I was born on the 25th of february, (some other lucky ones)
in Andhra Pradesh and
telugu is my
mother-tongue. I grew up in Calcutta (West Bengal)
where I learned to read and write (Uttar
Pradesh) and later to Bangalore(Karnataka). I
graduated from Veterinary School at the University
of Agricultural Sciences (Bangalore) after spending five glorious years in
November, 1989. My desire to be a veterinary doctor was primarily to learn about
animal diseases and not to practise veterinary
medicine, as I always aspired to perform animal disease research. During my
penultimate year at UAS
I began to appreciate the fact that viruses, one of the tiniest of
all pathogens, seem to be the smartest and cause some of the most devastating
diseases. Effective measures for preventing many of the viral infections are
still far from reality. With the hope of learning a little more about viruses, I
started my
doctoral
studies in Veterinary Science,
specializing in Virology with a
minor in Oncology
at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
in Spring, 1990 which I completed in January, 1997. My dissertation was on alphaherpesviral
glycoprotein D mediated interference.
Prof.
Geoffrey Letchworth, was my thesis advisor and Prof. Paul Lambert, my minor
professor. I am now a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Eva Lee's laboratory at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. Presently working on understanding the molecular basis of cancer.
Dasika@scientist.com