gradually, I was curious to work on similar projects related to frugal science by myself.

How did you actually conceptualize and built a home lab?

The process of building a DIY lab at home started in the middle of the pandemic (2020). The process was difficult but I could somehow pull it through. Me and my mom used to quarrel a lot as my mom really didn’t get the idea of me using normal kitchen equipment like a pressure cooker as an autoclave for sterilizing purposes in the kitchen a.k.a. my DIY lab. I would try to convince my mom that it is only because I want to make food for my bacteria! When I started making media (food in simple terms for bacteria or any living organisms in microbiology), the first and second trials did not work, and I had to redo it multiple times to get it done correctly. I also had to keep in mind the weather conditions around me, especially when considering incubation. I experimented a lot with things at home that could be used as glassware for my experiments- such as perfume bottles instead of the regular test tubes! The process had its own difficulties but I could somehow make it happen.

Making science accessible is a goal of frugal science. Have you seen any real life implications of it?

I have seen the implications of it after the frugal science course. I have seen students after the pandemic wonder if there is any possibility of duplicating some of the scientific experiments in a DIY setup at home because one doesn’t know when the next pandemic might hit us! This has brought about much curiosity within the students and researchers as well. I was grateful in 2021 when it got internationally recognized at Global BioSummit 5.0 proceedings in Open Innovation Track- ‘Innovating Microbiological Media by Frugal Solutions’ and it reached people who were/are curious about frugal methods for DIY microbiology labs.

You are also the promoter for iGEM Asia-Oceania region. What is your personal view on iGEM and why is it important to promote this?

In simpler terms, iGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine and it’s the fusion of biology and engineering systems. It is very important to increase awareness about iGEM because the concept of synthetic biology itself is new in India and its neighboring countries. In iGEM, students can work on synthetic biology using various biological systems or organisms ranging from bacteria to mammalian cells. Students across the world are working on hybrids of biological systems to provide novel solutions to scientific issues. Since it is innovative & novel, they can work on different aspects and showcase their projects globally. It also offers long-term support to projects as industrial startups.

Friendzymes was a iGEM gold winning project – it was done during the pandemic and involved collaboration from students across the world. How was the collaboration like, what were the problems faced and what are your key takeaways from the project?

The birthplace of the iGEM friendzymes was the Frugal Science course that I was a part of, in the student cohort in 2020. After that course, our Friendzymes members started to brainstorm ideas to go ahead in the iGEM competition. The ideas took a bigger shape after our Advisor’s talk (Kahlil) on Project management which was open to other iGEM teams as well to inculcate skills for running an international team in the pandemic. Personally, one of the biggest challenges I faced was the inaccessibility of wet labs as COVID-19 cases were at a peak in Mumbai. Since I did not have access to a lab, I switched to a collaboration (which was silver medal criteria) of competition. Scheduling meetings, and working on Discord/Slack/Mails for communication was my major input as a student member. Apart from that, I came from a pure biology background. I was introduced to GitHub (and I am still learning) which was new to me then. Further, my biggest takeaway from the project is mutual collaboration and socializing about scientific discoveries- ultimately that’s what Science Communication is all about!

Are there any memorable moments during the iGEM friendzymes experience?

It was an international team, and time management was essential. I am grateful to my team members for respecting different time zones and working collectively. Personally, due to some of the emergencies, if I missed discord chats in a week, I needed to go through all messages and stay updated. I would like to thank my team members here, for being cooeprative. Another memorable incident was that- we had an offtopic discord channel, whenever I felt a little stressed, I would visit that page and enjoy all the jokes and memes that were shared. That provided me with a nice balance during the pandemic!

In iGEM there are a lot of industry collaborations with students for their projects. What do you think are the benefits of industry collaborations and what do you think about industry academia collaborations?

In iGEM after your project completion and presentation at Jamboree-which is an annual event that shows all the projects done by students across the world, you are given an option to continue with the project by collaborating with different industries. As a person with a scientific background, it is very important to know how the industry works because it is only then that you can make your discoveries and innovations accessible to the general public – and they can benefit from the science. Industry and academia are like two sides of a coin. A student being in academia might know theoretically what a bioreactor is but would not know the scale and size of it and how that particular instrument is being used to make products that are not visible in the day-to-day life. I feel that it is important to have students explore the industry so that they have a clarity of how the industry works and then they will have a better idea while making a choice between industry and academia. Students have a tendency to stay in academia and not explore the industry at all, hence completely leaving out the industry option for their careers.

Your career is based on communicating science, whether it being in academia or being in iGEM in which communicating science plays a huge role. What are the useful skills that you have picked up communicating science?

Public speaking was one of the key skills I learned during pandemic times (2020-21). After getting a lot of exposure in communicating science I got to learn how to effectively communicate science to students across different age groups. I learned to not use very technical terms or jargon while I am communicating science and to make it more friendly to listen. For example, if I had to explain what a microbe is to a 3rd/4th Std kid, I would start with ‘germs’ – a term that the student would really be familiar with and then continue to build up on that as microbes later. I also gained a lot of respect for the people in science communication because it’s a relatively new field and it involves public speaking, using simpler terms instead of scientific complex words.

What does a typical day in your life look like in between academia, frugal science projects and iGEM?

My day starts at 6 am. I reside in Mumbai and it is a two-hour commute to reach the institute, so I have to catch Mumbai local trains during peak hours. After reaching the institute, I work on experiments, handle microorganisms patiently and carefully, and then take lectures for students. After I’m done my research work and lectures, I come back home around 7 pm or later, again depending on Mumbai local timings. Then, I indulge in planning for the experiments for the next day, plan my teaching activities, or anything else in hand. iGEM meetings usually take place after 8 or 9 p.m. IST. Regular updates on Slack, checking emails, going through research papers occur at the night time. Coming to the frugal science courses, I generally do it during the winter vacations or summer vacations when I have time.

What advice would you like to give students who want to explore frugal science?

Dr. Manu Prakash runs a frugal science course and one can access the course by visiting the website of Stanford University. Apart from that there are a lot of frugalists who have worked with Prof. Prakash so you can try to connect with them on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter. I joined Twitter and I got enrolled in Frugal Science course in 2020. I would recommend being active on Twitter – there are a lot of frugalists there and you can just let them know that you are interested in working with them. Next would be to join frugal science communities on Twitter. After joining the community myself, I have realized that there are a lot of people who want to build a DIY home lab – however, it is difficult to have a microbiology DIY lab as compared to a physics lab or a botany DIY lab, because it involves- cultivating microorganisms, making media for them, sterilizing equipment etc., so it is a very difficult task. By joining communities you can learn from the experiences of other frugalists. This was how I got to build my path in frugal science networking and collaborations help a lot.

Deepthi Joji Author

Career Stories: Chapter 22

7th September 20238th September 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the story of Saloni Godbole, who is a scientist-turned entrepreneur. In this candid chat, she talks about her journey as a scientist as well as an entrepreneur and shares insights on how one can embark upon the journey of entrepreneurship in life sciences.

Please take us through your journey. Tell us about your childhood, what motivated you to take Science, study Microbiology?

You have taken me back 10 years from now to when the decisions of choosing a career took place. I was a pretty average to good student in school, who was very active and present – someone the teachers loved and I also in turn liked my teachers. I didn’t like math, so I knew one thing for sure- that when I grew up, I would not be getting into engineering! I always had an idea about my skills and abilities and was very active in extracurricular activities such as painting and handicraft. In fact, till 9th std I wanted to be an artist and I had almost decided to take up fine arts as my career. However, one fine day it struck me that painting is more of a mood-centric hobby that I won’t be able to take up as a job, or an obligation. Then I thought of the second option that I was good at – and that was biology. Thus, with some advice from my mom, I decided to keep art as a hobby and took up science after my 10th standard. 11th and 12th standard were easier as well as interesting- I got introduced to terms like DNA, RNA, microbes, genetic engineering. Eventually through discussions with family friends and acquaintances, I realised that I was more inclined towards microbiology than biotechnology, and that was a subject that could provide me with a strong basis to study biotechnology later on. Hence, I took up microbiology as my bachelors degree. After my bachelors degree I realised that I loved the subject and hence pursued my masters in the same subject.

After my masters, I had realised that the way the subjects are taught in college is not enough to be able to earn a PhD position abroad. So, I took up an internship at Tata Memorial Cancer Research Institute where I was exposed to hardcore research. That experience made me realize that it is not only research that I am looking for– but it is actually applied research. I would not want to only arrive at some conclusions and keep writing research papers, but would like to convert my knowledge into technology that is useful for the masses. That’s when I also realized that I do not need to pursue a PhD immediately and began my journey as a bioscience entrepreneur!

Could you elaborate more on your specific interest in applied research and the realization of not wanting to pursue research in basic sciences?

My coursework during my Bachelors required me to take up a project in the last semester which introduced me to research. What interested me was the fact that in research you take up a problem statement and you arrive at your own ways for solving it. There is no formula here. And while there are certain methods that you follow, there is no right or wrong answer in research; there is always observation and analysis. Later, during my masters I pursued research on biosurfactants producing microbes and we created a technology which an industry actually bought from our college- that’s where I got the initial motivation to convert research into products!

As mentioned before, my internship at Tata Memorial Cancer Research Institute after my masters, also made me realize further that I do not want to pursue pure research. I also realized that in government institutes in India, scientists get a lot of funding to do research, but a most of those funds are channelized towards presenting research papers. So it made me wonder– ‘why is it that in spite of getting funding we are not able to create something which is applicable?’ That is what triggered my interest in developing a product of my own.

How was the idea of Occamy Biosciences born? What were the challenges you faced and how did you address them?

Six months before I left the Tata Memorial Cancer Research Institute, I had already started thinking of starting a company, and therefore engaged myself in networking and finding the right kind of people. Fortunately, there was a senior scientist who also wanted to do something of his own. So, I started talking to him and realized that we both could start a company together- my lack of experience could be compensated by him guiding me. We completed the legal process of registering the company in August 2018. The initial journey was quite tough- we were very naive, didn’t know the nature of the company that should be formed, the guidelines etc.

Since we did not have our own research at that point, we approached scientists who were engaged in developing technologies and bought the technologies from them. We also did extensive analysis of the kind of research and work that was taking place in research institutions- trying to understand whether there was any convertible solution there, especially in places like cancer diagnostics, therapy and drugs.

Then, my co-founder suggested that we should get into the animal husbandry domain because it’s a very neglected domain in India and it’s not as complicated as cancer biology. The idea was that any product which could be made for animals will also sell faster and in turn give us the money required to run our daily operations. However, there were still a lot of challenges- such as setting up a factory, looking for a place, apply for funding/loans from the government etc.

Eventually, we got a loan sanctioned from the bank and built a manufacturing unit. This was March 2020- and while we were all ready to start manufacturing, COVID struck the world. After the pandemic subsided, we did not operate for 3-4 months and suffered some losses.

Looking back, there were many difficulties that came our way but because we were passionate about doing something we went on facing everything with patience and that’s how the journey began. Now we will be entering our fifth year and we are growing as a company.

Can you tell us more about Occamy Biosciences?

Occamy was started with a vision that we are Scientist turned Entrepreneurs. So the idea was to start a company by scientists to come up with scientifically proven products. Our main forte is to come up with products by doing research on the science behind it, prove it within the Indian scenario and bring it to the end-users. If you look at the word ‘Occamy’ it is the name of a character from the series- Harry Potter Fantastic Beasts. Occamy is a peacock-like creature in the series which has all attributes that we would want to associate ourselves with- it is Indian by nature, very original and has the ability to change its size based on its surroundings. So the name resonates with us and our approach of running the company.

The first thing we made was protein supplements for animals. Because we realized that there are a lot of supplements that fulfill a human’s nutritional requirements but there are no such supplements available for animals. After doing some extensive research, we developed products, got them tested and started working with farmers. The first range of products we have created is for cattles – to improve animal productivity and the quality of milk.

Now, apart from animal related nutrition products, we are doing a lot of research to come up with products for humans as well.

Can you describe an incident from your workplace that is really close to you?

During the initial period when we were testing our products, we went to a farmer in Mumbai to give him a trial product to try it on his animal. His buffalo was giving really low milk and it was very old and hence no longer profitable to the farmer. So he was going to give it up for culling. We requested him to try our product for 4-5 days and that if there was no improvement, then he could go ahead with his initial decision. So he agreed and just in four days the health improved so much that the buffalo started giving milk better than what it was. After seeing the benefits of the feed on the animal, he decided to keep it for one more year. This incident made me realize that our work could benefit someone on such a grassroot level.

