Akash Deep Biswas is a doctoral student at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy. He has previously interned with Aptuit an Evotec Company at Verona, Italy, he also worked as a Project Associate at IIT Kanpur, Department of Mechanical, and as a Junior Research Fellow at IIT Guwahati, Department of Biological Sciences & Bio Engineering. He is currently working on Antifreeze proteins as his Ph.D. Thesis and has taken up projects on Drug Discoveries.
Could you ever pursue a path completely different from what you thought you were destined towards - a field of study so distinct from yours?
Many would not venture but many would too. A similar thought occurred to Akash Deep Biswas, on the day he decided not to be an engineer. An unfortunate mistake in his AIEEE counselling led him to give up Engineering and take up Bioinformatics instead. His passion for Computer Science never faded and Biology sparked in him a sense of wonder and excitement.
Akash is a TU Alumnus, graduated in Integrated MSc. in Bioscience and Bioinformatics in 2015. He is a doctoral student in Italy at Scuola Normale Superiore. He worked as a project associate at IIT Kanpur and as a Junior Research fellow at IIT Guwahati.
We asked him some questions about this beautiful blend of Computer Science and Biology and he gave us some very interesting answers.
The day I took up Bioinformatics, I headed to a nearby cyber cafe and I googled about the work it entailed. I learnt that the field used Computer science to solve biological problems and unknowingly, I found myself searching about the projects that were going on at the time and what they meant. This curiosity and interest has been with me all this time and here I am, in Pisa with a 100 percent scholarship.
Some people might be lucky and get it within a month or two. For me, it was a bit tough. I came from a pure Biological Background and I had to learn new stuff in order to stand a chance for this scholarship. I started in 2014 and was rejected in my first interview in France and in the interviews that followed. I used to review my cover letter and resume after each rejection. After two years of struggle, I finally got three scholarships - 2 in France, 1 in Italy- I opted for the latter.
AI is a tool to predict. For example, take an X-ray of a Covid Patient and that of a Pneumonia Patient. A doctor might find the two X-rays very similar but AI uses special algorithms to distinguish between the two.
Apart from that, AI helps in monitoring and surveillance. There are robots that help track Covid Patients. Another example of AI is the ability to predict whether a person has Covid or not just by the sound of his cough. AI has definitely aided in improving and curbing this Pandemic.
It is quite impossible in the near Future. The human brain can only be mimicked by computers to a certain extent. AI still lacks emotions and instincts. Take for instance, the recommendation algorithm in Youtube, Amazon, Netflix etc. They recommend songs, movies, products based on your previous preferences. They still cannot sense your mood which, in turn, determines your choice. No matter how far it has come, AI still has a long long way to go.
I have taken up projects on Drug Discovery and currently I am working on Antifreeze Proteins as a part of his PhD Thesis. For instance, if a person is put in freezing water, he/she cannot survive for more than half an hour, after which your muscles go weak and you lose coordination. A very famous incident is what happened to the passengers aboard Titanic. Humans lack antifreeze proteins which are found in the bodies of Animals or Insects found in cold regions. This protein was crystallized, solved and put in the protein database. We took this model and tried to understand how the hydration layer blocks the formation of ice. I published one paper in the American Chemical Society and one in the Royal Society of Chemistry and am currently working on a third one.
The first step is determining what you want and why you want it. Once you are sure of your Passion, it all depends on your perseverance and will power. You have to start and experiment. Step out of your comfort zone and see where it takes you!
It was dry. My area of work involved developing mathematical models and codes and to test them. After testing, we generally collaborate with people on some experiments. My field is completely mathematical and computational till now. I am inclined towards the experimental aspect and very soon, I hope to go on that side too.
Definitely. A lot of companies in the industry are working on fields such as genomic data which links Biology and Engineering. While engineers work on the technical aspects, Bioinformaticians are required to supervise the entire process. Moreover, there is a demand for people who understand computer science and also biology to be able to correlate them and develop softwares.
There’s a lot of them but to name a few - Molecular Dynamics and Molecular Docking.
In Molecular Dynamics, the engineers develop a Molecular Dynamics tool in which information about proteins is stored in order to predict the future movements of the proteins through the body.
In Molecular Docking, the entire process of a protein’s interaction with an unknown chemical is examined and visualized.
Most importantly, the molecular visualisation and image processing softwares are prepared by the engineers and bioinformaticians which is used by all sciences for their research.
Generally, AI was used to predict the epicentre for the Covid-19 outbreak - which are the areas that can be more affected and which need to be more secured. Prediction of the number of doctors required in a particular hospital as well for drug testing experiments was also done by AI.
The boom is already there. People are losing their jobs but there are a lot of openings in the area of drug discovery and biotechnology. Moreover, after this pandemic, people have realised how important it is to think of their health. So there are a lot of investors who are investing in such startups.
He also answered a couple of general questions.
According to me, there are two types of studies - quantitative and qualitative. Even I’m trying to be both at this point of time. But initially, being qualitative is more important. First, you should try to increase the quality of your study and then gradually increase the amount of time devoted to it. And I believe perseverance is the key. Everyone has had their own shares of failures and difficulties but the one who continues to carry on is the real winner.
Just as we like a food only when we taste it, to find your interest you need to actually try doing it. Try to understand the basics and start working on basic problems and ask yourself if you genuinely feel passionate about it and also ready to face the problems that come in the way.
I started looking for them in my final year. And it's better if you start early because you might have to face a number of rejections and then review and update your CV, cover letter or SoPs. Surely, the right time would get you the right scholarship.