In the second article as part of community voices for international grants and fellowships, Savneet talks about the impact of an international collaboration early on during her independent research career and how it turned out to be an invaluable mentoring experience too.
Posted on in Women in Science, Career Development & Personal Experience
The levels of nucleic acids are enhanced in the blood of individuals affected by certain diseases. This understanding can be used for non-invasive diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, cancers, genetic conditions in the fetus, and neurological disorders. In this article, Ambika Kurbet gives an overview of the use of cell-free circulating DNA in diagnosis.
Posted on in Microbiology, Bioinformatics, COVID-19, Personal Experience, Research
Posted on in Career Development, Personal Experience, Undergraduate
Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay is currently the director of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata. Among other accolades, she received the Infosys Prize in Engineering and Computer Science in 2017 and was the second woman scientist to receive the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences (2010). We recently had the opportunity to chat with her regarding her thoughts on leadership.
Posted on in Advice & Leadership
Mriganka Sur is the Newton Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT. He has also acted as the jury chair for the Infosys Prize in the field of life sciences for the past several years. IndiaBioscience recently had the opportunity to chat with him about the current status of life science research in India, some of the common challenges, and the road ahead for the community. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
In education, research and innovation, we often hear the terms “interdisciplinary” and “multidisciplinary”. Many of us may use these terms without understanding what exactly they mean. In this article Madhumita Krishnan, a consultant Ayurveda paediatrician at The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), Bengaluru unravels the meaning of these terms and explores the significance and need for a newer term called “trans-disciplinary”.
Speak of comfort zones! In this article, Abhijeet Bayani, a field biologist and an educator at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, disentangles the meanings and purposes of three terms commonly used in ecological studies to discuss the space in which an organism thrives – habitats, microhabitats and niches.
Posted on in Biophysics, Teaching, Undergraduate, School Education
Posted on in Conservation Biology, Teaching, Personal Experience, Undergraduate
The levels of nucleic acids are enhanced in the blood of individuals affected by certain diseases. This understanding can be used for non-invasive diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, cancers, genetic conditions in the fetus, and neurological disorders. In this article, Ambika Kurbet gives an overview of the use of cell-free circulating DNA in diagnosis.
Intrigued by the rich flora and fauna in the campus of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and the nearby forests of the Western Ghats of India, researchers from the institute examine the complexities of mutualistic relationships in nature.
Posted on in COVID-19, Intellectual Property, Database/Resource
In this article, Aditi Jain explores the implications of the draft Scientific Social Responsibility policy, released by the Department of Science and Technology, India. Through conversations with experts, she addresses the reactions of scientists, the ongoing debate over the mandate and incentivization, the clarifications required and the policy’s role in creating careers.
The stigma surrounding the term ‘mental health’ is especially severe in Indian culture, where any deviation from the so-called ‘normal’ is viewed with a negative pair of lenses. Why do people hesitate to seek help? Are there enough mental health professionals in our country? Is information about mental illnesses easily accessible to the public for them to make informed decisions? What is the way forward? These are some of the issues that Anushka Banerjee, a Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru addresses in this article.
Posted on in Health & Medicine, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Policy, Events
Dhaval Patel is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Institute of Advanced Research (IAR), Gujarat. He was one of the Young Investigators selected to attend YIM 2020 in Mahabalipuram. In this invited article, he talks about pursuing interdisciplinary research, and the hidden advantages and hurdles he faced while setting up his independent lab.
Posted on in Personal Experience, Advice & Young Investigators
Himanshu Shekhar is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar. He was one of the Young Investigators selected to attend YIM 2020 in Mahabalipuram. In this invited article, he talks about the importance of learning and applying strategic management skills when a researcher is first setting up their independent lab.
Posted on in Personal Experience, Advice & Young Investigators
Posted on in Career Development, Young Investigators, Mentorship
Posted on in Young Investigators, Networking and Collaboration
A de facto consideration among scientists is that a research project is not ‘finished’ until it is published in a scientific journal. However, with the spectrum of journals available, each with its own standards, expectations and targeted readers, choosing the ‘right’ journal for publishing the work is a skill in itself. Developing this skill is necessary to save time and avoid (too many) rejections. In this article, Divya Singh Tapaswi offers some tips for honing this skill and narrowing down the choices, based on her own experiences. What is your approach to choosing a journal?
Posted on in Personal Experience, Research & Networking and Collaboration
Over the last year and a half, we have seen a burgeoning of efforts at communicating (COVID-19 ) science to the public. But, did we have a pandemic-ready science communication machinery in the first place? In this article, Sarah Iqbal and Banya Kar, authors of a recent survey report by India Alliance on public engagement with science in India, make a case for the why’s and how’s of engaging public with science before the next health crisis hits us.
Posted on in Policy, Personal Experience, Interdisciplinarity
Internships provide a first-hand experience to those stepping into a career while providing a safe and stable environment to test and hone their skills. Sumeet Kulkarni got his feet wet in the writing world with a three-month internship program in science journalism offered by IndiaBioscience. Here, he shares a few pointers from his learning that ignited his career as a science journalist.
How a dinner meeting between a cell biologist on a sabbatical in India and three young faculty members at the NCBS sowed the seeds for what is now IndiaBioscience.
What is a PhD – is it a certificate or a way of life? What is the significance of adorning the black robe? Is there a connection between science and philosophy? Is there a historical background to it? In this article, Jithin pays tribute to the doctorate and how it can drive away naive realism and bring substantive reasoning into our lives. He pays homage to the great minds —Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Whitehead and Einstein —true lovers of knowledge.
Enam Reyaz, a student at the Jamia Hamdard Institute of Molecular Medicine (JH-IMM), recounts her physical and emotional roller-coaster of experience embracing pregnancy and motherhood while pursuing a PhD degree; what helped her challenge the taboos and what more can be done by research institutions to support expectant mothers.
Posted on in Career Development, Personal Experience, Advice
In the second article as part of community voices for international grants and fellowships, Savneet talks about the impact of an international collaboration early on during her independent research career and how it turned out to be an invaluable mentoring experience too.
Posted on in Women in Science, Career Development & Personal Experience
In this article, Shreeya, Stutee and Karishma recount their experiences on working remotely on a new research area during the pandemic, the former two as students and the latter as mentor. Their project led to a publication. Biofilm-AMP is a now a published structural and functional repository of AMPs for biofilm studies. The work was also published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology.
Posted on in Microbiology, Bioinformatics, COVID-19, Personal Experience & Research
Posted on in Career Development, Personal Experience, Undergraduate
Posted on in COVID-19, Career Development, Networking and Collaboration
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) funding programme is an opportunity for researchers to acquire new skills through international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral mobility. MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships' call for proposals is currently open until October 2021. Here, Jaishree Subrahmaniam, who has been awarded a Fellowship in 2020, shares 10 pointers for the application process with Bhawana George.
The Young Investigator Programme (YIP), offered by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), is open to young investigators in the life sciences who have started their independent research groups within the last 4 years. YIP facilitates and supports the career advancement of these early-career scientists via opportunities to network and collaborate. Arun K. Shukla, Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) and an EMBO YI shares his 10 pointers for the last mile of the application process
Posted on in Career Development, Funding & Young Investigators