Dr Parani shares few words about his recent trip to Canada. And also he says
about his futuristic view on starting HIGH THROUGHPUT FACILITY for DNA Barcoding
Rekha: First
let me thank you for spending time in your busy schedule for this interview. I
know you were busy after returning from Canada. I have very few questions to
ask you. I will finish it as quick as possible.
Parani:
No problem. Go head with your questions.
Rekha: We know you
have been to Canada during July – Aug Mid. Please tell us about your trip.
Parani: I have gone to visit
Canadian Center for DNA Barcoding (CCDB) at Univ of Guelf. CCDB pioneered in
DNA Barcoding and are hosting BOLD system database. They are currently running
a major International Project on DNA Barcoding of 5 Million specimen by the
year 2015. They have high-throughput DNA Barcoding robotics facility.
Rekha:
What are the other places you visited?
Parani:
University of Toronto and Food Canada Labs in Guelf.
Rekha:
Is this trip related to the award you recently received?
Parani:
Yeah, you are right. My trip was sponsored by Department of Biotechnology,
Government of India under the DBT - Cutting-edge Research
Enhancement and Scientific Training (CREST).
Rekha: Congrats for the award, Sir. Please tell us more about CREST
award.
Parani: Thank you. This is
very competitive award given for any person with Ph.D and record of good
publications for career development. You can travel to any part of the world
for 6 to 12 months (1-3 months in exceptional cases) to enlighten knowledge on
your current research. They will provide financial support for travel, even preparatory
allowances like Visa fees, insurance and also 3000 USD/Month for living
expense.
Rekha: How
this trip enlightened your knowledge on Barcoding?
Parani: I happened to visit
the lab that pioneered in DNA Barcoding, which has robotic facility for DNA
Isolation and high-throughput sequencer. Since you know, we have started
Barcoding for plants; dragon flies etc for the last 3- 4 years. In future, we
will have high-throughput lab for DNA Barcoding. I could personally meet Paul
Hebert who is considered as father of DNA barcoding and worked with Steve
Newmaster, an expert in plant DNA barcoding. Now we can work in DNA barcoding
at international standards.
Rekha: Please
share some interesting moments/things with us.
Parani:
One of my UG classmate is there in Canada, but I was not sure where he is put
up. So I left a message in Facebook before leaving so that I could meet him in
Canada if he lives nearby. I did not get any reply, so I left it. One day in
Canada, while I was walking to my lab, a guy in a Honda Accord passed by waved
at me. I waved back just like that and walked off. To my surprise, when I
reached the lab, there was an e-mail saying that it was in fact my friend in
Canada. He was working just in the next
building. Yet, we met after two days over coffee, later went for dinner to meet
his family…
And other thing I wanted to
share was that I was happy to meet Purushothaman, my first Ph.D student in his
Post-Doc lab at University of Toronto, Canada.
Rekha: Please
tell me, if you have any suggestions / tips to fellow faculties and students.
Parani: I wish all the
faculties of Genetic Engineering Dept and SRM aim for this award. As I told
earlier, you can visit the best labs in your area of research with full
financial support. DBT has got many programme/schemes to support the young
research people.
Rekha:
Thanks Sir for your wishes and valuable time you spent with us.
Parani: You
are welcome.