Another such incident was where there was one old cow which was just lying around, completely losing its hair and skin. With the incorporation of our feed, the health of that cow improved.

There were also some instances when we realized our products have helped improve the quality of milk, which is indirectly also improving human health. There are cases in which adulteration in milk is also causing cancer because milk is adulterated with the chemicals, that the animals are injected with. So somewhere we are trying to reduce these practices, reducing the instances of cancer and other diseases due to adulteration. If we see the impact it really gives us goosebumps and ensures that although it will take some time, we have to be on this path.

What were your thoughts staring out? Did you feel doubtful about entering into the journey of entrepreneurship?

I actually didn’t know that it was something unique. I did it because I liked doing it. In those times, I just followed my heart–something I always wanted to do. When it came to business, initially there were so many times that I really doubted myself. Because until and unless there is financial success you always doubt yourself. The career choices that we make are usually dictated by the money and the lifestyle we want to give to ourselves and our family. There were so many challenges that we faced especially during COVID when our funds were stranded. Meanwhile my friends were growing in their life, having good employment, job security. They were getting married, having children; everything was so wonderful for them. So when there is comparison there is always self doubt. But what worked in my favor is that I’m quite self motivated. More importantly, in my college days I came across practicing meditation. That was a very big support system for me, especially during the pandemic. It really helped me and was the reason that self doubt never really poisoned me. It takes patience and you have to be very persevering. But when you see people appreciating you, that gives you hope.

You have transitioned through different roles in your career. How did you acclimatise yourself through these transitions?

When I started the company I was very naive and I did not know how to behave like a cofounder or a director. I was just being myself. I had a natural inclination of being an entrepreneur. I think it came from my grandparents. Both my grandmothers are very enterprising. With whatever they did they had a business mindset. I think, I somewhere imbibed that mindset to sell – whether it is my art or anything else that I created,

I missed doing research a lot in the initial times when I was not in touch with the lab. I missed that environment of constantly being curious and patient, being okay when your results fail. But I believe that all the skills that are required to become an entrepreneur were developed during my training as a scientist. Becoming an entrepreneur is easy if you are a science student. I firmly believe that life in science teaches you everything you need to become an entrepreneur. So becoming one was easy. But it was in the last two years when I was exposed to other people, startups, and business, that is when I realized that there are certain skills I’m good at and certain skills that I need to really develop to be at par with everyone out there. So I started working on my own self as a cofounder, as an entrepreneur. Till then I was just going with the flow. I’ve taken a lot of effort to understand how business works, what entrepreneurship really is and what it means to be a woman in business. There are so many other things that came to me in the last few years through which the actual learning of being an entrepreneur happened. It was a time taking process but the transition happened gradually. You need to put a lot of effort on yourself to move through the transition.

What do you like the most about being an entrepreneur in your field? What keeps you motivated?

The best part about being an entrepreneur is having the independence to be your own boss. However, it’s a double-edged sword. You have to always keep yourself motivated and ensure that you are on the right track.

My personality is such that I cannot work under someone. I have my own ideas. I can incorporate suggestions but I have to ensure things are done in a particular way only. So with my nature, I realize that being an entrepreneur is the only way because entrepreneurship gives me the openness, and the freedom to be myself; to lead my own self as well as people who are working with me. That is what I love about entrepreneurship.

What motivates me is the fact that we are doing something for the environment, society, for everyone. By doing small things, albeit, over a longer period of time, we are able to create a larger impact on the society. Our work is to make high quality products and ensure that it reaches the farmers. What happens later due to this– the benefits for animals, farmers, society and environment, is the impact that we create. When we look at the benefits and the money we get by doing something that we feel good doing, we feel that we are on the right track.

This is what inspires me everyday–the fact that we are able to do something for our country and for the animals around us. So when we think of the larger picture, that’s motivating.

According to you, what can be done to encourage more women to take up entrepreneurship roles?

I had talked about this recently at the Indian Women’s Science Association-I would think about the changes in two ways: firstly in girls/women, and secondly in the surroundings. According to me the women need to change themselves in a manner that they become confident of who they are. Being confident does not mean being rude. It is about being compassionate yet being strong to fight for what you believe in. Women have to realize if they really are enterprising, which I think they are and they need to explore more.

When it comes to surroundings whether it is society, parents, circumstances, they should also be more open. What society can do is– make it easy for women. For example; you will not see women working in rural areas, because there are no washrooms, no hygienic toilets and no safety. So the surroundings need to change, become more open for women to travel and should be safe and hygienic so that women can explore different places and also get the job done.

Very often it’s also a taboo that women will not get proper marriage proposals if they are into business because no man wants a dominating wife. People should understand that we are not bossing around in our houses, we already are a boss in our office. We can differentiate our family life and our work life. The men should be more supportive; they should be open to doing household chores that would reduce the women’s workload.

So if a rise in entrepreneurship happens, it would be because there is change in the society and in women as well. Now we are in an era where a lot of women are turning towards entrepreneurship.

However, it is first essential to understand ourselves and ask ourselves- Is entrepreneurial approach really our way? Is it something that interests us? It is only when the path truly interests us, that one should become an entrepreneur, not just because everyone around us is becoming one. In a startup not everyone is a leader; you need followers, managers, and everyone in the team plays different roles. So we need to understand whether we are a leader, follower or manager. Some people have really good ideas and they know how to manage people and get the work done. Some of us are good followers; so if there is a command given, we can follow it excellently. Those people are also needed in the team. So let us be confident with who we are and love ourselves for being what we are. Then there will naturally be more startups, entrepreneurs whether it is women, men or anyone else.

Please tell us about your work as a meditation trainer at Heartfulness Institute. How has this practice helped you professionally and personally?

I was first introduced to meditation by a college teacher who I admired. During that time I did it for the sake of it. But then I came across the Heartfulness Institute for meditation. They did a session in our college after which my mom noticed a lot of change in me. Eventually, my mom got interested in it and I was also willing to give it a chance.

At Heartfulness Institute after the introduction of the practice, there are trainers who act like your buddies. You can ask them your doubts, and also meditate with them. My trainer, who was a laser scientist from Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) was a very good inspiration for me. Seeing a scientist practicing meditation inspired me that in future if I want to be a successful scientist I also need to practice meditation. I started going to her and eventually my mom also joined. Slowly we both started seeing a lot of positive changes in us- our sleep cycles and our thought patterns improved. We got a lot of clarity about the work that we were doing. I had an opportunity to volunteer as a trainer in 2016, and that experience was also quite helpful.

I liked the Heartfulness way of meditation because it is based on a scientific approach. It is based on experience- one does it only if they find it useful after a first-hand experience. Because the approach was logical, I followed it. With all the difficulties I had in my career, I was able to make the right decision because of having clarity of thought due to meditation.

Apart from this, a lot of character-building also takes place due to meditation- so that even when things are turbulent around us, we can be at peace. When I started working and having employees, they liked my approach as a mentor-which made me realize that this indeed works! The courage that I have to start a company, the clarity and confidence, are qualities I never had in me before- Heartfulness brought these changes in me. I find myself to be a very evolved person then what I was in college. Meditation empowers me and that’s why I kept doing it.

What career advice would you like to give to students based on your experience?

Take your parents’ help while making decisions related to your career. If your parents are not equipped enough, then you can consult their friend circles, or anyone else that is relevant, but always keep talking to people who are in a domain of expertise that you want to go to. That will give you a lot of clarity.

Also, try to understand what it is that you really like to do; something that your heart desires. All of us have an inclination towards something– whether it is history, music or art. Identify what you love. Ask yourself what activities, topics or tasks make you lose track of time or bring you immense satisfaction. If you have found such a thing, that is something you would want to do as a career. For example, you can be a consultant if you’re good at advising. Find out what you’re good at, keep questioning your own ideas and interests, talk to your friends and discuss with them.

And more importantly it is okay if you are clueless. But if you are clueless and you have to make decisions at that moment, take broader decisions that will allow you to have multiple options in the future. Keep all options open until you realize what you like.

Start by exploring the world around you. By exposing yourself to a variety of experiences, people and ideas you increase the chances of discovering something that truly sparks your interest. Use the internet for the right reasons. Somewhere there will be something that interests you. You can explore it more and maybe then you’ll find your way!

Siddhi Bodke Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 21

31st August 202331st August 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the story of Kirthana Sindhe, who has an extensive experience of working in the pharma industry. In this candid chat, she talks about her journey in the life sciences industry and shares some nuggets on acing the Academia-Industry Transition.

After engineering, what influenced you to choose research and pursue PhD?

After completing my bachelors in biotechnology, I pursued a masters in pharmaceutical chemistry and biotechnology at VIT Vellore. My passion for research was ignited during my masters dissertation at IISc (Indian Institute of Science), Bangalore, which led me to pursue a PhD at JNCASR (Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research). Following that, I gained valuable research experience through a postdoc at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco), where I observed different research mindsets, cutting-edge facilities, and executed projects. Overall, these experiences have enriched my understanding of research.

I see that you have done sMBA. Could you tell us what degree it is? What is the difference between sMBA and regular MBA?

sMBA, or Scientist MBA, is ideal for PhDs seeking to transition into management positions in the industry without pursuing a separate MBA program. This course is offered by Cheeky Scientist which is an organisation dedicated to helping PhDs transition into industry jobs. This program is designed for those interested in management over and above traditional R&D (Research and Development) or scientist roles, facilitating a smooth career switch to industry.

The sMBA program is a self-paced program which consists of video or audio-guided modules. Unlike a traditional two-year MBA, sMBA covers management-level modules at a superficial level without extensive case studies. While a regular MBA is recommended for a deeper understanding of management roles, sMBA is sufficient for transitioning and provides basic business acumen.

Were your goals clear before PhD and what led you to choose industry over academia despite changing track after engineering?

I was always interested in shifting to industry, influenced by my peers and fellow friends who secured placements during my PhD. During my postdoc in San Francisco, I witnessed ideas materialize into start-ups which inspired me to transition into a business role. The fast-paced environment, immediate application of work for human benefit, better pay scale, and ample growth opportunities in industry motivated me to move out of academia. The industry offered a broader vision and diverse career path, making it a rewarding choice. Joining Zumutor Biologics, a cancer immunotherapeutic start-up, aligned perfectly with my R&D experience.

What would you suggest to someone who wishes to transition into industry – to switch after a masters or a PhD? How would you describe the level of support you experienced in academia compared to the industry?

Both paths have their merits. With a masters degree, you enter as a fresher, possibly with lower pay. Additionally, it takes a longer time to advance to higher positions. In contrast, a PhD invests more in education and research, fostering independence and advanced skills. Moving from academia to the industry as a PhD graduate still makes you a fresher in the industry, but around 60-70% of your knowledge and experience can be applied. I would say having a PhD can accelerate your progression in the industry. However, ultimately it’s a personal choice between gaining early industry experience and advancing later or getting deeper into research and transitioning directly to higher positions.

In both academia and industry, I experienced a supportive environment. I would say that irrespective of the setting, it is the people and networking that matter most. I think valuing relationships and reciprocating support are essential for fostering a positive environment. I was fortunate enough to receive support in both realms.

What was your inspiration to start Runninggenes ^®? How do you manage your time effectively while pursuing a job as well as freelancing?

Runninggenes^® is a fitness community platform through which I help others to achieve their fitness goals and guide them to ensure a healthy lifestyle. During my postdoc in the USA, I faced tough times and numerous research failures. I was feeling unfulfilled with a lack of returns for my time investment. So I shifted my focus to fitness. Surprisingly, this pursuit transformed me into a marathon runner. I realized the profound benefits it brought, not just physically, but also mentally. The experience of running marathons instilled immense mental strength in me, enabling me to face life’s challenges with resilience and adaptability. Thus, my motivation to create Runninggenes^® stemmed from this desire to impart such empowering experiences to those around me and I aim to share this gift by impacting over 500 people.

Despite the overwhelming nature of my routine, I manage it efficiently by scheduling my calendar, dedicating eight to nine hours to work, and prioritizing self-development and family time. I try to adhere to them which helps me accomplish most of my tasks. Self-discipline is crucial as it allows me to balance various aspects of life without compromising on other tasks. So I would say focus on all areas of life. If not equally, at least in the right ratios.

Besides my regular full-time job, I do freelancing on the side, albeit not on a large scale. Although I still lead the organisation, my availability is limited due to my primary job. So, I have two other coaches who help me manage Runninggenes^®. While I provide guidance and direction, they assist in day-to-day operations.

How has your research background and additional certifications in the fields of management, leadership and public health contributed to your career?

