4. What would help you to reach your goal?
Uninterrupted flow of extra-mural project funding support.
5. How is working for your institute and with your lab group?
Excellent, we work as a team. We have active collaborations with scientists from the Russian Federation, Poland, Belgium, Canada, and South Africa. Exchange visits (both ways) under bilateral agreement is routinely done.
6. What motivated you to become a scientist? And why this field?
I strongly believe that science is a tool for the benefit of humanity. Though my initial motivation was a raw love for science.
7. What did you imagine being a scientist is like? Is it like you imagined?
I feel blessed. Driven by a sense of duty, I continue to work hard towards fulfilling my objective.
8. What does your heart beat for in science?
Empowering the poorest people on the planet by helping in some form to eradicate non-communicable diseases.
9. Which are your main tasks in daily lab life?
As the Senior Basic Scientist and Group Leader, I perform several duties. Critical experiments pertaining to standardization and validation of assays are primarily done by me. I prepare the SoP, validate, and subsequently pass-on to my lab colleagues.
10. What do you dislike about the scientific world?
Funding crunch.
11. What do you dislike about your project?
I sometimes wonder whether my research would have direct impact on people’s lives, in the long-term.
12. Which job in a lab do you dislike most?
Nothing specific.
13. What do you like to do most in your lab?
Leading the research team, problem solving, conceptualizing novel ideas and work implementation.
14. How do you imagine your future in science / academics? What is your vision?
To create a Centre of Excellence in Translational Research with the following focus:
- Design, development, and validation of point-of-care-technologies for human bio-monitoring with special emphasis on air pollution associated chronic human ailments.
- Environmental health implications of engineered nano-materials from natural, to manufactured, to those produced incidentally by human activities.