My journey in Science
Learning from ups and downs
Eight years ago, I was not sure about my career. I had just completed my Secondary School Examination (Class Xth) from a government school in a remote village of Bihar (India). Unlike some of my friends, those who had a clear vision about their career, I knew, did not have a clear idea about how to enter into engineering and medical professions. All I knew was that I am fascinated to find the answers regarding how things work in nature. While growing up, I always had a curiosity to learn the science behind everything that happens in life. The curiosity inside me leads to choosing science as my career. I pay my sincere gratitude to Mr. Anand Kumar (Super 30, India) for introducing me to IIT-Joint Entrance Examinations. His mentoring and the way of answering the mathematical problems motivated me to choose engineering. After my Intermediate Examination in Science (2014), the same year I cracked IIT-JEE(Mains) and got enrolled in an institute of national importance for pursuing a Bachelor of Technology (Biotechnology) at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut, Kerala (India). Apart from the four-year curriculum at NIT-C, I learned many aspects of life, that is, how to deal with real-life problems, developing my personality, and how to make a balance in social and professional life.
My journey in scientific research
It was the summer of 2016 when I worked on my first project which was to characterize the binding interactions of synthetic compounds with serum albumins (BSA and HSA). The study was intended to characterize the interactions using multi-spectrometric approaches like UV-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy, Circular Dichroism spectroscopy, and Dynamic Light Scattering. Afterward, in the summer of 2017, I got an opportunity to work as a summer research fellow in CSIR laboratory. This project was part of AcSIR- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Summer Training Programme 2017. This work was intended to identify the molecular target of mycotoxin “patulin” in IEC-6 using Drug Affinity Responsive Target Stability (DARTS) technique. I worked for a period of two months and successfully submitted the report to Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR). During this period of time, I got exposure to multiple skills like, mammalian cell culture techniques, SDS-PAGE, and western blotting techniques. Apart from these research internships, as part of my bachelors’ thesis project, I also worked on a project entitled “Synthesis, characterization, and conjugation of carbon-based nanostructured materials with antibacterial and anticancer drugs for better efficacy in internalization into respective hosts”. This was one and a half year project during which I learned in handling high-end instruments like UV-vis spectrometer, fluorescence spectrometer, FTIR, DLS, and microscopes such as compound and fluorescence microscopes.
These research exposures dwelled an interest in me to pursue Ph.D. directly after graduation. Therefore, I started exploring different entrance examinations which led to getting enrolled in Ph.D. directly after B.Tech. Thanks to GoI, as they had announced a prestigious fellowship scheme in the budget year 2018–19 like Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme which aims to attract the best talent into research thereby realizing the vision of development through innovation. After a rigorous selection process with one round of interview at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, I was offered a Ph.D. seat at Centre for Energy, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, Assam in Jun’18.
My Scientific Interest
Broadly, I do research in Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology. My current research works include state-of-the-art techniques from molecular dynamic simulation, machine learning & artificial intelligence, and systems metabolic engineering. Currently, I am working on the project entitled “Enhancing the production of alcoholic biofuels using systems metabolic engineering approach.” To know more about my projects please visit my website.
My experience with HackBio Internship
“So far so good.” Having to experience the dynamics of work in the application of bioinformatics really appealed to me. I knew that the challenge would be greater but I was very excited to have this opportunity. I am glad that I joined the HackBio Internship program amid the pandemic when everyone is forced to stay home. Starting with the first week of the internship, I had no idea that what the tasks for each stage, and couldn’t understand much. But as time progressed, tasks were getting intense with the upgrading stage and so the enthusiasm to learn. Learning from experienced fellow interns and mentors made it possible for me to successfully complete this internship journey. I entered as a novice in programming. Now I can say that I have gained a sound knowledge of programming and managing repository at GitHub. Apart from learning, the most rewarding aspect of HackBio internship has been the ability to collaborate with people from diverse disciplines and learning from all their collective experiences.
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”
— Albert Einstein
