I’ve been asked in different ways why I left behind the comfort of India and a corporate job to do a PhD in computational biology, of all things. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure myself.
I can, of course, point to the wonders of the humble cell — and I wouldn’t be lying entirely. The cell, in my opinion, is a truly wonderful molecular machine. Siddhartha Mukherjee has written an elegant ode to it. But I knew nothing about the cell when I decided to do my PhD; it wasn’t even on my mind. I had long since forgotten the little biology I learned in high school and chose engineering instead. The memories of that particular day when I made that decision are rather vague. To be fair, the entirety of the pandemic years seems to have slipped into a memory abyss.
Back to the question, though. Perhaps it was the mind-numbing boredom of doing “data science and machine learning” for real estate in a city on the other side of the planet. I guess I’ll never know.
What I do know is that it’s been fun in many ways. I’ve learned more math, improved my programming skills, and picked up some basic molecular biology — from textbooks, the internet at large, and many patient colleagues. The more I learn, the more amazed I am by the sheer complexity of it all. Beyond the central dogma of biology — and, would you believe it, there are exceptions to this as well! — the exception is the norm. It’s, in many ways, a scientific Alice in Wonderland, full of wonderful oddballs and rabbit holes.
Take a look at the COVID virus. It’s a non-entity without a host — just a piece of RNA wrapped in a protective cloak. But give it the right host, and it wreaks havoc. Can you think of anything less logical? What do you mean a non-living entity suddenly comes to life, given the right host, and can kill you in the worst case? The sheer absurdity of it is both scary and fascinating. If this isn’t a rabbit hole, I don’t know what is.
Here’s to more rabbit holes and adventures!