The certifications I pursued – sMBA and scientific writing, have been beneficial in various ways. They enhanced essential scientific skills like research, communication, and critical thinking, which were valuable in different job roles. As a scientific manager, research skills drive projects, while writing skills play a role in designing a project. Obtaining certifications does not guarantee a job, but how you apply and translate the knowledge gained from them determines their usefulness.

Do industry employers also take into account the courses and certifications we have undertaken? Could you recommend such equivalent certifications in India?

Certifications can be beneficial to some extent. If you possess the right skills and expertise for a specific job, certifications become less crucial and serve as an additional advantage. However, in cases where you lack expertise but aim to upgrade through theoretical knowledge, certifications become more valuable. They might play a primary role in facilitating your transition into those job roles. Ultimately, the significance of certifications depends on your existing skills and their relevance to the job you are pursuing.

The importance of certifications depends on the specific industry job you’re pursuing. For R&D roles, your research skills through a PhD or experience in relevant organizations matter. On the other hand, management positions often value MBA or related degrees. There are various short-term certifications offered by reputable institutions like IIMs and universities, which can be found on platforms like LinkedIn. You can choose certificates based on your job role, interests, and the skills you want to improve from established organizations.

Does a masters in pharmaceutical chemistry (like you did), vis-à-vis a masters in life sciences, enhance/support a robust work experience in the pharma industry?

In my experience, having a background in pharmaceutical chemistry was beneficial for transitioning into the industry. Pharmaceutical chemistry provides insights into small molecules and their application in drug discovery and development, which aligns with the common work pipeline in pharmaceutical companies. Integrating core life science domains such as cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, and protein research further enhances the understanding of the drug development process. This combination of knowledge allows for a well-rounded approach in the pharmaceutical industry.

People without a pharma background may face a lag phase in adapting to the new environment and understanding the drug development pipeline. Nonetheless, planning ahead by making informed decisions about your career trajectory, along with acquiring complementary knowledge and skills, can support a smoother and successful transition into the pharmaceutical industry.

Please provide us a detailed insight into the specific duties of a Scientific Manager, Commercial Marketing Manager, and Senior Strategic Manager, having worked in these roles yourself.

Scientific Manager- At Zumutor Biologics, I was focused on developing novel biologics for prostate cancer. My responsibilities included designing critical assays to understand the molecule’s functionality and allowing it to progress to preclinical and clinical development. I used to liaison between different teams, from discovery to downstream processes, gaining exposure to the entire product development journey. In addition to lab work, I also engaged in meetings and discussions with colleagues and stakeholders. It was a valuable and comprehensive experience that covered the entire spectrum from discovery to application and manufacturing of the product.

Commercial marketing manager- As a commercial marketing manager, I operated at the intersection of science and business. My role involved implementing various training programs, moderating services, and overseeing internal team training. We offered diverse services such as multiplexing assays for biomarker discovery, cell biology assays to study therapeutic compound cytotoxicity, and protein research analysis with an auto 2D gel electrophoresis. I managed the lab’s business, including positioning different biology portfolio products for revenue generation. Additionally, I engaged with stakeholders in academia and industry to explore new opportunities and expand the lab’s footprint across India. In essence, I focused on driving the lab’s business and devising strategies for business development.

Senior strategic manager- As the person responsible for the diagnostic solutions business, my role revolves around developing strategies to enhance revenues of our diagnostic portfolio products. This involves identifying customer segments, understanding top-selling products, and building brand awareness. I also engage with various customers, including doctors in diagnostic labs and pharmaceutical companies. One of the portfolios I handle is histopathology, and we also deal with detection systems and oligos. I focus on positioning our products for future demand and growing our market share in the next two to three years.

Does your current role as a strategy manager demand frequent travel? What are the potential growth opportunities?

Yes, my job involves a significant amount of travel. I oversee and manage the company’s business operations and collaborations with customers across all regions of India. I work closely with the account managers and sales team, to position our products, provide scientific and technical information to customers, and collectively close sales as a team.

There are abundant growth opportunities in this field. For example, I have experience in commercial marketing and strategic management over the past two years. Further, I can choose to specialize in product management, commercial marketing, or product strategy. You see that there are various options to advance to higher positions including moving up the hierarchy, starting from senior manager and progressing to associate director or director positions in larger companies. Alternatively, switching to smaller companies could lead to direct entry as a director, CEO, or other leadership roles.

What are the differences in work culture between a multinational company (MNC) and a start-up? Is it correct to say that implementing one’s own ideas in MNCs can be challenging?

Start-ups have a localized decision-making process with a clear end-to-end view of operations and frequent employee interactions. They typically follow a flat hierarchy. In contrast, MNCs operate across multiple countries and have complex structures with various business verticals. Working in MNCs involves learning collaboration across different regions and departments, thus, emphasizing teamwork. So, both experiences offer valuable opportunities for growth.

Implementing ideas in MNCs is not necessarily difficult, but the approval process for all ideas can be challenging. Global teams often influence decisions, and aligning with the company’s objectives is crucial for the successful implementation of our ideas.

Namanpreet Kaur Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 20

18th May 202318th May 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the story of Arjit Jere, who is an ecologist and nature educator, who is passionate about raising awareness regarding nature conservation through science communication. In this candid chat, he talks about his journey as an ecologist and educator, while sharing some essential skills required if one has to pursue a career in ecology.

You transitioned from biotechnology to biodiversity after your bachelor’s degree. What incident influenced you to make this transition?

While pursuing bachelors in biotechnology, most of the practicals were laboratory-based, which I never enjoyed. I had the chance to stumble upon biodiversity during the zoology classes in my bachelors course.

We once went to Sinhagad Valley for a field visit, which was a very enjoyable and memorable experience for me.

After graduation, I had a couple of months to decide my professional path. That time, I recollected my visit to Jim Corbett National Park with my family. It dawned on me that observing wildlife was fun and exciting. And, I realized that studying wildlife and biodiversity would be a lot more enjoyable since I always had an interest in observing animals. I remember watching animal documentary shows on the TV channels of National Geographic, Discovery, and Animal Planet. All this changed my outlook and helped me transition from biotech to biodiversity.

Having read your blogs and articles, I must say they are captivating and beautiful. You seem to have a knack for writing about relevant, yet distinct topics. Please familiarize us with your journey of becoming a popular science writer and journalist.

During my school days, writing essays was a favorite pastime. In my first year of undergraduation, I had written for college magazines for interdepartmental activities, on topics revolving around biotech and biodiversity. I realized that writing came naturally to me without much preparation. My interest, as I mentioned earlier, was towards biodiversity and wildlife. I began writing more articles on these subjects. Thus began my career in popular science writing.

I also maintained a blog named ‘My Enthusiast’ where I used to write about scientific discoveries and various topics relevant at that time. For example, I had written about the discovery of a new species of early humans (referring to Homo naledi, discovered in 2013).

I gradually built my skills and confidence in writing. Once I felt ready, I submitted my stories to magazines, few of which were also featured. I was delighted to see my article on the insect antlion getting featured in Saevus Wildlife India magazine.

This achievement not only started my popular science writing career but also gave me the motivation to continue with it.

The reason behind my interest in writing articles about insects is that they are crucial for many reasons; for example, providing us with honey and facilitating pollination. Insects are underrated and ignored in India. When the general Indian public thinks of wildlife, they only consider birds and mammals. Insects are also an important part of the wildlife. Popular science in India should focus on such unheralded taxa. Also, I love studying insects. My research experience was mostly based on them. Hence, I always try to champion their cause.

Thus, mine has mostly been a self-taught journey. However, I have also completed a course in science communication conducted by the Indian Science Communication Society.

I am curious to understand whether pursuing a PhD is in your mind and if you are not planning on that, why is it so? Would love to know your perspective on how and whether a PhD adds value to a career like science communication or ecological conservation.

PhD is not on my current priority list because I want my career to be in science communication or conservation with field research. There are some roles in this career that can be performed without a PhD.

I think a PhD will help only if you are more into technical writing and editorial roles for academic journals. Technical writing is very different from popular science writing. A PhD will prepare you more for the former because you are writing research papers in a very technical style. With a PhD, some of your career options might change because it has heavy research involved. Post your PhD, you have more chances of securing a research-based job rather than any scicomm jobs.

On the contrary, in science communication, you have to continuously improve your writing for popular science. I have seen people flourish in this field without a PhD. Hence, I wouldn’t say that it is mandatory, but it will be an added bonus.

Research aptitude is needed for every scientific field, but for ecology and conservation, your skills and experience in the field work matter more.

You have been a teaching assistant at the University of Alabama, Hunstville. How different is the dedication of the US or West towards teaching the younger generation about the relevance of environment and wildlife conservation, compared to India?

In the USA, I taught a basic biology course which did not involve topics on wildlife conservation. However, I discovered that their syllabus had a strong focus towards biology documentation. They taught the students to use apps like ‘iNaturalist’ wherein you can easily document any observed plant or animal. The focus towards documentation was very apparent in their courses.

In India, in bachelor degrees for specialized courses like biotechnology, conversations surrounding conservation take a backseat. Such topics should be taught with biotechnology and not as a different subject because of their important applications in the latter. For example, there are major subjects of environmental studies based in biotechnology like bioremediation, conservation genetics, and genotyping of animal populations in a particular region. Hence, the curriculum should be more interdisciplinary. This is a recurring problem in India as every subject is taught separately.

At least the situation is changing in top Indian institutes like IISERs, IISc as many interdisciplinary subjects are being taught but that is not the case in every degree college. Hence, interdisciplinary courses are needed to be implemented on a larger scale in India. At the grassroots level, this is only possible when students of different departments in a college are allowed to collaborate and work on joint projects. In many colleges I know, professors are not that keen towards collaborative work. Sometimes, they also don’t allow students to undertake short projects specific to other departments as a learning experience. This narrows down the perspective as well as the scope of the students to perform interdisciplinary projects. Because of this, Indian students do not recognize the interconnections between different fields of science.

In my masters course at Garware College, Pune; my batch was allowed to do their dissertation from external research institutes. My guide was from NCBS, Bengaluru. My dissertation taught me a lot about how research works in big institutes and allowed me to expand my horizons.

There are very few courses in a select few institutes in India for wildlife conservation and ecology for bachelors and masters. This shows an obvious ignorance to these very important subjects. Why do you think this is the case?

In Indian institutes like NCBS and IISC, there are very few top-class courses pertaining to ecology and wildlife conservation. It’s actually the Indian mentality which needs to change and not the lack of necessary material to study these subjects. Indian parents and academicians have a focus towards application-oriented subjects like molecular biology, immunology, biotechnology, etc. as they receive more funding and importance. Naturally, these subjects cause human welfare and improve lifestyle. Because of the application-oriented outlook, these subjects have received more attention than biodiversity.

Conserving biodiversity and ecosystems indirectly helps humans as they are essential resources for survival and a good quality of life for humans. In the last 2-3 years, there is increased awareness towards the importance of having ecology and conservation in the degree courses. I have seen more such courses being available. The situation is not so bad. But, yes the perspectives should be changing because these subjects of ecology, biodiversity, and wildlife conservation are equally important. Only when there is adequate awareness in academic institutes and decision-makers, will we have more of such courses.

Could you explain what entails your job role, and share your experiential learnings as a nature educator at the Centre for Environment Education? Please share your other employment experiences as well.

An advantage of being in Pune is the availability of many different biodiversity sites: hilly areas like Vetal hills (Western Ghats), grasslands, lakes like Pashan lake, alongside many sightseeing areas like Mulamutha river basin.

When I was pursuing my masters course in biodiversity, I used to conduct a science club as a volunteer educator in Jnana Prabodhini School in Pune. It is a school known for science communication and science popularization. They conduct various programmes including science camps. My first experience as an educator was during this one-and-a-half-year stint. Here, I went to Sinhagad and other biodiversity spots with the school students to teach them the concepts of biodiversity and expose them to various plants and animals. It is fun to make children appreciate nature by letting them observe and experience it by themselves.

I also helped to conduct some treks on behalf of CEE at Pashan Lake in Pune and got in touch with them while I was conducting nature trails. My current job at CEE is mostly about planning and conducting nature education events like bird trails at Pashan Lake in Pune. I also invite experts for tree walk events and arrange various nature education activities for children. These include puzzles and crosswords of bird names. These activities are conducted in a unique manner to ensure that kids learn and remember these small tidbits of knowledge. I always strive to find interesting and unique ways to teach children to engage their attention in discussions about nature and wildlife.

Apart from this, I also conduct a nature education course for bachelors students in environmental science from Fergusson College, where I teach them about the biodiversity existing in Pune as well as the importance and various aspects of conservation, and ways to be a good nature educator.

