Which Smad?

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.