Direction and the blessing met me when I decided to uptake a scientific project on a neurodevelopmental disorder called Fragile X syndrome FXS, which directed me straight to unravel the mystery of some unasked questions. Though the department of biotechnology in the University Of Kashmir is considered the top notch among other life-science departments in its modernized workstations and sophisticated instrumentation, still the initial phase was like a run of a mill job, because dealing with lab works in Kashmir comes almost next to a Herculean task. And you keep striving all the time either for a leaky autoclave setting frequent power cuts or for an incubator of a suitable temperature. I always knew the scientific world outside the lab too is fascinating and worth exploring and it took not so long for me to realize the impact of voids within the system which directed me to pursue a different path of research. What could have been more fortunate than to be working under the supervision of Dr Abrar Qurashi himself who is a Ramalingaswami fellow having long been associated with the epitomes of prestige and excellence like IGBMC at University Louis Pasteur ULP Strasbourg Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta and Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai New York. He had been working there on dissecting the molecular basis of FXS and a related disorder called FXTAS for years and today he represents the lone figure in the entire valley operating the concept of FXS. FXTAS single-handedly and his lab is the only one working on this disorder. Somehow this queer rarity kept me luring to the story and the interactive sessions with my guide too began to increase gradually until some of his questions startled my mind into action.
