Pinky Kain

My journey in science has been like a rollercoaster ride. As a kid, I was always interested in science and initially aimed to become a doctor, but I couldn't secure a medical seat in India due to intense competition and limited availability. I decided it didn't matter because I enjoyed biology, and whatever route kept me associated with science made me happy. I completed my bachelor's degree in microbiology honors and continued for my master's in the same field. During my master's, I got very excited about genetics and was exposed to Drosophila as a model system - I was intrigued by the ability to see real tissues using a dissecting microscope and the wonders of staining cells, looking at something unimaginable and beyond imagination. I pursued my PhD at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, one of India's top-tier research institutes. There I conducted experiments in the neurogenetics of taste and olfactory pathways using Drosophila. My PhD mentor, Dr. Veronica Rodriguez, who is no longer with us, shaped my career tremendously - she was so dedicated, always available for students, and would go beyond anything to help anybody. After my PhD, I moved to Germany for a postdoc to explore my flexibility in addressing different questions in neurobiology, working with neurons and glia in a neurodegenerative model system focused on glial biology and myelination (or ensheatment in flies). I moved to the U.S. for better opportunities in science, joining another postdoc working on taste and olfactory systems. During this time, my son was born, and tragically, my mother died, which deeply affected us - it took two days to reach India to see her one last time. I decided to move back to India and secured a prestigious Wellcome Trust DBT grant to start my own lab working on taste using flies. However, at the end of 2020, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer, and I spent time between the hospital and lab. He passed away in January 2021, which took a toll on my mental health and finances. I decided to return to the U.S., and in March 2023, I joined the University of Pennsylvania as a senior research investigator at Perelman School of Medicine. Penn is unique because they took me as a senior research investigator even though I was a PI in India - the position allows me to work independently while training people. Since joining almost three years ago, we've been doing great work, including a recent paper in eLife and others on BioArchive and in the pipeline. I'm learning so much about sleep research, which is new to me, and I feel there's so much we can explore using flies as a model system.