Additionally, I also conduct some informal workshops on mapping, statistics, and odonatology (study of dragonflies) with Dr Pankaj Koparde at MIT-WPU, Pune on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. I take different modules and lectures in these workshops as I am passionate about teaching.

Previously, my research stints took me from Nilgiris in Western Ghats for a landscape ecology project, to the urban scrublands of Bangalore for the social spiders project. It has been enjoyable to work on different projects within ecology and behavior.The experiences have provided me with a varied skill set in the ecology field. I have tried to impart my own views about the project and learn as much from the research as I can. I have been lucky to work with interesting study systems, particularly insects, in different ecosystems under the guidance of some fantastic professors.

Could you share some tips on how you facilitate collaborations with environmentalists and scientists?

Meeting the right people at the right time is crucial. I was lucky in that case because mentors can make or break your career. In this field, many things depend upon your guide and the guidance they impart. Guides and teachers need to be considerate of their students and their well-being.

I have worked with many professors including Dr Pankaj Koparde. I have collaborated with him the longest in the past 6/7 years in various roles. This collaboration has been very instrumental in shaping my journey. I first met him during a molecular phylogeny workshop that was conducted at Garware College. Professionally and personally, we were on the right page straightaway. His own thoughts about research inspired and influenced me a lot. Later, I worked for him as a project assistant on one of the projects as well, which was a very good learning experience for me. I also worked with him on some important surveys related to Covid-19 and am now working part time as a Programme Coordinator at his lab at MIT-WPU Pune.

There are other animal behavior scientists, with whom I have worked at IISER Mohali and Azim Premji University as a JRF. Overall, I have worked with a lot of scientists and the experience has been good so far. They have been very open to different ideas as well as approaches with constant good guidance.

Today, I am a part of many environmental groups wherein we try to come up with different ways of reducing our own carbon emissions and following a sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. Therefore, it always helps to stay in touch with such environmentalists for networking purposes and to experience a sense of community.

What are the different career opportunities in biodiversity and ecology? Kindly share with us some useful experiences that you have gained because of working on the field.

If anybody loves being outdoors and likes observing animals and birds, then a career in ecology and conservation is absolutely suitable for them. One must know that the conservation field is very hands-on. Fieldwork has two main types: on-ground intervention or simply observing a particular species. However, people have the misconception that fieldwork is always great and perfect. That’s not true at all. There are bad days where nothing is discovered nor observed. Sometimes the rains wash away the homes of antlions or other species, which you have been monitoring for some time. This is similar to having a bad day in the lab in research. There are all sorts of ups and downs like a rollercoaster. Luckily foe me, despite everything, my passion and interest in my field have kept me going for the past 10 years.

Academic institutes have openings for JRF/Project Assistant for Ecology projects. Besides science communication, numerous research-based jobs in ecology and wildlife conservation exist. These are monitoring jobs such as being a part of pollution control boards. Nowadays, a new type of job is getting popular: environmental and biodiversity assessments for infrastructural projects. These jobs are useful as there are many green infrastructures that are coming up.

There are also conservation NGOs that go above and beyond with their efforts for social improvement, wildlife conservation and environmental protection. NGOs are a good career option for those who want to work within wildlife but not academia.

Working in the Indian Forest Services is a viable career option too. Their recruitment comes after passing certain national-level exams organized by them. The roles available are Indian Forest Guard.

However, in India, this field only becomes a means of transition, as most of the education and training opportunities are available only at the postgraduate level. The foundation and basic concepts in ecology that can be developed in bachelors courses are lacking in many students. Therefore, we need government intervention and incentives to build many more courses related to ecology, biodiversity, and wildlife conservation at the undergraduate level. Even at the primary school level, students should be exposed to these subjects to inculcate sensitivity towards the wildlife and environment from a very young age. This will make them change their outlook: being more sensitive towards behaving with animals (eg: not unnecessarily buying pets of foreign breeds) and living sustainably.

The financial aspect in this field is also not very lucrative as compared to a research career in a private university or biotech. Hence, understandably parents object to their children taking up these fields. Thus passion, excitement, and satisfaction are important to power through and keep going. For me, nothing beats my unique experience in the field ie. following and studying an animal in the forest. This is a lot more than what money can buy for me actually.

What practical steps should the public undertake to fulfill goals set for climate change, wildlife and environment conservation?

The most basic thing one can do while visiting any natural space (park, lake or a hill) is to not disturb the fauna of that region. Avoid making a lot of noise and littering in that area. You are visiting the home of the animals and plants; you should behave like their courteous guest.

Indians should really consider the consequences of their actions towards fishes, animals, and birds. You don’t see misbehavior towards animals in other countries because their rules are strict with expensive fines. In India, if there are hefty fines and repercussions, only then would Indians listen.

What I have usually observed is that Indians behave very poorly in zoos and sanctuaries. They tease and disturb the animals by making loud noises. These actions are detrimental for the mental state of the animals. Already, animals are under a lot of stress in the zoos due to poor living conditions.

We should stop feeding birds and fishes with unhealthy and processed food items like popcorn, bread, and chips. This leads to them having high cholesterol in their bodies; which is naturally very unhealthy for them. Their digestive systems have not evolved sufficiently to digest the unhealthy oils and other ingredients in these foodstuffs. Therefore, I never encourage anyone to feed animals and birds in zoos and sanctuaries. I have never done it myself and I try to stop people from doing it. I understand that these people do not have ill intentions towards feeding these animals. Thus, I lecture them enough to convince them of their wrong actions.

For climate change, one should have a lifestyle which involves practically implementing ways to reduce one’s own carbon emissions. Small acts like walking to nearby places, using public transport like the metro and the bus services, are effective to reduce emissions. The more effectively these are implemented; it helps us to fight climate change. People should start thinking about this in terms of their own benefit. Consider equating maintenance of environmental health at the level of your own individual health. For example, how people start changing their lifestyle to reduce bad cholesterol levels; that’s how people should act with respect to carbon emissions. This is the only way to make people conscious of nature and act environment-friendly.

Waste management should achieve efficiency in India. The mantra: ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ should not be forgotten. All dry waste should be sent for recycling. One good sign is that the composting of wet waste has become very common these days.

Employing these small actions would definitely help us tackle climate change.

Madhura Kamat Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 19

3rd April 20233rd April 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the story of Sunil Nagpal, who is a computational biologist with a strong passion for science communication, which he explores through his Science communication series called #MicrobiomeMondays on LinkedIn as well as Twitter. In this candid chat, he talks at length about his journey as a science communicator, why it is essential for scientists to indulge in communicating their data to the general society and shares his views about the role of data science and machine learning in aiding biology/microbiology research.

Could you take us through your professional journey so far?

My professional journey commenced quite early back in 2003, as I took on the responsibility of tutoring primary and secondary school students while I was in 8th grade. This experience, apart from providing a much needed financial support, was priceless, as it helped shape my skills and interest in social communication. I received my entire school education from Army School, Fazilka (my hometown), where emphasis was profound on the core values of discipline, patience and perseverance. A lot of credit goes to my mother, grandfather and other kind souls who ensured continuity and quality of my education.

Upon completing my undergraduate degree (B.Tech) in Biotechnology at LPU in Punjab, I qualified for GATE 2010 and 2011, that helped me secure a place in the Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in the MS (Research) program. One of the many highlights of my time at IIT Delhi was the student-managed placement cell, responsible for inviting companies to the campus. I had volunteered to serve as the placement coordinator for my department, a decision I would confidently make again if given the chance to revisit those days.

A memorable milestone in my career occurred on December 12, 2012 (12/12/12), when I received a job offer from TCS Research’s Life Science R&D for the role of a Researcher. It has been a decade, and I now humbly hold the title of Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator at TCS R&D, focusing on the Microbiome and Data Science research areas. I am also pursuing industry sponsored doctoral research at CSIR IGIB, India.

The majority of my research endeavors have been computational in nature, encompassing extensive clinical, genomic and metagenomic data handling, machine learning, network biology, and natural language processing, among other fields. The primary objective of our research is to uncover the intricate role that the vast micro-cosmos, or microbiome, plays in regulating the health of humans and their environment. I am particularly drawn towards exploring the vast spectrum of microbial social communication, genome language modeling, and the tumor microbiome.

It may amuse you to know that during my time as a Biochemical Engineering student at IIT Delhi, my exposure to computational research was very limited. However, despite my relatively minimal experience in the field, I was fortunate enough to be hired for a core computational job. Reflecting on my journey as someone who has since interviewed numerous candidates across various domains, I can safely say that hiring decisions often hinge on the attitude and aptitude candidates bring to the table.

More often than not, a candidate’s agility and adaptability in acquiring new and uncharted skills is given a lot of importance. I hope this may bring home a realization and assurance that your educational background does not dictate the scope of your opportunities. With the right mindset and dedication to learning, there is no skill beyond your reach, and no limit to what you can achieve in your professional life.

What piqued your interest in science communication?

Ever since I was a young tutor, I have had a tendency for communication. As a child, I was always captivated by tales, eagerly listening with my palm placed under my chin. During my school years, I was involved in theatre and founded ‘Biotheatre’ in college. To this day, my presentations concentrate on the underlying story that drives a theme and I find great contentment in the moments of telling those tales. My job fuels this interest even further. Every project that we undertake has a fascinating story to be unfolded and told.

How do microbes dictate the nature of pregnancy (term or preterm)?

How does fasting influence the complex interactions among the host microbiota?

How does the tumor- microenvironment influence the microbial ecology?

These are some of the projects that I have actually worked on and I can’t imagine explaining my research to anyone without emphasizing on the curiosity that drives these research problems and how we connected the dots to rightly place even one piece of a puzzle. Science communication has perhaps/likely been a natural development of my profession and overall enthusiasm for recounting tales.

Should scientists consider publicizing their study and its implications as a regular aspect of their job? What are your opinions on this question?

Instead of viewing scientific communication as publicity, I believe scientists should consider sharing their research and its implications as a vital form of expression and outreach. By openly discussing the journey, discoveries, struggles and successes behind their studies, one can not only contribute to society but also foster their own growth. Firstly, this process can help develop essential scientific communication skills, ensuring that even the most complex subjects can be understood by a wider or lay audience. Secondly, sharing research can facilitate connections with individuals who hold similar or opposing views, potentially leading to fruitful collaborations and advancements in the field. And third, positive public image emerging out of one’s eagerness to express their science quite often places scientists as approachable figures who are eager to engage with others and share their expertise.

I would therefore indeed opine that an active dissemination of research findings should be considered an integral aspect of a scientist’s role, for it promotes both personal development and societal progress.

What are the unanswered topics you’d want to see resolved in your field of Computational Biology (Microbiome Science)?

I am particularly passionate about exploring the different ways in which microorganisms communicate socially in their natural or artificial habitats. How do they sense the changes to their environment, and how do they interact with other members of their community when their environment has changed? Could this social network of microbes be manipulated in order to rectify an imbalance, create useful compounds, or produce molecules of interest? I’m fascinated by the social lives of these organisms and will continue to search for answers and insights.

How do you feel that data science and machine learning are going to assist/advance the life sciences (specifically microbiology) research?

If we look back, DS/ML have been assisting life science research for decades. Calibration curves for predicting the concentrations in unknown samples by comparing them to the values of known or standard samples is such a simple and beautiful example of data science and machine learning that every biologist has, quite unknowingly, for ages been practicing in their lab!

The evolution of computers and increasing storage and compute power have made it easier to process and manage data today, much of which in the past was managed manually or painstakingly in legacy Excel sheets. This, coupled with the advancement in technologies like Next-generation sequencing (NGS), generating petabyte scale of genomic and metagenomic data, have only made the influence of data science more profound on life science and particularly microbiological research.

Sharing my own experiences – we have employed Data Science and ML routines to:

1) Develop predictive models for cancer diagnosis using inherent microbial signatures

2) Predict the day of delivery of an unborn child using mother’s microbial profile

3) Develop agent based models for microbial social communication

4) Prepare massive databases of microbial functions to accelerate drug discovery

5) Develop digital twins of human organs like gut and simulate microbial metabolism within said twins for nutritional recommendations, probiotic formulations and more

6) Employ explainable AI to enable predictive prognosis of various diseases including SARS-CoV-2 infection

7) Develop language models of genomic datasets using natural language processing

So, while algorithms and data science methodologies have been around for a long time, it’s only recently that the means to use them at a large scale have become available. I therefore would not get surprised by further cross pollination of ideas from Data science to (Micro)Biology.

Ultimately, data science is just a tool – identifying a problem, finding the right solution, and making sure the machine is picking the right patterns requires domain expertise.

How would you urge young/early-career scientists to pursue a career in scientific communication/journalism? What advice do you wish you had received when you first started out?

