Monthly Archives: August 2014

Away from home: Asking the right questions

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The ‘Away from home‘ blogging series features Indian postdocs working in foreign labs recounting their experience of working there, the triumphs and challenges, the cultural differences and what they miss about India. They also offer useful tips for their Indian postdocs headed abroad. You can join in the online conversation using the #postdochat hashtag. 

Our ‘Away from home’ interactive map now features 40 bright Indian postdocs from around the world. Please feel free to suggest names of postdocs from countries and disciplines we haven’t covered yet.

Today’s post narrates the story of Amitabh Sharma, who recently got selected for an Assistant Professor position at the Channing division of Network medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. A PhD from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, Amitabh tells us about his fascinating journey from a small town in central India to a faculty position at Harvard Medical School.

Dream high

Amitabh Sharma with Prof. Albert-László Barabási in 2009.

Amitabh Sharma (left) with Albert-László Barabási in 2009.

My journey began in a small town called Shahdol in northeast Madhya Pradesh, India. Throughout my childhood, my mother remained a live example of the ‘Chase your Dream’ philosophy. She was a single female parent with three children and worked full-time as a lecturer. Regardless of her demanding life, she dreamt of having her own home and overcame many hurdles to finally own one. Her focus and determination taught me that no matter how difficult the path is, courage and perseverance always see you through. My mom encouraged me to leave our hometown and go to a city school.

For masters, I went to the Indira Gandhi institute of Development and Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. It was my first time in a big city but I overcame all the anxiety related to it soon. With naïve thoughts that my research would discover new drugs to cure deadly diseases like diabetes, I got into my first job at Zydus Cadila Research Center, in Ahemdabad, India. I worked on screening new drugs for Type 2 Diabetes. During those days, I read James Watson’s ‘The Double Helix’ on one of science’s greatest mystery (DNA double helix model). The book inspired me and further strengthened my belief that pursuing one’s dreams is what life is all about. The book taught me that success in life hinges on one key point: “finding hard work you love doing”. This motivated me to pursue my Ph.D. with a dream that some day my science would contribute to a major discovery in biomedicine.

Ask big questions

During my Ph.D at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, I was convinced that translation of genomic knowledge is going to be the focus of science in the coming years. I worked on developing bioinformatic tools to dissect the complex diseases like Type 2 diabetes. Being in a genomics lab, my focus was always on the big picture of how disease associated variations cause perturbation at the molecular level. The wiring diagram of the genes and their products are surely influenced in disease state and such network-based thinking was established by the construction of “human disease network” by Prof. Albert-László Barabási’s lab in 2007.

After my Ph.D., I decided to join postdoctoral research at the Lund University Diabetes Center (LUDC), Sweden, the largest diabetes research center in Northern Europe that has contributed to many genetic discoveries on Type 2 diabetes. At LUDC, I tried to explore the relationship between protein interaction networks and human complex disease.

The post-human genome-sequencing era had brought new hope of personalised medicine. But at the same time, it brought us new challenges. I was sure that the answer for solving the mystery of complex disease lies in targeting networks. The perspective needed to be shifted from gene-centric studies to a network-centric approach. This thought brought me to the Center for Complex Network Research at the Department of Physics in Northeastern University, a mecca of studying networks. The center focuses on how networks impact our understanding of complex systems. I admire the postdocs’ nights where I need to explain genetics and molecular biology to statistical physicists. During my postdoctoral research at the Barabasi lab, I learnt that disease biology is complex and the network medicine approach can help us unwind the complexity of diseases. My research focuses on the big picture of translating discoveries of network biology to therapies for complex diseases.

In a recent interview, James Watson said researchers should be encouraged to ask what the big five puzzles in their field of research are and go after one of them. “Do something as important as you can, aim for something which, if you win, people will get excited about.” I am really excited about my transition from an associate scientist to a faculty member. I think research is all about your own passion, about what you are doing, and you should always be open to options and be willing to change directions.

Being Indian

I really miss the colorful and collective culture of incredible India. I surely miss that part of living together in an extended family and enjoying the festivals of Diwali and Holi. The best part of Indian culture is it teaches you. Bollywood is not just an entertainment, it is a way of life. Evenings in my hometown, when the hush descends, farmers and workers drift homeward on a river of bicycles — one of the things I miss. Flying kites, an Independence Day tradition, is so memorable. During my Ph.D. days in Delhi, I gorged on the variety of street food in Kamla Nagar and near the Red Fort.

