Science in India: Biological Sciences

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00:14.19 I am Satayit Mayor, the dean of research at the National Center for Biological Sciences,
00:24.01 and today in the iBioMagazine I want to tell you a little bit about biological sciences in India
00:32.10 and also about how... the future of biological sciences in India today.
00:40.17 When I remember getting back to work in India about 15 years ago,
00:47.08 I was told India is impossible, and doing science in India is even more so.
00:54.05 I must confess, India remains impossible.
00:59.12 but it is exciting. You know, there are things happening all the time.
01:03.20 But at the same time, I believe now that doing science in India is certainly not impossible.
01:10.26 In fact, it's a very exciting time to be doing any kind of science in India today.
01:17.18 Well, there's money. Investment in education is now becoming about 15% of the gross domestic product.
01:28.01 Investment in science is growing to about 1.8%, at least that is the projected growth.
01:35.09 And then for biological sciences if one converts that into real money,
01:39.02 it's about 12 billion dollars over the next five years is the investment.
01:44.16 That is 4 times the investment of the past five years.
01:50.03 Well, one could ask, is this sustainable?
01:53.16 In fact, it is not only sustainable, it is absolutely essential
01:59.27 that this kind of investment takes place because of the demographics of India.
02:06.04 In India today there are about 250 million people below 15 years of age.
02:11.17 And if it is going to be a country of the future, it needs to have an investment in the knowledge economy.
02:19.14 It needs to have investment in education and science.
02:23.11 So I don't think that India has a choice except to put its money where its education and science activities are.
02:31.29 Jobs. There are a tremendous growth in the number of jobs for biological sciences.
02:39.11 If one in fact just does a little bit of arithmetic you can see that
02:44.24 from the new institutes to the existing institutes,
02:50.04 enhancing their capacities, there are about 600 jobs available today for the biological sciences.
03:00.24 So if you are a researcher who has just finished your postdoc or wanting to explore new avenues,
03:07.14 there are 600 jobs that are available for you to look at today.
03:11.23 There are terrific fellowships for scientists who are coming back to work in India,
03:17.12 and all of these are from the different agencies,
03:21.12 from the department of science and technology, that's the DST,
03:24.05 and the department of biotechnology, that's the DBT.
03:27.10 So there are really incredibly welcoming opportunities to even access this money that's being poured
03:33.24 into science in terms of competitive fellowships.
03:37.16 There's a huge spurt in international funding opportunities for a biologist coming to work in India.
03:44.10 The Human Frontier Science Program, the AXA career development fellowships.
03:49.07 In fact the Howard Hughes has just recently introduced
03:54.13 an early career fellowship for biologists coming to work in India.
03:57.14 All this is of course competitive. And in fact, that should be the name of the game
04:02.16 in terms of getting to work and doing science in India today.
04:06.27 Of course there are many, many challenges.
04:11.06 You know, students need to be attracted to science.
04:15.15 Here again, these challenges are being taken on, I think, mainly by institutional means,
04:20.24 but individuals also need to contribute.
04:22.23 There are scholarships from the government for about a million fellowships
04:28.22 for students to join just science streams in colleges.
04:36.00 A million fellowships for students in high school to join science streams in colleges.
04:41.26 That's called the INSPIRE fellowship, and then there are STAR colleges.
04:46.04 There are DNA Clubs. There are summer schools. There are teachers programs.
04:50.14 All geared to attracting students to doing science and in particular, biology.
04:55.03 So there seems to be a buzz in terms of getting students to do science.
05:01.19 A big challenge is actually building postdoctoral fellow culture, or rather a postdoctoral culture.
05:11.24 And even here there are interesting postdoctoral schemes from the government.
05:17.25 There are young investigator awards. The Wellcome trust has entered the arena
05:23.09 with the DBT providing early career fellowships for postdocs.
05:28.00 And institutes, for example my own institute, has a very attractive postdoctoral fellowship
05:34.14 for people wanting to come and work in challenging areas in the labs of people working in our institutes.
05:45.05 Well, you know research in universities is another major challenge, but this is something that has to be taken on
05:53.05 because this is where the bulk of research is going to take place.
05:57.11 At the moment few scattered institutes are doing major research in India,
06:01.16 but unless the research expands in universities, it is going to remain a small activity in general.
06:08.07 And in fact there are major activities for restructuring university curriculum
06:16.15 for increasing research infrastructure and opportunities.
06:20.23 So there's a whole host of things that are changing universities, but change is slow.
06:26.19 But it needs to take place, and in fact there is an iBioMagazine
06:30.04 about some of the changes that are taking place and the challenges ahead
