On 15th July 2021, we, the students of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School had yet another opportunity to participate in the series of virtual interaction with experts. It indeed was a privilege for us to interact with a splendid and oneof the very prominent researchers, Dr Rajesh Gokhale.
Sir Vyankatesh Prabhudesai started the session by introducing the speaker. Dr. Rajesh Gokhale is an Indian Chemical Biologist, Director of CSIR Laboratory and IGIB Institute of Genome and Integrated Biology. He did his B.Sc. from Delhi University, M.Sc. in Biotechnology from IIT Bombay, PhD from IISc Bangalore and Post-Doctoral Research from Stanford University USA. He is an elected fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Science Academy. Dr Gokhale is a recipient of Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology by CSIR in 2016 for his contribution in Bioscience domain. He received the National Bioscience award for career development of Department of Biotech in 2009. He also received the distinguished alumnus award by IIT Bombay in 2014. Dr Gokhale is known for his studies on the metabolic diversity of pathogens. He is credited with the discovery of the family of long chain fatty acid AMP legacies. He is currently a senior scientist at National Institute of Immunology. Dr. Gokhale and Sir VPD had been close associate and friends and have stayed in the same hostel in IITB from 1988 to 1990.
Dr. Gokhale having been on significant positions in research shared with us importance of research and how one needs to inculcate the perspective of deep thinking and creative ability of interpretation. Having spent most of his time in three of the finest institutions in the world namely IIT, IISc and Stanford University, Dr. Gokhale shared that the under-graduate time is an important and creative phase of life, and we must emphasize on peer learning which is very effective. He always recommended that one must nurture the spirit of competitiveness and keep adding momentum to growth in life. He said that the IIT and IISc are research-oriented institutions which build the research attitude in their students in terms of rigor and maturity in methodological thinking. He mentioned that mathematics offers the core knowledge which is essential in biology and other domains.Dr. Gokhale shared his experiences in Biotechnology domain and mentioned that it is a prospectivearea offering unique space of discoveries and specialized field of work distinct from Information Technology (IT).
The session was very interactive as Dr. Gokhale offered most of his time answering queries from students and faculty of MAHSS. During his response to the questions, he mentioned that with science everything is possible. Medicine and Engineering are interdisciplinary areas of innovative solutions. He said there is huge potential in science and career in science can offer lucrative opportunities with passionate and novel kind of work.
This very interesting session enlightened us providing us insight in very futuristic areas of Biotechnology and research. On the behalf of students of students of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School, I would like to thank Dr. Rajesh Gokhale for sharing his invaluable experience with us, as well as Sir Vyankatesh Prabhudesai for organizing the platform to connect us to the eminent experts of national and international repute.
By
Naisha Asnani
Student, XI (Regular)