"I consider myself to be very fortunate to have come in contact with Prof. Obaid Siddiqi early in my career. He has certainly been very instrumental in shaping up my career. With a strong background of classical botany, I had been interested in plant development and plant taxonomy. During the B.Sc. (Hons.) course at Delhi University (1956-59), the lectures of B. D. Sanwal on the structure of DNA really kindled to lot of excitement and interest. Later, Sanwal decided to move over to Canada but my fascination for DNA continued. While I was pursuing my studies and research during M.Sc. (1959-61) and Ph.D (1961-65), S.C. Maheshwari used to organize student seminars and there were talks on the structure, biosynthesis and function of DNA, RNA and proteins. There used to be a lot of discussion, if regulatory mechanisms similar to bacteria operate in animals and plants also. An overall integration of biology had not occurred but was slowly emerging. Traditionally, the departments of botany and zoology emphasized classical aspects and biodiversity. Most of the students thus failed to get a feeling of the physico-chemical basis of life and look at biology from a wider perspective. Dr. Maheshwari had a book on the structure of DNA by Porter and Porter describing how to make a model of DNA double helix using cardboard cut outs. I decided to make this DNA model and by the time I finished Ph.D., I was quite familiar with the right handed helix and the 10 base pairs for each turn.
Having submitted Ph.D. thesis in 1964, I was looking forward to an exciting career in biology. At that time, it was a Public lecture on the Genetic Code by Dr. Siddiqi that made a lasting and very strong impression on me. The abstruse style of doing science by molecular biologists was something very novel and unheard of among the classically-oriented biologists. Unquestionably, this lecture proved to be the turning point in my career and I decided that this is the type of biology I would like to get into in future. Every time I have listened to Dr. Siddiqi, there is always something new to learn. I continued as a Research Associate during 1965-68 at the Plant Research Laboratory (PRL, Michigan State University) and had a very broad exposure to the challenging problems on the emerging frontiers of plant molecular biology. This was also the time when the techniques and strategies of molecular biology were being increasingly applied to study plant development. In 1967, I wrote to Prof. Siddiqi and expressed my interest in joining TIFR to set up a line of work on the molecular biology of plants. He responded promptly and stated that I should visit him at MIT in June 1968 for a detailed discussion. I did visit him at MIT, had a day-long discussion and finally joined the Molecular Biology Unit (MBU) at TIFR in November 1968.
After joining TIFR, my earlier experience of making a DNA model proved very useful. In January 1969, MBU moved into the B-Block. During this move, I noticed a CPK-brand kit to make a model of double helix DNA using the space filling atoms. The new facilities and infrastructure were in the process of being created and established. As a challenging line of my own research activity had yet to emerge, I decided to assemble the DNA using this kit. It took a couple of weeks to assemble the DNA model and it proved to an instant hit for lectures and demonstrations. Currently it is in the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.
In the early years of MBU, a major activity organized by Dr. Siddiqi was the ICRO courses and the winter schools. They had become very sought after training programmes that showcased the latest advances in the field of Molecular Biology including the Neurobiology. All of these were so good so as to be profoundly useful even in the research. Although each Faculty member pursued his own interest in a broad area, yet there was a lot of interaction and cross talk between the different groups. There used to lot of discussion about unification and or integration of the research activity of the MBU in a broad area. One of the earliest such discussion in 1972 (or 1973) took place at the Khandala Cottage (rented by TIFR’s Geophysics Section for experiments on hydrology). Undertaking the Neurobiology research in future by the Unit was discussed very actively. The unification did not happen for quite some time but gradually began to emerge after other faculty members joined and investigations on various aspects of Neurosciences were undertaken by several of the Faculty. The rest is all history already well-documented by others.
It has been a great pleasure knowing Dr. Siddiqi and his family. These interactions are gradually fading into memory. I wish him many more years of active life and happiness. The legacy he leaves behind will survive for a long time to come."
"I consider myself to be very
Having submitted Ph.D. thesis in 1964, I was looking forward to an exciting career in biology. At that time, it was a Public lecture on the Genetic Code by Dr. Siddiqi that made a lasting and very strong impression on me. The abstruse style of doing science by molecular biologists was something very novel and unheard of among the classically-oriented biologists. Unquestionably, this lecture proved to be the turning point in my career and I decided that this is the type of biology I would like to get into in future. Every time I have listened to Dr. Siddiqi, there is always something new to learn. I continued as a Research Associate during 1965-68 at the Plant Research Laboratory (PRL, Michigan State University) and had a very broad exposure to the challenging problems on the emerging frontiers of plant molecular biology. This was also the time when the techniques and strategies of molecular biology were being increasingly applied to study plant development. In 1967, I wrote to Prof. Siddiqi and expressed my interest in joining TIFR to set up a line of work on the molecular biology of plants. He responded promptly and stated that I should visit him at MIT in June 1968 for a detailed discussion. I did visit him at MIT, had a day-long discussion and finally joined the Molecular Biology Unit (MBU) at TIFR in November 1968.
After joining TIFR, my earlier experience of making a DNA model proved very useful. In January 1969, MBU moved into the B-Block. During this move, I noticed a CPK-brand kit to make a model of double helix DNA using the space filling atoms. The new facilities and infrastructure were in the process of being created and established. As a challenging line of my own research activity had yet to emerge, I decided to assemble the DNA using this kit. It took a couple of weeks to assemble the DNA model and it proved to an instant hit for lectures and demonstrations. Currently it is in the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.
In the early years of MBU, a major activity organized by Dr. Siddiqi was the ICRO courses and the winter schools. They had become very sought after training programmes that showcased the latest advances in the field of Molecular Biology including the Neurobiology. All of these were so good so as to be profoundly useful even in the research. Although each Faculty member pursued his own interest in a broad area, yet there was a lot of interaction and cross talk between the different groups. There used to lot of discussion about unification and or integration of the research activity of the MBU in a broad area. One of the earliest such discussion in 1972 (or 1973) took place at the Khandala Cottage (rented by TIFR’s Geophysics Section for experiments on hydrology). Undertaking the Neurobiology research in future by the Unit was discussed very actively. The unification did not happen for quite some time but gradually began to emerge after other faculty members joined and investigations on various aspects of Neurosciences were undertaken by several of the Faculty. The rest is all history already well-documented by others.
It has been a great pleasure knowing Dr. Siddiqi and his family. These interactions are gradually fading into memory. I wish him many more years of active life and happiness. The legacy he leaves behind will survive for a long time to come."
mjohri06915@yahoo.co.in
---M M Johri
32 New Cosmos
Juhu-Versova Link Road
Andheri (W), Mumbai 400 053