06:34.29 by Professor Subhash Lakhotia of the Banaras Hindu University and which would be worth looking up.
06:41.19 Information about all the activities, all the changes that are happening
06:47.08 in the Indian science scene is hard to come by.
06:50.17 But even here initiatives, one such initiative like the India Bioscience,
06:56.19 which is a kind of a web-based information site to knit the scientific community in India together.
07:06.12 It's a program started by, in fact, by Ron Vale at UCSF
07:11.26 to, in fact, try to bring the community of scientists in India to talk
07:18.07 to each other as well as provide information about the different research opportunities in India.
07:23.25 So there are changes also in terms of the lack of information
07:28.25 that one always hears about in the Indian science arena.
07:35.13 Well, so, as I just indicated, there are lots of jobs for research scientists, and there's money to boot.
07:47.08 But I think the most important reason to work or to engage in biological sciences in India today
07:54.15 is the possibility of doing truly innovative science.
07:57.03 There are literally no fetters on the nature of science and the activity that you take up.
08:03.27 There's no demands except that you do cutting edge, fundamental research at a very, very high level.
08:11.01 And if, I mean, literally, the funding system is extremely open for people who have all kinds of ideas.
08:19.06 In fact, even if you don't have ideas it is open.
08:21.25 But in fact, I think that is the real problem
08:24.10 because given the opportunity it needs people who are engaging and doing research
08:30.13 at the frontiers of all the fields that they can engage in.
08:37.06 Another extremely exciting prospect of doing scientific research in India today
08:42.26 is that you will be involved in shaping an emerging scientific ethos.
08:47.17 You can change the nature of the institutions.
08:49.07 You can engage in working at also building up an ethos of
08:58.22 a current, sort of, exciting scientific that is needed for exciting scientific research.
09:04.26 So, and just working in an institute today will be a major contribution.
09:15.25 You being involved in doing science in India will change the ethos of scientific culture there.
09:23.12 There are also many other opportunities for science and its associated activities.
09:29.23 There are many alternative careers in science, for example
09:34.07 science journalism, management, infrastructure and core facility management,
09:41.08 scientific administration, and of course, if you are of a translational bent,
09:46.03 there are some interesting opportunities which are again well-supported financially by the government
09:53.02 for various translational activities engaging with the biotechnology industry in the country.
10:00.05 So I think, I mean the future of biological sciences in India, well what they need I think is
10:07.27 a really strong long-term vision in building excellent fundamental research.
10:13.24 The strategies for that, I think, can be many.
10:17.27 And they need to be put into place rather quickly because the money is available now.
10:23.00 And I think it is also a clarion call to the international community to get involved
10:27.00 because one can learn from the mistakes of others and also
10:32.01 sort of build upon what knowledge people have in other contexts.
10:38.27 So all in all I think the future is very bright if these attributes are met.
10:47.24 There is a huge potential which is what I wanted to leave you with.
10:54.11 And also to say that biological sciences is alive and well.
11:00.16 It is a small activity right now, but it is poised to grow at a rate that
11:06.15 will be determined by how many of us get involved in this work.
11:14.09 And what I sincerely believe is that given the context in which one works,
11:25.10 that often shapes the science that we do.
11:29.12 So in India right now there is a tremendous excitement about scientifically engaging
11:35.09 with the incredible biodiversity that we have.
11:38.07 Fundamental questions can be asked about biological sciences
11:42.28 if we couple it to the existing biodiversity,
11:46.05 which has been incredibly poorly explored.
11:49.09 Every form of cell biology and the context, I mean, as a cell biologist
11:57.22 I find just simply being involved in some of the questions about the different
12:03.12 biodiversity programs that are taking place in the country is just incredibly exciting.
12:08.05 So I would like to just leave you all here by just saying that the future of biological sciences
12:14.16 is in our hands to engage with, and it is alive and well if we do so. Thank you.

This Talk

Speaker: Satyajit 'Jitu' Mayor

Audience:

Student
Researcher

Recorded: September 2012

Talk Overview

Mayor explains why now is an exciting time to pursue biological research in India. As well as generous government funding and available jobs, it is possible to do truly innovative research and to help shape the emerging ethos of science in India.

Speaker Bio

Satyajit 'Jitu' Mayor

Satyajit “Jitu” Mayor was born in Baroda, India and received his MSc in Chemistry from IIT, Mumbai. He obtained his Ph.D. in Life Sciences from the Rockefeller University, New York, working in the Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology with Prof. George Cross where he studied the biosynthesis of GPI-anchors in the African sleeping sickness parasite, Trypanosoma… Continue Reading