My Life and Virus Research Journey

My long career in virology has been a continuous learning exercise with a very modest start. Virology and related pertinent fields have changed significantly during my lifetime. Sometimes I wish that my career had just started and I could apply all available and state of the art technology to solving problems and explaining intriguing observations. I was always convinced that visiting growers' fields is essential for researchers to get firsthand observations and knowledge of virus disease problems under field conditions. I never thought I would pursue so many avenues of research, yet it is true that research never ends. I enjoyed dissecting strain diversity in a very important plant pathogen like bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) and using BPMV-based vectors to address fundamental virology questions. Lastly, solving the enigma of the transmissible disease of Helminthosporium victoriae and attempting to gain an understanding of the molecular basis of disease in a plant pathogenic fungus were thrilling.