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2011 Infosys Prize awardee for Biological Sciences Dr. Imran Siddiqui might actually be hailed in the future for cracking the holy grail of agriculture. Who knows - we might be profiling a future Nobel winner!
Dr Siddiqui was awarded an MSc in Chemistry by IIT Bombay, and has a PhD from the University of Oregon, working on genetic recombination in bacteriophage. Following post-doctoral work at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he is currently with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad in 1992, where he established a research group in plant genetics.
Prof. Siddiqui discusses his passion, research, status of science education in the country and more in a freewheeling chat with Mahesh Sarma.
Q: From MSc in Chemistry why did you move to Biology?
A: In a sense, it’s not really that much of a major step. When I joined the Chemistry department I was actually thinking about pursuing chemistry of bio-molecules. So I ended up doing a PhD in genetics. I would say it was more of a natural shift.
Q: You went for a PhD to the US and came back for a post-doctoral at IIC. Why so?
A: I came back because I decided that I actually want to work in India. I did not want to continue in a mainstream sort of way. I knew that if I stayed on in the US for too long then I would essentially get stuck there. It maybe an idealistic decision but I have no regrets and I am happy with what I did. The main rewarding thing is that you get many interested students coming to you in India. And ultimately I think that is actually what is the core. Research is not about equipment or researchers. It’s primarily about good people.
Q: What was the Infosys prize for?
A: Basically many crops that are used are essentially hybrid and made by crossing together two parents. These hybrids when they grow up give much better yield than the parents due to combination of genetic characters that they inherit from the two parents. But if seeds from such hybrid plants are replanted they will not show the same vigour as the original hybrid seed because there are new combinations of genetic information that are created. By identifying the right gene in a plant what we have shown is that it is actually possible to get seeds, which are essentially genetically identical to the parent plant.
Q: So is this done with a particular plant?
A: This is done with a model plant. And I would say it is still very much a proof of principle demonstration that we have shown, in which efficiency is still around 10 to 30 % or so. This process is actually something that happens in nature and that’s a phenomenon people have been trying to understand for almost 100 years. We have actually identified a small number of genes, which if you manipulate in a normal sexual plant, you can actually get the so-called asexual type of seeds and genetically identical to the parent plant. These genes that we have identified are actually also found in other plants. In fact, pretty much in all plants. So the implication is that it should be possible to get similar things to happen in other plants as well. So I think it was a very exciting discovery for us because it provided sort of essentially a molecular handle on a phenomenon that people have been wanting to know for a long time.
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“Primarily Biology is a science of observation and if you like observing nature, it is something worth doing. And it’s possible to make a career of it ” |
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Q: So now the challenge is to increase the efficiency, isn’t it?
A: Yes, it is a major challenge. Actually the mechanism by which this happens is not just a single mechanism; actually the way it happens in nature is that what we have shown or discovered is just one way. We can attempt to increase the efficiency of the way it happens or one can also try and look for other ways that would be themselves more efficient.
Q: Is interdisciplinary the way to go?
A: If you look at the frontiers of what’s happening in Biology, there would be no question that interdisciplinary abilities are hugely important. Certainly inputs from different areas have helped. I think for the people who are coming in, it’s important to have a strong grounding in some areas well at the same time be exposed to other areas.
Q: How do the current crop of students fare?
A: What is happening is that students now tend to become very information-based because they are exposed to many things but not in sufficient depth. What is extremely important at the undergraduate level is developing one’s analytical skills and problem-solving ability, which does not seem to happen now. And as exams and evaluation systems become highly standardised their communication skills also have not been sufficiently developed. And both demand very high levels of investment.
Q: How does the Indian PhD system fare, according to you?
A: In the current scheme of things it’s a major gap that the students have to cross. In a PhD, especially in sciences for the first few years, you only have a kind of understanding of what you are trying to do and that in that process you need more seminars, evaluation systems, feedback with the students all the time. One example is the thesis committee which are either not there or indifferent .But in the USA, they play an active and crucial role. We need to reorient our research programmes substantially.
Q: Is there anything you would want to tell an aspiring biologist?
A: I think if you like Biology then you certainly must pursue it. Primarily Biology is a science of observation and if you like observing nature it is something actually worth doing. And it’s possible to even make a career out of it if you enjoy doing it. I got into Biology quite late but if you like to investigate phenomena, like discovering things and trying to solve puzzles then research is a worthwhile career and you can get a lot of satisfaction from it. If you enjoy Biology, whichever kind of Biology, it may not be sort of lab-centric Biology, it’s worth nurturing and continuing with that interest and then later on deciding if you would want to do it full-time or not.