I have always been a firm believer of the cosmic realm. Given the immense size of the universe, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed while living on this small pale blue dot, i.e. Earth. Although it is perhaps difficult to explore and understand the entire cosmos during our individual lifetimes, we can still broaden our perspectives by connecting with different timelines. One way to do this is through communication, either scientific or otherwise. If science interests you, sharing your own knowledge or the knowledge that exists, with the public can increase your enthusiasm for the subject. For me, science communication is not a requirement of my job but something I do in my free time as a hobby. Most of my day is devoted to investigating the scientific concepts in genomics/metagenomics and analyzing the data pertaining to them. I consistently lean towards sharing my knowledge and often the excitement about my research. This probably enables me to easily share what I find interesting about microbiomes and related areas. I may not be the best person to advice anyone about a career in science communication, however from my personal experience, I find it highly gratifying. If you are someone who loves to interact with people, if you love to read, love to deliver public talks, if you find yourself with an insatiable appetite for knowledge, then without any doubt a career in science communication will be best suited to cater to each of the above interests, for you!

About the advice that I wish I should have received when I started out – To be true, I started receiving advices only after I started SciComm and those were in fact quite relevant given the juncture at which I was in my scientific communication journey.

One of the most valuable and well placed advice that I continue to cherish is, “Do not get influenced by the magnitude of response to your outreach activities. You started it with an intrinsic motivation, ensure that you continue to do it, without being bothered by either a limited or an extraordinary response”.

Raksha Sharma Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 18

27th March 202327th March 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the story of Radhika Vaishnav, who has donned various hats in her stellar career so far- as an R&D consultant, a SciComm enthusiast (teaching and mentoring), a college faculty, and an executive editor for the International Journal of Molecular and Immuno Oncology. In this candid discussion, she talks about how she pursued teaching and mentoring during her academic journey, and shares her opinions about the relevance of science communication for a researcher at any level.

What directed you to pursue science communication after professorship tenures at different institutes, mentoring young scientists, and academic editing?

I followed the traditional path during my initial career days. I did my BSc in Zoology and MSc in Biochemistry from MSU, Vadodara in the 90s. Then, I went to the US, because at that time you required 4 years of UG in order to pursue your PhD. I began my PhD at Loyola University Chicago, took a break for personal reasons (marriage and moving around different US cities) and subsequently rejoined my PhD program at the University of Kentucky at Lexington, Kentucky. The first PhD stint ended in a Masters degree on Molecular biology in cancer. It also led to my very first publication in the same field.

Despite my initial traditional track, my career meandered a bit from the usual. I settled in Lexington for my doctorate and postdoctorate. After that, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky for a full-time faculty position at the University of Louisville. Then, I decided to move back to India. Although I did not continue my track as a full-time faculty, I realized I was missing scientific interaction and communication that was integral to an academic scientist’s role. So a year or two after moving back to Vadodara, India, I took to mentoring clinicians locally and nationally in data analysis, presentation and writing of research articles for publication in journals.

I started actively carrying out academic editing in the capacity of a freelancer. I had always enjoyed writing and communicating. In fact, after high school, in the early 90s, one of the options I had considered for a career was journalism. I loved Biology, though, and in those days, doing the sciences alongside humanities was not even given as an option in school or college in India. My father was a strong orator, writer and was a Hemato-oncologist who opened up my mind to the possibility of Molecular Biology and its’ immense future.

Two decades later, I have merged my love of language with my depth in life sciences as a scientific writer, editor and educator.

What influenced you to choose a specialized subject like molecular biology for your second master’s degree in the US; after obtaining your UG and PG degrees from India in interdisciplinary subjects?

Once I finished my UG and PG degrees from MSU, Vadodara, India; I decided I wanted to get into molecular biology. I got influenced by 3 dynamic teachers. The first one was in my UG, Prof. Nene who taught me Biochemistry. She was a dedicated teacher who spent her weekends teaching us biochemical pathways out in the college corridors in an unconventional manner.

I was also blessed to have inspiring teachers in my PG; who were limitless in their teaching capabilities. For example, there was Prof. Acharya who had a science book club where we read many books authored by great scientists such as Feynman, Richard Dawkins, etc. We also put together a library in our Biochemistry department on the basis of student contribution of buying a book every month. Over the course of my masters, me and my fellow classmates had built a science library together; which was an inspiring activity for all.

Prof. Harish Padh had formed a small group of people from Vadodara called the “Biotechnology Interest Group.” He would invite all of us college students to come and attend their seminars. Additionally, a few of us would have a “Business in Biotechnology” session where we would indulge in student-driven round table discussions about various topics in the business of biotechnology.

I had excellent teachers and professors who would think outside the box and help me dream about what I could achieve. This, along with my own parents being in the field of life sciences, directed me to consider a career in biotechnology or molecular biology.

Molecular biology in cancer was in its baby stages with knowledge being more theoretical than practical since the protocols were still being established. That was why I chose molecular biology and I was fortunate to get into a PhD program at the Loyola University of Chicago Cancer Center in 1998. I began my work under Dr L Miele wherein I was studying the role of NOTCH-1 in transformation of normal cells into malignant ones. Around that time, telomerase, RAS, and other oncogenes/tumor suppressors were just being understood. It was an exciting time, as it paved the way for future targeted therapies that we all see today. I put my Ph.D. on hold when I married and moved for a couple years to Portland where I worked as a research scientist at the Department of Molecular Medicine, Oregon Health and Sciences University. My husband and I took turns in supporting each other in our career ambitions.

How did these foundational degrees contribute to your teaching/mentorship experience?

I think having a foundational degree in life sciences helped me a lot because I have been able to identify with students at all levels and from all walks of life. Not having a specialized curriculum from the beginning gives you a lot of versatility to formulate a career in science communication or teaching. It helps to develop a very broad understanding because you are able to move into, communicate and understand any area in the biological sciences. On this, you can steadily build and specialize if you choose to go into research.

You never know about the future, one door opens, another closes. It helps to have a variety of different experiences even if we do choose a research path. Hence, over the years please do keep a couple of other interests going on. Don’t just put all your apples in one basket because life is uncertain. Something interesting may come up and you may want to change your direction in the future. I have mentored many students and I am firm about being flexible and having a solid knowledge base. Knowledge is important but you also need a lot more than that to go through life.

Was it providence or an informed choice that brought you to pursue molecular neuroscience in neurodegeneration/injury for your PhD and Post-doctoral research?

After Portland, we moved to Lexington, Kentucky where my husband Dr. Anand Vaishnav and I both pursued our academic track. We stayed with a friend while interviewing there, and she introduced me to a scientist couple who eventually became my PhD guides i.e. Dr. Tom & Dr. Marilyn Getchell. Initially, I joined their lab as a research analyst and was responsible for overseeing all the students and managing all the research activities in the lab. Eventually, I decided to continue with my PhD which I had halted when I left Loyola. Since their work was in molecular degeneration and regeneration of the olfactory system, I chose a project in that field and finally started my PhD at Sanders Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky. It was an interesting environment where they were working on Alzheimer’s disease and aging to find early markers of the former. Autopsy or biopsy samples from humans and mouse models were utilized. Eventually, I got more interested in bioenergetics of neurons because of my keen interest in mitochondria associated with oxidative damage that can occur in the nervous system due to internal or external factors, causing degeneration of these cells.

My postdoctoral research was awarded an individual NIH fellowship on the topic of “Therapeutic Strategies for Neurodegeneration and Spinal Cord Injury” under Dr Edward Hall, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCOBIRC), University of Kentucky.

As per your previous interview from the Young Scientist Leader (YSL) program organized by Dr Felix Bast, you have participated in many certification programs and science outreach activities since your undergraduate years. How do you see such (perceived) extra-curricular activities being of help to aspiring researchers or PhD students?

I would not prefer to use the term ‘extracurricular activities’ here, because I believe once you are pursuing doctoral or postdoctoral research, you are no longer a traditional student. You are not attending classes only to take exams. You are actually more of an apprentice during this time. Any other skills that you wish to acquire, can also be pursued. It can be an individual or group activity. I have done numerous such activities throughout my education and career.

For example, while I was pursuing my postdoc, we (myself and Dr. Theresa Thomas) had built together a postdoctoral group called SCoBIRC Postdoc Group. This driving force for the formation of this group was a realization that there is teaching and mentoring all throughout one’s education, but by the time you are a postdoctoral fellow, sometimes you lose that structure of going to a PI and acquiring guidance. So here, in this group, we had regular meetings and we would take turns presenting, especially if someone had an upcoming job interview or any kind of conference presentation. We would be the peers/teammates/classmates who would listen to and critique each other. We made it a very collegial and constructive activity.

In the US, the doctoral and postdoctoral communities are very multicultural. We would also have occasional social activities like Potluck and multicultural programs. All these activities are not exactly ‘extracurricular’, but they enrich the already existing curriculum.

Science communication stems from being able to communicate what you do. It has to start with you being able to explain what you do. I had a professor at Loyola University, Dr. Katherine Knight who used to tell us that one should be able to explain their research in a limited time- 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or max. 30 minutes. Everything does not have to be a long-winding presentation or a 45-minute lecture. If someone asks you to explain your research in under 5 minutes to them, you should be able to pitch your research and grab the audience’s attention by making it interesting as well as wrapping it up within the time limit.

While I was a faculty at the University of Louisville, my department (Department of Physiology, with Joint appointment in Neurology and Neurosurgery) sponsored a certification program in entrepreneurship with Kauffman Foundation where we would meet experts and were encouraged to take an idea from its conception to visualization/startup. Here, we were told to sell our idea in either 11 mins or 1 min elevator pitches. Initially, we did the latter. We were critiqued and trained in the same manner all throughout the course.

Elevator pitches include meeting laymen/potential investors in an elevator and your response to their question of “Hey! What do you do?” Depending on what you say in the next minute, the other person will make a decision right there whether they want to listen to you or not. So, you can imagine putting together everything you want to say within this minute, is not a cakewalk. Starting up the Journal IJMIO, working with the team, expanding it and currently stewarding it into a legacy for clinician-scientists to communicate has been possible thanks to these lessons learnt.

During my PhD, I started teaching in a community college on the weekends over the topic of Physiology. I had learnt it in depth over the years because the broad subject of my PhD was the Physiology despite my research area being neuroscience. I continued over the years to teach Physiology along with other Life Science subjects at colleges including my current affiliation as Adjunct Faculty, Life Sciences, IvyTech Community College, Indianapolis, Indiana.

So these types of things are always happening in parallel. You are not just doing one thing. You are teaching, communicating, building something, trying to put together a startup company, failing at it, while you are doing doctoral or postdoctoral research or being a faculty member. Someone did ask me to join a new steering committee to try to put together a novel neuroscience course with a very new faculty. Despite all the challenges, I did that. I was the one who would hardly say no to any self-improvement opportunities within the field. This is why I would not call these activities ‘extracurricular’. Hobbies and artistic activities can be considered ‘extracurricular activities’. But activities like science communication, being able to prepare and deliver your research pitch are co-curricular, skill-building and life-changing activities, that can actually strengthen your career profile and who you are. In the future, one or all of these will make you unique as opposed to only gaining knowledge through education.

How did you get associated with IJMIO (International Journal of Molecular and Immuno Oncology)? Please introduce us to your journey there

I did not get introduced to IJMIO but rather, I was one of the founding members of the journal.

So, in 2016, I was attending a molecular oncology conference with my father, an oncologist, Dr. Divyesh Mehta, who was giving a talk and he introduced me to his friend Dr. Purvish Parikh who was there as a faculty member. I told him about how I wanted to do something different – to leave a legacy. He offered the role of honorary executive editor at the International Journal of Molecular and Immuno Oncology. The journal was to be launched soon and he was putting together a small start-up team, which I joined.

Our goal at the journal is to encourage people who are from a clinical background, to come out of their comfort zone and actually write and communicate their work. Many people are still not communicating whatever they are observing in their clinics or their research. Hence, there is so much potential to do more. We also give encouragement to new authors and look forward to their work being published. The journal is the official journal of the Molecular Oncology Society under the current able leadership of editor Dr. Randeep Singh and a multispecialty team of oncologists on the editorial board.

It has been a very exciting activity for me because I am at the forefront of a field that is continuously undergoing a lot of change and development. So, I really chose to do this to keep myself on my toes as I am forced to read and learn constantly and stay active.

According to you, what improvements can be made in education, mentoring, and research environments in India to be on par with the USA?

Knowledge is not what is setting India apart from the US or any other country. You need to have an environment that supports or encourages fundamental research. Without the society getting interested or involved, the funding will cease.