Never give up

Never ever give up. Postdoc stress has its own pain and pleasure, it impacts your mindset. You might wake up early in the morning anxious about not having high impact publications. But it has its own moments of learning and getting prepared for the big responsibilities.

In my opinion, the most important thing in your academic career is to keep publishing. The clock ticks faster in the postdoc research field, so keep thinking two steps ahead. You are not going to find the missing pieces of the puzzle at the first shot. Success in your postdoc is about learning the rules of the game and coming over the publication pressure. Science is technology-driven now with lots of big data around us. We should think about doing  good science by asking the right questions. As Vivekananda said: “This is the first lesson to learn: be determined not to curse anything outside, not to lay the blame upon anyone outside, but stand up, learn and determined to achieve your goals”.

Climate change policy: What’s new for Asia?

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CDKN-IPCC-Whats-in-it-for-South-Asia-AR5_Page_01At a workshop discussing what the take homes for  Asian countries might be from the latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — AR5 — it was pointed out that there wasn’t enough science coming out of developing countries to feed the database on emissions or warming in the larger climate change debate. Local scientists need to conduct more climate change related experiments, write more scientific papers and bolster regional science  in order to make a case for these developing countries in the international discourse on climate change.

“We also need more authors from the developing world to participate in writing the chapters for the IPCC reports,” says Jonathan Lynn, Head of Communication at the IPCC. Lynn says though there is substantial science emanating from India now, some other small Asian countries such as Indonesia lag far behind. The IPCC collates scientific data from across the world to make predictions for future scenarios with the help of scientists, economists, policy makers and government representatives. Most of the work done by scientists in this process is voluntary and not paid for. Developing country scientists, who also do consultancy work for a living, would expect such work to pay off for their time — this could be one of the reasons why not many developing country scientists are interested in the job, Lynn says.

The IPCC assessment reports try to turn all available scientific evidence into something that would make sense to policy makers and businesses — therefore, the authors have explained the science at hand this time in terms of “risk management” parameters. “And since there are questions of ethics and equity involved in this highly political debate, we now have philosophers in the IPCC team to make sure those aspects are taken care of,” Lynn says.

Joyashree Roy, an economist from the Jadavpur University in Kolkata is the lead author of the industry chapter in IPCC’s assessment report five. She says Asia needs to urgently decouple the high energy sector from emissions. “Almost 44 per cent of the global emissions are from the energy and industry sectors of China and India — there lies an opportunity for south Asia. Can we think of a low emission-high energy scenario?”

Roy says population and economic growth are responsible for the surge in energy demand as well as emissions in south Asia.

Another IPCC author Navroz Dubash from New Delhi-based thinktank Centre for Policy Research points to an inherent dichotomy in the report — the number of countries which have adopted mitigation strategies or have a national action plan for climate change has gone up many times, especially in Asia post-2005. Simultaneously, the emission rates of Asia have zoomed and the world as a whole is hurtling at great speed into a carbon-based future. How is that possible, you wonder. “Well, there have been a slew of national policies in the last few years but they will take around 3-4 years to bear fruit. The more optimistic outlook would be to review the scenario in a couple of years and see if these policies have led to significant action,” he says.

Dubash says India will also benefit from the new stand of IPCC where ‘co-benefits’ of climate-friendly policies are being seen in new light. Earlier, IPCC talked of climate change mitigation plans as the main goal with parameters such as development or health as co-benefits. “The idea now is that the concept of co-benefits could work both ways, meaning if a development project brings in climate change mitigation as a spin-off, it should be totally acceptable. This concept is at the core of India’s national plan and now IPCC has sanctified it — so there’s a huge opportunity.”

According to A R Paneerselvan, advisor to the executive director of Panos South Asia, an organisation informing public and policy debates on environment issues, there are talks of a south Asian intiative for climate related insurance. The insurance would cover farmers against any vulnerability stemming from climate change. The initiative is still at a nascent stage and there’s pressure from the cash crop sector in south Asian countries to make a case for climate-related insurance, he says.

As for IPCC’s fifth assessment report and what’s in it South Asia, London-based Climate and Development Network brought out a good primer that explains just this. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairperson Rajendra Kumar Pachauri also spoke about what it means for India at an outreach programme in New Delhi today.