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JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

2008[3]

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An interview with Dinesh Pal, the winner of young scientist Medal, 2008, Awarded by Indian National Science Academy (INSA)

Bhoomika: When did you join JNU and how has the JNU experience been for you?

Dr. Pal: I finished B.Sc (Hons.) in Applied Zoology from Dyal Singh College in 1997. After that I moved to the Zoology Department at North Campus of Delhi University to pursue M.Sc in Zoology. After completing M.Sc in Zoology in 1999, I took a year off and did a Post Graduate diploma in ’International Law and Diplomacy’ from the Indian Academy of International Law and Diplomacy. In year 2000, I joined SLS, JNU for M.Phil/ Ph.D program. I finished Ph.D in 2006, and then went to University of California, Berkeley, as a Postdoctoral Scholar. I stayed for a year after which I joined the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as a Research fellow. So presently I am at University of Michigan. JNU has contributed immensely to my academic pursuits. When I came here, I found it absolutely different from the educational institutions I had attended earlier. As far as the campus culture and academic environment are concerned, Delhi University and JNU are poles apart despite being in the same city. I love the JNU Campus. Besides the campus, the student-faculty interaction is of a different nature here. One can learn so much more in an open environment. The students-teacher ratio also contributes to the openness. Another remarkable thing about JNU is that it gives ample opportunity to its students to grow as individuals, to develop their own opinions, intellectual space and also bright careers. While doing my Ph.D, I was a member of the student-faculty committee and also was the SLS convenor, JNUSU, for three consecutive years. I believe these extra-curricular activities are excellent opportunities to learn and grow as a responsible student and a citizen.

Also, JNU ensures that high quality higher education is, within every one’s reach. If you compare the fees that we pay in JNU to that of other universities, you would find that we are getting a Ph.D degree almost free of cost! In all these ways, I can say that it was a boon for me to join JNU. I would like to say that whatever I have achieved, I own it all to JNU and my mentor Prof. B. N. Mallik.

Bhoomika: Tell us something about your work and your area of research. Also tell us whether you were sure to join neurosciences when you come to JNU?

Dr. Pal: When I came to JNU, I was sure that I wanted to go into neurobiology. It was a new field for me as I specialized in entomology as part of my master’s degree. Here I joined Prof. Mallik’s laboratory and started working on the mechanisms underlying rapid eye movement sleep generation. After the completion of Ph.D, I joined the University of California and worked for a while on neuro-metabolic coupling in brain using the visual systems as a model. However, I have returned to familiar grounds and I am continuing research in the sleep field. I’m presently working to understand the functions of REM sleep, in particular the relationship between sleep and memory consolidation. A lot of scientific research has shown that sleep has mnemonic function associated with it. to put it in simple terms, if brain is like a tape-recorder, recording the events happening during the waking time, then during sleep, the recorded tape is played again. The question is what happens when the tape (or the events learned during waking) is played back in sleep and what particular function sleep might be serving in it. We listen to the “tape” through the extra-cellular neuronal recordings from the hippocampus done while the animals are learning new tasks and when they are sleeping after a task. Sleep might be enhancing the required memories or erasing the not so important memories to make more room available for new memories.

Bhoomika: Tell us about your work for which you have been given the Young Scientist Award and about INSA in general.

Dr. Pal: The candidates for the INSA young scientist medal are short listed on the basis of research work done in India. The short listed candidates are invited to make a presentation of their work before a committee. The broad area of my thesis research was rapid eye movement sleep. Rapid eye movement sleep is a distinct state of sleep. Sleep has intrigued humans since the dawn of civilization. In texts as ancient as Upanishads, one can find allusions to different states of sleep. However, it was only during the last 50-60 years that an experimental and scientific approach was taken to study sleep. The focus of my doctoral work in particular was on understanding the neuro-chemical mechanisms in the pedunculopontine tegmentum involved in rapid eye movement sleep generation.

Bhoomika: You have been rewarded duly for your work by INSA. How else do you think can the work of young scientists be highlighted? How can science among young people be encouraged?

Dr. Pal: Well, the first thing is information. For instance, the way I take the fact that I'm being interviewed by JNU News is that it provides information about the existence of encouraging opportunities for young scientists today. As a student I was not aware about the INSA award. It was my thesis mentor who encouraged me to apply for this coveted award. Earlier this year I was also awarded the B. K. Anand Award for best paper in Physiology for year 2007. Again, I got to know about it through my mentor, Prof. Mallik. So, there is definitely a need to make students aware about all the opportunities available. They should know right from the start of their Ph.D that there are coveted awards and fellowships which might be waiting for them. Another thing which must be done in a University like JNU, known for its pioneering research work, is to bring the science out of laboratory to masses. The research work of the students and the laboratories in which they are working should be highlighted through the university magazine, at least. This could be a positive step towards encouraging more innovative ideas and research attitude among students as well as making students feel good about their work which will ultimately benefit the society. It can enhance the sense of importance as well as responsibility among students.

Bhoomika: You have been to several Universities as a student D.U, JNU, University of California, Berkeley and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. How would you describe the research environment of JNU when seen comparatively?

Dr. Pal: There is certainly no limit to betterment. We need to get a lot of things done here. But as I mentioned earlier, JNU provides amazing infrastructure and academic ambience. This University spends lakhs of rupees on its students without asking them to pay as much. This University is a boon for the students. But it brings with it a lot of responsibility too because it is ultimately the tax payers money on which we get to study. Hence, we've got to pay back to the society in our own respective ways. JNU teaches us all this and that is why, it is a great institution. Also, when you go abroad you find that the basic foundation of your knowledge laid by JNU is very strong. So in that sense also, we are doing a great job.

Bhoomika: How would you comment on the research potential of SLS, JNU, especially in your field?

Dr. Pal: SLS, JNU is doing very well. In my field too, we are a well known group at the national as well as the international level. But I think we need more input into neurosciences. When I went abroad, I was astonished to see the tremendous funding available to neurosciences. this is an upcoming field, with a lot of research potential. We need more and more people to join this area. Poets and philosophers have talked a lot about sleep which happens to be an altered state of consciousness and consciousness is considered to be the last frontier for research and is a relatively new field. It needs more manpower. At research level, more can be achieved if things are done in collaboration. One can not do everything on one's own. You don't find everything in one single lab; you have to collaborate with other labs to come up with newer things. Hence, we need different labs with different levels of expertise to come together. this is a world wide phenomenon now. Any good publication tends to be collaborative. Hence I think there should be more scientists and students not only in neurosciences but in all fields, working in collaboration. We must have distinct groups related to each field in order to come up with very high quality research.

Bhoomika: What are your future plans?

Dr. Pal: I want to come back to India. I may spend a couple of more years in the U.S. But I'm on the look out for opportunities back home. I have been trying and I think this award will help me in this case.

Bhoomika: How about coming back to JNU?

Dr. Pal: Oh….. That would be a dream come true. Really… I know JNU like the back of hand. I would like to give to students all that I received as a student of JNU. It is a great place to go.

Bhoomika: What message would you like to give to JNU students?

Dr. Pal: We can make a difference. this is a take home message for JNU. this is what I learnt here and this is what I always try to do. We must try to make a difference by using what we learn here for the betterment of the people who make such high quality education possible for us. We should be thankful for this and remember our responsibility to the society.