I was born in a small and remote village in the northern part of Bihar state in India. I was not studious while at the beginning of primary school until high school. But all of a sudden, I became serious and very hard working. I started receiving appreciations and accolades. Unlike other students who are aware of what their passion is and what they want to do in life, my life was full of chaos.

Choosing‌ ‌biology‌ ‌as‌ ‌a‌ ‌major‌ ‌instead‌ ‌of‌ ‌maths.

I was not aware of science and engineering but was always looking for the best, what I could achieve during my school days. My family thought Maths as the only option for becoming an engineer and I had no chance to select biology. Hence, I set my mind that I needed to become an engineer and honestly, that was supported by my confidence and hard work. I remember during school days, I always got appreciations from biology teacher for very nice explanations in Science but never in Maths.

I remember I was waiting for the secondary board exam results particularly of Maths and not biology. Surprisingly, I scored very good marks in Biology and Chemistry, that got me distinction. I scored less than expected in Maths and four marks less to get admission into a reputed college (T.N.B College) in Bhagalpur city. My family was regretful that I couldn’t get admission into the dream college.

One of the professors from the same college also a family friend, offered an option to take admission in Biology major with Maths as minor. With a chance to upgrade my stream from Biology major to Maths major, after four months, I was happy to start my journey from a village to a city, named as Bhagalpur. I still remember that every single day, I hoped for good news to come that my BIOLOGY major changed into MATH major. At the end of four months, I was informed that my major couldn’t be changed. I was disheartened. During that difficult time, Registrar of the University said that do not get disheartened, as BIOLOGY will help me in life sooner or later.

I decided that I will study in the same college with BIOLOGY as major and it became a turning point in my life to become a SCIENTIST. Further, I got admitted to the College of Agriculture Science at Nagpur but I was in a dilemma, what to do in life. I stayed there for six months and appeared for the final examination. During vacation, my family was not convinced and they wanted me to drop this program and join some engineering course. After vacation, I returned to college and results were declared. To everyone’s surprise, I scored 10/10 in Animal science, genetics and scored an average in Maths and engineering.

That was a big motivation and first realisation. I realised my passion and understood my inherent inclinations for SCIENCE and moved away from the predisposed idea of becoming an engineer. I accepted that I did not study biology as other students, but I comprehended and analysed biological science based on my imagination and inherent inclinations.

Working‌ ‌as‌ ‌an‌ ‌independent‌ ‌researcher.

After doing my Masters in Science and PhD in Biotechnology, I was offered a Postdoctoral job at Rutgers University, USA and later on, I moved to NIEHS, NC, USA. The day I joined for a Postdoctoral position, I started thinking about how to become an Independent Investigator.

I joined Dr D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune, India as an Assistant Professor, with a small lab support having electrophoresis unit, immunoblot unit, homogenizer, hemocytometer etc. Finally, after support from University authority, my lab was named as Cancer and Translational Research Lab. Here onwards, I started my journey as an independent researcher (2013-2014). I feel proud to say that within four to five years, I added more than 50 publications and five patents with the help of talented students and collaborators.

Currently, I feel excited about science, I am working in close associations with M.D. clinicians as Medical oncologists, Surgical Oncologists, Radiologists, Pathologists and preclinical scientists. My major research interests are in tumor heterogeneity at non-cellular levels and its translational value in diagnosis. I feel motivated and safe to be in the ambience of SCIENCE and precisely Cancer Biology. Lastly, to new students of biology and science, I want to advise that you should first discover yourself, before you become a part of science discovery. We need to listen to peers, but be courageous enough to opt right path.