Ground breaking Grewall

I have been slightly worried if I am the right fit for a Ph.D. Program. That, is probably the most absurd statement I will make in this blog because there is no such thing. I need to find a program which is fit for me and not the other way around.

Never question your worth. If you are, chances are that you’re actually worth it.
Hopefully, my positivity will influence my chances (haha).

I love my work, but there have been moments in the past year that I have often questioned if I am doing the right thing or the “right fit.”
I think after a couple of rejections, one begins to think that maybe they’re the problem.
They’re not.

It can be the funding or just the person the potential supervisor talked to before you. Maybe there just wasn’t enough space. Honestly, I do not wish to speculate on this.

Recently, I have been avoiding studying or reading up on scientific topics that interest me because I felt helpless while pursuing them. As if working in the field was a far away dream.
For all such people,
Numero Uno- There are no dreams. There are GOALS. We create goals and we achieve them. This is a line I heard in the latest trailer of a beautiful Hindi show called Kota Factory.

My current project involves testing the safety and efficacy of an RNAi therapy for chronic wounds and AMR infections. Along with this, I have also worked on multiple mini-projects with some companies, related to skin health.
The start-up I am a part of is now on the journey to bring more therapeutic RNA molecules in the pipeline to treat various genetic disorders.
In this context, one of our advisors set up a meeting with parents of children with a particular disorder.

My team had spent the last week trying to understand the condition and the causative genetic mutation but meeting the parents is a different ballgame.
As scientists, we begin to comprehend the sheer magnitude of the responsibility upon us. During introductions, our advisor asked one of the parents to tell us more about the mutation or rather prognosis of their child. Not only did he know the mutation, he had extensive knowledge on the various therapeutic options available, what would be possible for their child and why some therapies were not possible due to the rarity of that particular mutation.

He knew the various symptoms and had understanding of various other labs working on this condition. All this and he was not from a science or biology background. I could see the need for science to find a way and how drastically some things can affect the lifestyle of an entire family.

After a really long time, I brainstormed the science behind the condition and what sort of RNAi therapy could be viable for their specific case and what sort of samples and data we would need to begin testing.

Today was truly, amazing, in that sense.
Firstly, I love brainstorming science. I have always learnt best when conversing about various hypotheticals.
Secondly, translating my basic understanding into something that could impact a person’s quality of life, maybe even cure a condition. Now, isn’t that a strong motivator? To see someone who has struggled trying to understand science and find every viable option to save a life of their child, it motivated me to try harder, to be better.

There are a million ailments with no cure or even where one could use the latest technologies to improve the present scenario, that is a big motivator for me, I am beginning to realise.

More than that, I also realized that I need a group to brainstorm. I love talking about ideas and discussing results, planning out more experiments based on the present results.
For example, while I worked in a skin lab, my understanding was limited to the presence of cilia in say, the epithelial lining of our respiratory tract and gut.
Today I also found out that some primary cilia are actually present in most vertebrate cell types which help in development and homeostasis. Absolutely, mindblowing. There is a friend of mine studying about them and it completely fascinated me.

Mostly, today’s revelations just reminded me why and what I love about science and mainly, biological systems.
How cells just fascinate me with their diversity, their multiple mechanisms of survival, many much more than what was taught during school or in college textbooks.

And I, truly, would love to spend five-six years studying them extensively.

But sometimes, I guess sometimes we’re all so stuck with our eyes into the microscopic details that we forget why we started. Such reminders are also important.