The discoveries, beyond our simple
and realistic thoughts, often occur accidentally and spontaneously that
have placed our science on a solid foundation. The accidental discovery of gene
silencing which was first considered as an unwelcome surprise in transgenic
facilities, is powered with lot more killer instinct than any other surprises in
biology. The impact of gene silencing in modern biology particularly in post
genomic era is so obvious that merely six years earlier people never thought
about this process, that came to a forefront with blazing lights. As a matter of
fact, it defeats all technologies with a comfortable gap, to win the number one
spot of break through technology in the world. My research group is very
fortunate that we have been working on gene silencing since its disvovery in
animals, as a pioneer contributor. The major thrust of gene silencing is
that one can silence or knock down any gene throughout the genome at any
particular time point in a specific set of cells by simply introducing small
modified RNA (smRNA), commonly known as RNA interference (RNAi). Assuming its
multidimensional importance in nature, our group is working on three major areas
: (1) To determine the complete mechanism of gene silencing and its influence on
various important biochemical pathways. (2) How we can easily control life
threatening animal and plant viruses using gene silencing. (3) A possible
interrelationship between gene silencing and neurobiological disturbances or
disorders. The answers of all these questions are able to tame gene silencing
according to our will in near future and claim astonishing surprises in our
grip.