In the US, funding comes largely from the NIH, NSF, and other similar agencies which are government-based or private foundations (Eg: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). These funds come from the public i.e. taxpayer’s money or donations. Basically, you need to empower the people and you can only do that by giving them knowledge and making them feel comfortable about research. Now, in India, there are people who are willing to donate money to hospitals, NGOs for the underprivileged, religious activities, education, children, food drives, etc. But having an actual system where everyone pays taxes and a certain percent of taxes go into funding research automatically will encourage research job creation as well as encourage our research talent to stay within our country. This change has to come from the grassroot level. For that, the public has to be included in the entire story of scientific research. For that, you have to communicate science to them: what you are doing and why you are doing it. The COVID-19 pandemic did bring that change in communication.

Moreover, science is connected. It has no boundaries. I do not look at science as being limited by national borders. I do not know if it is an unpopular opinion or not, but honestly when you are a pure scientist, you think only about science. It does not matter where you live or work. But scientists are people who have families– children, parents. Hence, we want to stay in a certain place. Once you do that, you need to sustain yourself. However noble you may feel your profession is, you want to do research and solve problems, you do need to be able to support your family. If you cannot, you will leave science or research, for sure. You will find something else because obviously you are smart and hardworking enough to get into a masters or a PhD.

The only thing that is very sad is that we have already spent a significant part of our youth preparing ourselves to be a scientist. When it comes to supporting your family, if you need to either leave the country or change your profession, then something is just not quite right yet in India. I think that we need more awareness and that is where science communication begins to gain importance.

How is this scenario changing in India, with years passing by?

Internet, globalization, and access to knowledge have been groundbreaking for research in India. Internet has been a great equalizer; so people from all over the world have access to the same knowledge. You have YouTube videos, and online PDFs of textbooks today which are very different from our days. Back then, we had to go to the library and find interesting articles from the paperback journals that were subscribed to. We were sometimes limited by the availability of resources in the library. Since all we had were paper-based journals, we had to make do with whatever was available. Those days at the beginning of my education were very different compared to now where we have everything thanks to the Internet.

The pandemic in the last 2-3 years changed many things. For example, because of the pandemic, everyone in India and around the world came to know about RT-PCR. This was impossible before the pandemic.

It is now possible for an Indian individual who has not undergone advanced education to know what a virus is, what immunity is, what PCR is, and that you need to get vaccines. Most importantly, today the Indian public knows that you need research to solve everyday problems, and it can save lives during an emergency. This is what is needed. I think we did an excellent job of communication during the pandemic. This is the spirit that needs to continue. We need to build up that energy in our own country where people love science and research and want to support it.

Please enlighten students (like myself) about notable research domains/ SciComm ventures to be explored.

Science policy is a critical area where SciComm is very valuable. Many opportunities are available globally for individuals who can act as a bridge between scientists and the community/government. Another notable field is working for large foundations. Companies such as pharmaceuticals and technology-based require content creation for education, marketing and awareness. Any of these roles would require strong communication skills.

Knowing multiple languages is a great advantage in science communication as scientific writers who can reach across languages are highly valuable. I would suggest following Wellcome Alliance, India Bioscience, United Nations, WHO, EMBO, AAAS and various international foundations which are devoted to scientific communication.

Follow your heart honestly in terms of what field to pursue. Ignore what other people say. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Add to the experience, build on it, and make yourself unique. Don’t settle or get disheartened in the case of bad mentors or professors. That’s a learning experience too. Everything adds to your experience. Take it in a positive way, cut your losses, and move on. When you have a positive mentor or a positive experience, take it in your stride. Get as much out of it as you can. However, do not be just a taker, be a giver as well. While you are learning, give back your knowledge to society by communicating. Take a few students under your wing and pass on any knowledge/skills that you have gained so far. It is extremely rewarding and essential for humankind and the future. We share what we know.

Experiences like the pandemic have taught us life is short and uncertain. All that knowledge is of no use if we have not shared it. My plea to everyone is that regardless of whatever field you choose- be it academia, any private profession, or a biotech company, please do not stop communicating in the form of teaching and mentoring. Prepare students for tomorrow at any level. There is no work that is too small for scientists. If you can take a few 5-year-olds and make them excited about something, that is absolutely fine as you are already doing a noble deed. You are already doing enough to show others that you are capable of bringing about a positive change. Getting educated is fine, but giving back is invaluable and absolutely priceless. I fervently request you all to do it.

You have been my mentor for many projects in the last two years. I have always admired your calm, composed but tenacious attitude to solving problems. Could you share with us a memorable mentorship/teaching experience that has changed your perspective, and contributed towards your own learning process?

When you are on the track of getting a PhD/becoming a scientist, you do need people who are very calm, caring, as well as resilient in your life. They continue to steer you back into the right direction. In my case, I wanted to be a scientist and a professor.

In this path, there will be many roadblocks and hurdles: your papers getting rejected and designed experiments failing most of the times. During your doctoral degree journey, you feel like a failure numerous times. On the other hand, when you go home, your family must be wondering: what in the world do you do? Why do you spend so many hours in a lab? Many a time, you may not be able to answer such questions to their satisfaction.

Usually, it is such an esoteric topic that you are working upon: one small molecule inside one small organelle and some organism that nobody in your family has ever heard of. Then you are trying to explain it in a way that they understand by telling them that it is related to a certain disease. You also want to make your response interesting to them, so that they know you are not wasting your life on something that they do not actually understand. They are proud and happy of your achievements. However, they do not really know what you do. Even my family members can only give a very vague description of anything that I ever did. Very few people in your family and friends will pick up your papers and read them. This is the life you are leading. You are living in a bubble and everyone around you is doing something else in their lives. There is a big gap.

You have a continuous impostor syndrome going on during your doctorate. After months of framing and validating your thesis, you are faced with your PhD defense viva panel and the audience. As an ambivert, you wish to not sound boring during your thesis defense.

Hence, one of my memorable mentorship experiences was with my PhD mentor Dr. Thomas Getchell. We worked during evenings and weekends to improve my PhD presentation through inculcating various tips provided by him. His gestures of caring and taking time to improve my presentation helped me tremendously. One of his tips were that during a presentation, in order to sound knowledgeable, it need not be long but it must be interesting. The details should be kept out of the presentation or else you will have slides which are just full of words which no one wants to listen to. In this way, I started to learn many presentation skills in my final year of PhD. So my final PhD defense was the first time in my life where I could speak confidently in front of an audience. Honestly, I give all credit to him. I wish I had learnt all of this earlier.

Another tip that was given to me was that I should sit in the front in an audience during a lecture and always ask one question. Perhaps my PhD mentor understood my introverted behavior, which no one else did before. I was used to the untrue feedback from my peers of being under confident, unprepared, and unready during my MSc presentations. Instead, I would love to prepare the subject beforehand thoroughly and could always write flawlessly. But during my speech in front of an audience, I used a lot of linker words like “um”, “uh” during pauses. This persists till the present day.

I just wanted to say that the memorable moments are when someone is humane despite being a great professor/researcher. If one is able to be honest about having an impostor syndrome despite being a professor, and lead by example as to how they overcame that, that honesty works like magic. This strategy works for me even today. I always project this viewpoint to my students. I always remind myself to show them that I do not know everything but I am a human and have been through a lot of things which helped me learn and gain wisdom. By this virtue, I have something to teach them as well.

Madhura Kamat Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 17

20th March 202320th March 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the journey of Somdatta Karak who works as a science communicator and public outreach officer. Connecting with students and helping them grow professionally is her all time favorite job. In this candid chat she takes us through her professional journey and talks about her life as an educator and science communicator.

What inspired your transition from a Neuroscientist to a Science Communication and Public outreach officer? How have you managed to make the most of this transition, while overcoming the challenges that you faced?

My journey from neurosciences to science communication happened through first transitioning into the education sector.

As a neuroscientist, a lot of my work has been on understanding how fruitflies use their senses to collect information from the world around and remember them. I often think these have steered me into thinking how we humans collect and make sense of their information. And education sector felt like the most suitable playground for me to foray into these questions.

In addition, this sector also allows me to build content and platforms that are informed by our modern-day understanding of neurosciences. So, there are enough commonalities in the questions we ask in both the sectors- research as well as education.

What differs are the cultures in each of these sectors. Research can allow for a lot of solitary thinking. Your work is very objective. Education on the other hand is a much more people-oriented work. You cannot think of students who you are working with as mere subjects of your questions. They are humans, first who are leading real lives unlike the controlled conditions of subjects in a laboratory. I think it was very difficult for me to transition into the mode of working with and for humans, where I am not an experimenter anymore, but rather a part of their community. But the time spent with students, led me towards a deeper understanding of their lives and also helped me become a part of their lives. That led to a change in my mindset.

From there, transitioning into science communication was rather easy. As an educator, I had identified the many gaps between those who create new knowledge and develop new technologies, and the young people who are the supposed beneficiaries of these. My current work largely focuses on bridging these gaps, via different platforms.

What do you think makes science communication an interesting career option?

I like that as a science communicator, one can identify which topics they want to work on, which communities they would like to work with, what medium they want to employ. I like being in a space that offers fluidity for many people with diverse backgrounds, expertise and interests to come together and build tangible products and spaces. Science communication is a field in which people can build careers in many different ways, depending upon the specific roles they want to take up, the demography they want to reach out to and so on.

What according to you, is the role of illustrations and artwork in science communication?

I think tt helps for any form of communication/learning to be multi-sensorial. In my work revolving around the young people, I have often collaborated with visual artists to make the content more visual-heavy and low on text. I have done that primarily because India’s literacy levels and reading abilities are very poor. So, while I like the words in my content to convey only the most important objective, the context-setting is done by the illustrations and art. The visuals make the content more inviting, and less intimidating. They allow for adding layers of information that I might not want to put out in words (which might make the content word-heavy and complex) but those looking closely at the visuals will find them anyway. Together, they make the content more wholesome.

What are the possible entrepreneurial opportunities in science that students can explore, apart from research and industry?

Training in science teaches you the art of asking the right questions, finding answers to those questions and also takes you to the depth of understanding the world, while familiarizing you with some of the most cutting-edge technologies.

This is unique because every science student should, in theory, be able to ask a question or identify an existing problem and think of addressing it in their own unique ways. There are many pressing problems in the equality of access towards knowledge, education, healthcare, and everything else that is needed for a better life and upward mobility. And each of them present opportunities for young students that can be explored and worked on further.

Coming back to the question, I think it is entrepreneurial if you can identify your own unique question that you wish to work on. Then you can work on it through being a researcher, or contributing towards it through an industry (which is basically a team of people working in the sector) – started by you or by someone else, or by being a policymaker, or an artist who brings forth matters that we otherwise don’t notice – the list can go on, and they are all equally important, useful as well as doable.

But I must also mention the feasibility of any of these career paths that you identify for yourself. Pick something that interests you, but also something that you have a formal training in. Training can come from your educational background, the community that you have grown up in, or fellowships and work experience. It is important to build the right network of people, to find the right opportunities and also money to pursue the work (of your interest).

What strategies could students employ to ‘rewire and make the brain more adaptable and flexible‘ in a competitive world and within the current educational system?

Here are a few things that students can keep in mind and try to implement-

Pick an area of study that interests you. You might be fascinated by the technologies that the field is building or the depth of our understanding of the world around us that it is enabling. Get trained in it.
During your training, find a question that is unanswered/unaddressed.
Do not be overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem. Figure out how you can bridge at least one part of the problem tangibly. What exactly will you do differently that will address (even a part of) the problem?
Network with people who are working towards the same direction. If possible, intern with them while you are studying or after it. It will give you a more real-world view of the problems.

Satya Santoshi Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 16

13th March 202320th March 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the journey of Lakshita Chauhan , who is the first (Senior) Genetic Counselor of the Defense Forces of India in the Army Hospital. She is currently a Senior Genetic Counselor on a consultancy basis with Mapmygenome which provides actionable steps for individuals and their physicians combining genetic health profile and health history with genetic counseling.

With a soaring passion and commitment to the field of genetic counseling, she continues to put her best foot forward.

In this candid discussion, she speaks at length about her journey, while carving out a career in genetic counseling.

Having come from a diverse educational background, what caught your interest in Genetic Counseling?

I still remember when I was in class eight, I learned about genetics and biotechnology. Since then, genetics was stuck in my mind. I always wanted to study more about it and work in the same field. I was sure I did not want to be a researcher or work in research labs, so my search for the field was narrowed down to Genetic Counseling. I had no godfathers to guide me in this field so I started my own exploration. When I first read about genetic counseling, I felt – “This is it! This brings an end to my search. This is what I want!”

