Welcome-Trust/DBT interview:
X: “Which Smad are you talking about?”
Me: “Don’t recall the variant
precisely, but I guess it is Smad2 or 3”
X: “You mean you are not sure which
Smad you are going to study?”
(and X looked around towards the other
panelists with an ill-conceived smile as if to convey “see I caught him”)
Me: “No I do, the Smads, or any other
known signaling proteins for that matter, which interact with CTCF, are my
interest”
X: “It is generally the function that
determines the genome structure, why do you propose other way around? Your
hypothesis seems flawed”
Me: “No I did not, not sure how you got
that impression. We simply don’t know the answer. In my view, genome
is self-regulating feed-back system, where structure and function are
interlocked with each other and may be it is not appropriate to look for a
starting point. Chicken or an egg problem!”
X: “Why do you want to study the
bivalent marks?”
Me: “Well bivalency has huge significance
in development. It is known that ………”
X (interrupted): I am not asking what
the bivalency is? Why did you choose bivalent mark to study?
Me: “I did not. It is the observation.
We find association with bivalency and therefore we want to study it.”
X: You mentioned that you will use
various matrices of differing elasticities to grow the stem cells. What is the
SI unit of elasticity?
Me: Well, I do not recall it right now.
[again X looking around the panelists
with a expression of “how was that?”, as if it was a cool physics question and
my whole project will depend on that! ]
X: “With whom are you competing?”
Me. “To best of my knowledge, nobody is
working on this question, I am not sure if I want to compete with any one. I am
just addressing one scientific quest that appealed me.”
X: ”Why did you choose that your
post-doc PI should not be contacted for this project”
Me: No I did not.
X (repeated): ”Why did you
choose that your post-doc PI should not be contacted to review this project”
Me: No I did not. I am not
sure if there was any such option in the application form [Indeed, there wasn’t
any and I confirmed this from my colleagues]
X (repeated): ”You chose
that your post-doc PI should not be contacted”
Me: “Not sure if I did it. If at all my
application conveys so, it is genuine mistake on my end. You can contact him
any time”
PS: I don't think I signed any
agreement for confidentiality of this interview which happened sometime in
2013.
