The Goan is a traveller. In the old days he could be found in Africa earning his monies and also providing his intellectual muscle in the fight against colonialism. Today they continue to move to improve their lives and to improve their professional career. One such traveller is doing yeoman work in the fight against Malaria.
Janneth Rodrigues was recently interviewed by the media all over the world after she and her team of scientists found a naturally occurring strain of bacteria which can help stop the transmission of malaria from mosquitoes to humans. They found it by chance, after a colony of mosquitoes in one experiment did not develop the malaria parasite. The researchers say the bacteria could be a new tool for fighting one of the world’s oldest diseases, which kills 600,000 people every year. Trials assessing its safety in the real world are now taking place.
Janneth Rodrigues is a true Goenkar. From the village of Candolim, she was studious as a child. Asked how she got interested in the sciences, Janneth said, “Besides, history and geography, I enjoyed biology as a subject in school. Back when I was in school, my father had shared with me an article on cell biology and genes and DNA, from an issue of the National Geographic magazine and it piqued my interest”. She was motivated by several people during her childhood. She said it was not just one person, but several. Besides her parents and siblings, during her childhood, her beloved school teachers at St. Mary’s High School Mapusa were truly inspirational.
In college she took up science and completed her BSC in Microbiology & Biochemistry at St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa. She then went on to do her Master’s in Microbiology and subsequently a Ph. D in Biotechnology from Goa University. Janneth then moved to Delhi to do her post doctoral research at the International Centre For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology. Janneth spent the next six years in Seattle as an Instructor at the University of Washington. This then led her to her present assignment in Madrid Spain. She is employed as a scientific leader in a pharmaceutical company in Research & Development (R&D) on diseases which are spread by insect vectors, e.g., malaria which is spread by the single bite of a mosquito carrying malaria parasites within them. She works on the discovery and development of tools that can intervene or prevent the transmission of such diseases. According to media reports scientists at the research facility in Spain made the discovery after noticing that a colony of mosquitoes being used for drug development had stopped carrying malaria. Further studies revealed that a specific strain of bacteria - TC1 - which is naturally present in the environment, had stopped the development of the malaria parasites in the gut of the mosquitoes.
You can take a Goan out of Goa but you can never take Goa out of a true blue Goan. She has several friends and family who she visits once or twice every year. Asked what she missed about Goa, she was very honest. She said, “My family and my friends. So much in Goa is changing so rapidly, each visit back to Goa and either it is a new highway or new construction and the rapid replacement of all the beautiful green coverage on the hills with concrete jungles. What remains constant though, are the bonds that we share and are very grateful for having family and friends here. And of course, I miss the delicious Goan food too”.
There has always been a discussion in academic circles as to how one could ensure more girls enter the science stream. Her response was very straightforward. She said, “It is not about ensuring that girls or boys enter the Science stream or any stream for that matter. Each child is different, with unique aptitudes. As parents and teachers, we have to be able to recognize that and nourish and nurture that uniqueness. Planting the seeds of creativity, curiosity, inquisitiveness and providing children with a strong foundation so that they feel supported is vital. Our education system unfortunately demands that kids at a very young age of between 14 to 16 years, have to choose between Science, Arts or Commerce. It is imperative to guide them from our experience of making such choices when we were young, but it is more important to understand what they are passionate about and to do our best to provide them the required guidance and opportunities to follow that path”.
As a scientist she is also a humanist. Concerned about her Goa and the young people who live in that state, she had a lot on her mind. She said,” Truly, there is no ‘correct’ path, one makes decisions or choices but that is not the end of the road. You can also change directions at any time in life. “Getting a good job” is great but we must be aware that our career alone does not define who we are as human beings. It is more important to cultivate the seeds of kindness, compassion and respect which are inside each of us. This is key for our emotional, mental, and physical health and of course that of the environment and our Mother Earth. A human lifetime compared to the life of this Planet and the Universe is a small speck. We are here for a short time and when we are here, we must choose to be stewards of this planet, taking care of the plants, the animals, our environment, and our fellow beings”. Amen to that.
Like any true Goenkar she is open to the idea of returning to Goa is something comes up that will inspire her.