Which educational qualification(s) would lead an aspirant toward genetic counseling?

I myself have completed a PG diploma in Genetic Counseling.

However, in India it is not mandatory to have a master’s in Genetic Counseling (GC). A prerequisite for training as a genetic counselor is either:

B.Sc + M.Sc (total 5 years) or,
B.Tech (4 years) in health sciences and allied fields, or
B.Sc + 1-year Diploma course in Genetic Counseling (total 4 years).

Once an individual trains under a GC, they write the certification exam conducted by the Board of Genetic Counseling India (BGCI), to practice as a GC.

Separately, students from a medical background (MBBS and MD degrees) can pursue a doctorate of medicine (DM) course in Medical Genetics (3 years) and then opt for a career in genetic counseling.

Please share your views on the scope of Genetic Counseling in India.

According to me, the scope and demand of GC is growing in every domain.

Looking back, a decade ago, Indian society was largely unaware of genetic counseling. Even if they were aware, the clinicians were not accommodative of the field, and hardly felt the need for it. But now, the medical bodies and society are welcoming the GC profession with open arms.

As the rate of prevalence of diagnosing genetic conditions is gradually increasing, and understanding the report is not everyone’s cup of tea, people have started acknowledging the significance of a genetic counselor in India.

What is the most satisfying part of your work, as a GC?

Being the first GC of the Defense Forces says it all!

I feel honored and blessed to be a part of such an organization. I can get valuable clinical exposure and every single day I meet a new family with diverse perspectives and understanding of their health condition, genetic testing, and cultural beliefs. Counseling, diagnosing, and helping out patients and their families, especially when they are heartbroken, showing them a ray of hope is what I have always wanted from my life.

How important is regional language proficiency, for a practicing genetic counselor in India?

It plays a crucial role in this profession. Not everyone is comfortable with the national language. A large part of those who need genetic counseling, understand it best in their native language. I believe that as genetic counselors we need to build a rapport and make our patients and their family comfortable. It is always a two-way street. If my consultee is confused or is left in doubt due to the language, then it is a barrier to delivering essential information.

It is necessary for the families to comprehend the knowledge and hence, language cannot act as a deterrent.

Having experienced both, a clinical lab and a hospital setting, could you compare the two, in terms of the work profile as a genetic counselor.

There are three different aspects that we can discuss here:

In terms of the frequency of patients – I have observed that the number of patients and their follow-up rate is good in the setting of an army hospital. But if I talk about private or government hospitals in India, genetic testing is still quite expensive and it is inversely proportional to the number of patients.

Comparing this with clinical labs that offer genetic counseling, the sample size could be quite high due to the presence of the lab in multiple cities. Unfortunately in a lab setting – clinical exposure as a genetic counselor, ample patient interaction, and follow-up is something that is still lacking.

In terms of the patient’s acceptance of the counseling offered – In India, a family trusts the counseling provided in a hospital setting when compared to a lab setting. Therefore, when counseling is offered in a hospital setting, patients are more welcoming and accepting.

Job-related perspective for genetic counselors – As I mentioned above, the field is gradually expanding and genetic counselors are in demand, in metro cities. Although we still need to work hard to spread awareness and promote genetic counseling and its importance. We need to work to make it a better place for newcomers in this field.

Khyati Arora Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 15

6th March 20236th March 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the story of Dr Mahita Jarjapu, who is a Bioinformatics Researcher & a postdoctoral fellow at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, San Diego, California, USA.

Being a researcher with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, only fuels her sheer grit and determination to continue thriving and building a Career in Academia. She also vouches for empowering other researchers who have disabilities, to make a significant mark in STEM fields.

In this candid discussion, she speaks at length about her interdisciplinary research journey, sheds light on how she overcame the challenges faced due to her disability, while suggesting some simple, and practical measures that society at large can adopt in order to practice inclusivity.

What inspired your transition from a masters in chemistry to a PhD in biology?

I did my BSc in Biology (Botany, Zoology, Chemistry). I have always been interested in biology from my school days. During my BSc, I started developing an interest in Chemistry. So, during my MSc, my interest in the interface of biology and chemistry grew. Basically, I have always been interested in this because I wanted to understand how biology works at the molecular level. Molecular Biology involves protein molecules and their interactions. These interactions come under the domain of chemistry. Hence, this is what I wanted to do for my PhD.

We have divided our understanding of the universe into different disciplines (physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics). In reality, all these principles come into play simultaneously. Presently, even in science, when we are trying to solve a problem or investigate a research question, we tend to look at it from only one point of view; we do not consider other factors that are outside our area. For example, you take the interactions between two cells. From the perspective of biology, you will observe the proteins involved in both the protein and cellular interactions. If observed through physics, cells are dynamic and not static. All these factors need to be considered. If you want a complete picture of the problem for solving it effectively, you need to look at it through the lenses of different disciplines.

Your current research journey has been filled with immunology, omics, computational protein biology, structural biology, and bioinformatics. What influenced you to choose interdisciplinary research for your career?

As I explained earlier, it is important to look at the context or the bigger picture. So, I understand that it can be difficult because if you have done MSc in chemistry and you go and do a PhD in Biology, then you have to revise many concepts. I have to admit that in the beginning there will always be a steep learning curve but if you can overcome that, then it is worth it. I have benefitted from this. After my MSc in Chemistry, when I started my PhD, my knowledge of biology was very poor. So, when you do a PhD, you have to clear a qualifying exam after two years of enrolling into the PhD program. This qualifying exam is tough because the question paper is designed to apply your knowledge instead of being fact-based. For that, you need to have a very good understanding of biology concepts. Hence, for the first two years, I had to spend a lot of time catching up with my knowledge of biology. After I gained that knowledge, I could put together a lot of my chemistry knowledge gained from my MSc. Having these two subjects together helped me to look at the question from multiple perspectives. I think that is very important when you are approaching your problem. It will teach you how to design an experiment and will also tell you whether the experiment is feasible; or what would be the drawbacks of the experiment. The experiment will solve one question but it will also lead to another question. Hence, you have to keep all these factors in your mind. This is the reason why I wanted to work across disciplines.

My PhD was mainly in Bioinformatics but I did not have any working knowledge about coding. I had to teach myself to practice, which is not very difficult. You can learn it yourself through online courses. From personal experience, it is better to learn anything involving wet lab research in real time. You need practical experience with a wet lab. These practical experiences are not possible to obtain when learning from online courses. But, coding languages can be learnt online for dry lab work. Initially, if you want a career in wet lab and then want to switch to dry lab, you need to have more practical experiences first. Later, you can teach yourself coding online.

For my first postdoctoral research at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA, even though the focus of the lab was in computational biology, it was located in the Computer Science department. Most of my friends were computer science graduates. In my lab, we had people who were working towards a PhD degree in computer science and their research involved developing different algorithms that could be applied to address problems in biology. If you are a PhD in Biology, you would have to apply it in computer science. That was something new for me because I had to learn computer science. I had to write code and use it to generate data. The computational time and memory usage taken by the algorithm needs to be kept in mind while writing a code for it.

Now, in my current postdoctoral research, I deal majorly with immunology. So, whatever I learnt in computer science, I apply and develop it to investigate questions in immunology.

How did your research interests lead you to your current Post-doctoral fellowship at Peters Lab, La Jolla Institute for Immunology?

When I was pursuing my PhD, it was on protein-protein interactions, in the context of an innate immunity pathway, which is the TLR signaling pathway. I studied how mutations in the TLR proteins affected their ability to interact with downstream signaling proteins. So, this led me to be interested in molecular recognition.

Antibody-antigen interactions are a type of protein-protein interaction which are much more diverse due to millions of antibodies produced by each individual. Each of these antibodies has a different specificity. So, I am curious to know how these specificities arise, and what mutations in the antibodies cause them to be specific to one antigen but not another. It is not feasible to study millions of antibodies experimentally. The Peters lab is a pioneer in the development of computational tools for addressing these types of questions in immunology.

My current project is wholly based on COVID, I have been studying antibodies that bind to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. I have also been studying the mutations of different variants of this virus: alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. These variants have their differences because of their mutations. I have been trying to understand how these mutations in these variants affect the ability of the antibodies to bind or interact with them. That is the question I am currently working on. Another question I am dealing with is basically understanding what makes antibodies specific to a particular antigen. Again, it all comes down to the molecular level. It is all about chemistry. Because protein-protein interactions are nothing but various amino acids interacting with each other. So, that is how I got interested to work here at Peters Lab. It is a fantastic place. My colleagues come from all over the world: Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, Asia. They all have their diverse perspectives on life and research. So, it is a very good learning experience here.

Your current PostDoc research lab has majorly focussed on immunoinformatics i.e. immunology and bioinformatics. How is bioinformatics applicable to research in immunology?

There are multiple examples of this.

One example from our institute is single-cell RNA sequencing. Blood samples taken from volunteers who have been vaccinated or have a specific disease can be used for extracting white blood cells/leukocytes. Single-cell sequencing of these cells, taken from blood extracted at different time intervals, produces millions of gene sequences. Bioinformatic algorithms help to cluster/align these sequences together and help identify differences in the transcription/expression of certain genes and proteins in these cells. Under-expression or over-expression of these genes signifies that they play a role in a given disease.

Another example is BCR (B cell receptor) sequencing. Antibodies are secreted forms of BCRs. Antigen-specific B cells can be isolated from different blood samples and sorted. Sequencing of these B cells provides the sequence of antibody that the particular B cell is expressing. Millions of such sequences from different individuals help researchers identify what sequences are important for an antibody to be effective against a specific antigen. The unique features of these sequences are understood. Different individuals produce different antibodies but sometimes there are commonalities in the sequences between two individuals. Such examples are types of convergent evolution – i.e. the sequence is favorable for the antibody which is why multiple individuals produce such antibody sequences. All these findings are due to the application of bioinformatics algorithms to immunology. In India, this has a lot of scope for such studies owing to its diverse population.

Depending on where humans live, whether in the North or South hemisphere, we have been exposed to different types of pathogens that influence our immunity and determine how we respond to them. In the case of India which is a tropical country, we see more cases of malaria or dengue. If Indians are infected with malaria, they have antibodies against the respective antigens. Sometimes, these antibodies have been found to interact with dengue proteins. This is an example of cross-reactivity which can be explored more in India.

Another example is understanding the cross-reactivity of T cells and antibodies to different pathogens. T cells are usually specific enough to bind/interact with a peptide from a particular antigen. The same T cell can recognize a peptide from another antigen if there are similarities between these two antigens. Bioinformatics can help here to understand the similarity in peptide sequences between these two antigens and its extent to understand cross-reactivity. So that is another way of applying bioinformatics to immunology.

As data generation increases, there is also a need to develop databases and repositories to store and access this immunological data. There are several databases for the immunology community – Immune Epitope Database, Coronavirus Antibody Database, and IMGT database, to name a few.

Many students consider the terms “bioinformatics” and “computational biology” to be the same. Please clear this misconception.

Computational biology is a broader field and encompasses bioinformatics as one of its subjects. Basically, computational biology is using computers to investigate any biological question.

Bioinformatics is mostly related to data generation, handling, development of softwares, algorithms and databases to deal with biological data.

Another group that comes under computational biology is systems biology, which is the mathematical and theoretical calculation-based study of the dynamics of large biological systems. For example, understanding the fusion of protein molecules within a signaling pathway; understanding the dynamics of the various proteins involved, so on and so forth. So, for time 0, if you have, say x number of proteins, after time t, their number is estimated and their effect on the signaling pathway is explored. These are questions dealt in computational biology and not bioinformatics because there is not much scope for involvement of ‘data handing’ here.

However, Bioinformatics has become increasingly important now because of the improvement in technology which has led to the generation of more data; especially proteomic data. Hence, to handle that data and to make sense of it, you need numerous innovative bioinformatic algorithms. I would recommend checking out The Human Cell Atlas as a great example.

Machine learning, on the other hand is a completely different concept. On a fundamental level, if you look at it, it is all about modeling the data. Basically, if you have the data, you will try to derive a mathematical equation from it. For example, if you have two groups: one control group and another group with diabetics, machine learning will try to develop a probability model to predict diabetes in a person. For that, you will have a dataset which will have the information of the sample population: age, gender, eating habits. Each of them will be labeled as “diabetic” or “non-diabetic.” Based on the machine learning algorithms, you will be able to derive an equation from this dataset to separate this data into these two categories. This model will be used on a new dataset to predict the risk of diabetes. This is a very simple example of machine learning.

You have a stellar record of numerous scientific publications and you have also held the position of scientific writer for “The STEM Times” newsletter for the past 4 years. How did you discover your passion for science communication?

Writing is something I have been very good at since I was a child. I think you might be aware that I was trained at Balavidyalaya. For my training, I had to do a lot of writing and reading and liked it a lot. I caught the habit from a very young age of 4-5 years. Writing was one way of expressing myself, because talking for me was limited by the choice of words that I could use. But when I write, I can express myself much more beautifully. I have been interested in writing for a very long time. In fact, when I was in school, my teacher used to tell me not to become a scientist. She always suggested I become a journalist. However, I was interested in science.

I did not find it difficult. I enjoyed the process of writing. Even during my MSc, PhD students would request me for help in editing their thesis and I used to enjoy it. During my PhD also, I liked writing, making stories, and explaining concepts. During this time, I realized that there is a disconnect between the public and what we scientists do. I felt that it is important to make them understand what we are doing. It is very important to be able to explain to others in a very simple way so that they understand the importance of what we are doing. So that’s how I ended up working for “The STEM Times.” The focus of STEM Times was to basically convey scientific concepts to people in a simplified format.

During my bachelors and masters, I used to write a blog. I used to write about my experiences at NCBS through poems. People would tell me how they liked my writing and then it struck me how I could use my fondness for writing to communicate science and research.

Your previous interviews that outline what you are and how you grew up, are an inspiration to many, especially for women in STEM. Please tell us one or two pieces of specific advice you wish family members, mentors, or colleagues of children with any form of disability to adopt.

I think parents should not underestimate their children just because they have a disability. Each of us has flaws. For some of us, it is visible while for others it is hidden. I feel that humans have the ability to somehow find solutions or alternatives to an issue, quite unknowingly, if the issue does not seem big to them. It is all in the mind. The bigger we imagine our issues to be, the harder it becomes to overcome that. This can be solved by the approach of breaking down the problem into multiple steps.

Everyone has their own shortcomings. No one is perfect. However, the society we live in does not see a person with a disability as capable of doing anything. But that is not true. This mindset is similar to people noticing a single black spot on a white paper. People should be open-minded, supportive as well as encouraging towards people with disabilities, especially disabled children. This instills self-confidence in them. Above all, please do not discourage them. I understand that well-wishers and parents of these children would have a feeling of wanting to protect them but it only hurts them in the long run.

Small actions can make a lot of difference. In my own experience, my parents never discouraged me from doing whatever I wanted to do; especially when I wanted to move to a new place for my MSc. They never asked questions or doubted my ability to live on my own, far from home. They just encouraged me to study. But other people were very surprised when my parents decided to send me to IIT Madras. Such actions make a huge impression on children because it conveys that you are confident in them and their qualities. It makes them believe in themselves instead of depending upon others for their confidence.

What measures would you suggest to increase the inclusivity of researchers who are deaf, in STEM fields in India?

You should ask what they want. Researchers who are deaf should be asked what they need as it can vary from person to person. And others need to take some minimum effort to accommodate these needs. This goes a long way in helping them. Something that might seem small to you actually makes a big difference to us. The best example is – closed captions and the service of live captioning.

For example, during my education, I did not have many facilities that could have helped me. For me, it is very important to look at a person’s face while they are speaking. If they turn away and speak, I cannot understand. So it was really difficult following classes, since we did not have any captioning service. So, I had to depend a lot on my classmates for notes. During the class, I would have to look at the notes from the classmates sitting besides me and copy them down. Basically, in college you know how they teach. The professor will speak and tell us to hear and write about it simultaneously. For me, both were not possible. Either, I can look or I can write- only one thing at a time. Hence, I would listen to the professor and then once the lecture was over, I would copy the notes from my classmates. Unfortunately, you miss out on a lot of information; you do not know 100% of what was discussed in the lecture. So, I used to go to the library to catch up on whatever I missed out on. Hence, live captions are very important.

The experience during my PhD was very different from my MSc, because instead of classes, we had research, conferences, and seminars. Seminars and conferences usually consist of questions between the audience and the speaker. For me, I would miss out on most of the questions. I did not like that. All that changed when I came to the US and started using Zoom. I saw these closed captions and then finally understood what goes on in Q&A sessions. When you are asked a question, it makes you think about how to address it. For people like me who are deaf who communicate using spoken language, we need closed captions to follow meetings and seminars.

I have attended conferences in India as well as abroad. Whenever I was in India, I was saddened to see that no one would care to ask or arrange real-time captioning for me. But when I visited conferences in Canada, they asked about my needs and made arrangements for me to have live captions. Everyone was given a device and a URL link. The link had to be opened. Then the microphone in the device would hear any speech and convey it to a third person who would immediately start typing these captions and it would be visible to a person who is deaf. This system should be implemented in Indian conferences, as in Canada I could follow everything that was being spoken and it made a huge difference to me. I could understand questions which enabled me to think more about the problem or the topic. This facility is not offered either at Indian conferences or in Indian universities. I hope this facility is provided at least in top-tier institutions in India, like IIT, NCBS, TIFR, etc. – I know that it is provided in IIMs.

Another important aspect is to increase awareness and not judge a researcher because they are deaf. I hope my experiences are able to help others like me who are also pursuing their research in India.

These days, there are softwares to help people who are deaf: Live transcribe by Google. It converts speech into text. MS Windows 11 also has an inbuilt feature for converting audio into text. This feature was designed by another person who is deaf, and who was trained in the same school as mine and is currently working at Microsoft in Seattle, USA.

Madhura Kamat Author

Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 14

27th February 20239th March 2023 Academia Plus

In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the journey of Mustafa Inamdar who has a postgraduate degree in biotechnology and is currently working as a science communicator at Decode age, a Longevity Research company, where he mainly drives the content for their social media pages, as well as their podcast. Additionally, he also runs his own podcast – Biotech Talks.

In this interview, he speaks at length about his journey in science communication, his approach to creating content for his YouTube channel, and elaborates upon his important learnings.

Could you briefly take us through your journey so far, and what led you towards pursuing a career in science communication? According to you, what is the main purpose of science communication- are you primarily setting out to engage, inform or educate your audience?

During the 2020 pandemic, I was a Master’s student who was attending classes online from home and found them to be quite unsatisfactory. To make the most of the situation, I decided to start my own YouTube channel, where I would teach my classmates the course curriculum in a fun way, similar to some of the previously published content. After receiving great feedback from viewers, I came up with the idea of interviewing life scientists and researchers. I reached out to a good friend of mine who was a Ph.D. student at the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) in Pune, India, and asked if she would be willing to talk about her research for my channel. She agreed and that’s how I got into science communication.

The main reason that I kept doing this was because I liked conversing with scientists and diving deeper and deeper into the subject. Since my school/college didn’t offer the best education, I wasn’t happy with the lectures. I was more content with the lectures accessible on YouTube like MIT open courseware. It was similar to the knowledge I was getting while speaking to researchers. That kept me going.

Moreover, I figured that the connections I was making through Biotech Talks would be beneficial in the future. And indeed, towards the end of my masters, I got four job offers without even applying for them. It’s also because of my channel that I managed to get a job at my current organisation.

I’m a firm believer in science, and being an atheist, nothing else matters to me. Sadly, I see that the younger generation is being heavily influenced by the content on the internet put up by political parties attempting to manipulate them. This is, I believe my primary purpose of Biotech Talks – we need to replace misleading media content with something more authentic.

Putting our podcasts about researchers can hopefully inspire others to join the science field. That is also one of the reasons I continue to work in science communication.

Do you have any personal guidelines in place, to ensure effective (and authentic) science communication? Also, what kinds of questions do you generally ask the interviewees?

I make sure to begin each project with thorough planning. To reach out to researchers for my podcast, I send cold emails which provide an overview of my YouTube channel as well as links to my previous podcasts. Once researchers have accepted my invitation, I perform a thorough background research to prepare relevant questions for the podcast. I send them a list of these questions and ask them for their inputs as well. They usually do have a few of their questions to add to the list. Additionally, if the interviewee agrees to conduct the interview at their office, I make sure I am punctual and avoid any delay from my end.

Occasionally, whenever I interview at their own office, few researchers or scientists who are around, express an interest to be a part of my podcast. Since I am unaware of the research and history of that scientist, this circumstance is unplanned. However, taking into consideration their desire and interest to support my channel, I immediately conduct interviews for them as well. Gradually, through my experience of conducting interviews (over 25, so far) I’ve grown accustomed to including unplanned elements and built my skills towards producing on-the-spot content for my podcasts upon request.

Some questions that I routinely ask scientists and researchers are:

What kind of research are they doing?

What is the meaning of a Ph.D.?

Why are there more male scientists in Indian Academy and fewer female scientists?

What is scientific temper?

What is the importance of humor in research?

All these questions revolve around topics that I personally find very interesting and relevant.

How would you demonstrate to your audience that you are trustworthy with the information you provide?

When a scientist talks about their research, what they say is assumed to be the truth. I do not truncate it if the researcher has spoken for 40 minutes, I post the complete 40 minute talk.

Recently, one of my videos went viral- I had taken some questions which I usually ask researchers and scientists and collated them into a video. About 10-15 scientists shared their views about what they believe a Ph.D. is, and it had an interesting flow. The video got over 2.6 lakh views and the comments were impressive; Prior to this video, my channel had 1k subscribers, and after this stint, the subscribers increased to 7k. In the comments, a lot of people said that the video had opened their eyes and they would now continue with their Ph.D.

I’m uncertain of my feelings on the matter because- a Ph.D. is indeed a hard path to take and if you have the opportunity to obtain it from a renowned institution then that’s wonderful. Yet, the fact that some students end up struggling to complete a Ph.D. from a university for 10-11 years is quite disheartening.

In the light of this scenario, I’m now planning to create a video titled “Why I Quit My Ph.D.” to provide a platform for those who have gone through this experience and want to share their stories.

How do you handle criticism- and balance people’s perception regarding your shared information (especially if they do not agree with it) against your conviction regarding that information?

Sometimes, if they are speaking the truth, then I have no option but to accept and ponder over it. The reality of research in India is like two sides of the same coin. I only portray the positive side of it through my interviews. The negative side is indeed there, however.

I had a great admiration for one of the scientists I interviewed, believing them to be exceptional researchers. When I visited one of their affiliated institutes, I had the chance to meet one of their students. To my surprise, they portrayed a completely different version of the scientist, which was inconsistent with how they presented themselves in my interview. This made me acknowledge that it is impossible to know whether the professor is a good or bad mentor until one experiences it. Prior to joining a Ph.D. program, it is important to investigate the nature of one’s PhD guide/mentor.

Quite recently, I suggested to my peers that just like there is a Glassdoor app which allows individuals to look into the credibility of a business and provide anonymous reviews; it could be beneficial to have a platform where Ph.D. candidates can give an anonymous feedback regarding their PhD guides. This could be a very useful website.

I am attempting to bring awareness to the Indian Academia by asking relevant questions. During one of my interviews with student scientists, I urged them to not only talk about the pressures from their parents but also to comment upon the institutional aspects, such as the bad practices of PIs and inadequate regulations. As a result, I was given some meaningful, but heartbreaking answers.

I’m hoping to encourage others to recognize this problem. There are already a lot of PIs discussing this issue, but perhaps a bigger revolution is necessary.

What inspires you to keep continuing this journey of science communicator?

During my second year of college, I had this remarkable opportunity to visit the NCMR NCC research institute in Pune, India for my Avishkar project, where we had a chance to construct an affordable fluorescence microscope. I was honored to meet Dr. Praveen Rahi, a highly-regarded scientist, and a remarkable individual. Although he spent four hours talking to me, it felt as though only five to ten minutes had passed!

It was through such dynamic conversations with the scientists and researchers that my interest in science communication flourished, which I have been diligently pursuing ever since. Through this, I am able to learn the reasoning, methodology, and the perceived outcomes from the scientists I interview and hence dive a little deeper into their mindset. It has been an enjoyable, extraordinary, and instructive experience.

Through my work, I have been very fortunate to have encountered such exceptional scientists that I may not have had the chance to meet otherwise. It was truly inspiring to personally connect with them and gain insights into their work, which was the driving force behind my motivation.

It’s a shame that our educational system has the potential to sap out the enthusiasm and curiosity of students because of the approach towards teaching subjects such as biology. Conversing with scientists and experts can truly be a source of invigoration to pursue a career in a scientific field.

Raksha Sharma Author

Category: Career Stories

Career Stories: Chapter 23

Career Stories: Chapter 22

Career Stories: Chapter 21

Career Stories: Chapter 20

Career Stories: Chapter 19

Career Stories: Chapter 18

Career Stories: Chapter 17

Career Stories: Chapter 16

Career Stories: Chapter 15

Career Stories: Chapter 14