Born and brought up in Khonoma Village, Visesato Mor is the youngest in the family. He lost his parents at a very early age and was raised by his elder brothers and sisters. As a young boy, he dreamt of becoming a physician and took up the science stream towards achieving this goal but considers himself unlucky and “not that bright a student to compete for those limited medical quotas” even though he insisted on trying hard for MBBS after Pre-University. He failed to make it.
So, instead, he shifted gear and majored in Botany where a small topic on Biotechnology (as he puts it) interested him enough to make him further pursue Masters in Biotechnology from Calicut University in Kerela. This was also where he first encountered the Arabian Sea and, describing himself as ‘a boy from the hills standing at the shore of the mighty ocean’, he found it a wonder to see how vast the ocean is… “There seems no ending,” he says.
Perhaps this serves as an inspiration for him as he says that “Knowledge is also like the ocean - so vast, wide and deep”. And therein began his thirst for knowledge even as he decided to go beyond and see what lies ahead.
His desire to acquire knowledge is evident from the years of researches he has already done in various capacities. Earlier, he had also qualified the All India Common Entrance Examination for admission to MSc Biotechnology (Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India) conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and simultaneously took a summer programme at the National Institute of Virology, Pune, Maharashtra in the year 2000.
Recalling this period as ‘great fun’ working on the hepatitis virus, he is ecstatic to be in the scientific community and goes on to explain: “Biological research is like any other field where success depends on dedication, hard work and having a passion in doing what you do.” Sometimes, he adds, “it may seem frustrating but everything leads to a new finding and that is real fun though it requires lots of patience and one should be observant.”
He has truly endeavoured in this field as he went forward to extensively experiment with science and went on to work with the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology as Junior Research Fellow and later promoted to Senior Research Fellow. After 7 years of vigorous studies on Protein Chemistry relating to infertility, he earned a PhD Degree from Jadavpur University. Elsevier Science published his research findings in three separate issues, following which two more papers have been communicated and some more in the pipeline.
Apart from attending and giving presentations at several National and International symposiums, he also worked as a Project Associate at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, on a CSIR network project on proteomics. Subsequently, he got an offer from Canada but withdrew his application on account of VISA problems and changed routes to the United States of America where he is currently doing his Postdoctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston SC. USA.
Visesato is one of the very few Nagas who have reached this far in academic pursuits and is evidently doing well. The young Scientist is working on a fungal pathogen about which he explains as: “When it enters the body through the lung, disseminates to the brain through the bloodstream and causes a life threatening meningo-encephalitis in susceptible patients.”
“We engineered the pathogens' genetic materials to study the changes in their metabolic pathways, their susceptibility to drugs, how they behave inside the host,” he further explains while adding, “We have a system that mimics the human physiological system to test the engineered organism”. He has screened around 50 thousand drugs and having found few of these promising to be drug candidates for the diseases says that more studies are on. In the wake of these undertakings, definitely something special could be born out of it.
Driving his thoughts back home, Visesato feels that Nagas can do extremely well in biological research/biotechnology but states, “It is unfortunate that we still lack infrastructure and facilities.” However, he optimistically adds: “That should not be the end.”
“After all, only an unskilled labourer blames the ineffectiveness his tools,” he says.
As a biotechnologist, he is keen on looking for possibilities in biotechnological application in Nagaland. Towards this end, he thinks it would be a good idea to set up a biotechnology/technology incubation centre where information technology and engineering can also included.
“This age, this era, is after all running after the knowledge-based economy; therefore, a single field of knowledge is not enough.” he says, while suggesting further that young Nagas having innovative ideas may bring forward their ideas to work out with experts from the centre.
He feels that if the project works, then entrepreneurs may also be encouraged to set up small scale industries which can generate a huge job market. And as a concerned Naga, he looks forward to playing his part.
“My father owned a Morung and I inherit that as the youngest son,” he says. “I understand how the Morung played a very important role in imparting knowledge in olden days. I do not plan to shift that Morung to another place. I dream of starting a biotechnology centre and biotech-based industry in Nagaland where I, with the help of other experts, would like to impart knowledge and provide job opportunity to our youngsters”.
He opined that widening of ‘poor and rich divide’ and the ‘educated unemployed’ problem are very important issues. “I don't know whether the two are related, but these issues affect both the social and political area,” he felt.
Going on to state that ‘a jobless person's mind tends to remain idle and an idle mind is very dangerous as it tends to breed evil’, he added: “I believe that if all Nagas have a job and if all Nagas are rich then the respect of one another, the trust, understanding one another can restart amongst Nagas as we were before.”
But all these aside, the 33-year-old Naga scientist lives by the line - “Do your best and God surely is going to do the rest for you”.
While many of us may think somebody who is so engrossed in one too many scientific activities would have no poetry in his soul, he surprises with a gem saying that it might sound weird ‘to enjoy leaning on a chair and looking up’ while describing it as a very relaxing thing to do when off work. A little of nature also seems to refresh his mind as he talks about his love for strolls in the woods and the sight of trees and greenery.
So, instead, he shifted gear and majored in Botany where a small topic on Biotechnology (as he puts it) interested him enough to make him further pursue Masters in Biotechnology from Calicut University in Kerela. This was also where he first encountered the Arabian Sea and, describing himself as ‘a boy from the hills standing at the shore of the mighty ocean’, he found it a wonder to see how vast the ocean is… “There seems no ending,” he says.
Perhaps this serves as an inspiration for him as he says that “Knowledge is also like the ocean - so vast, wide and deep”. And therein began his thirst for knowledge even as he decided to go beyond and see what lies ahead.
His desire to acquire knowledge is evident from the years of researches he has already done in various capacities. Earlier, he had also qualified the All India Common Entrance Examination for admission to MSc Biotechnology (Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India) conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and simultaneously took a summer programme at the National Institute of Virology, Pune, Maharashtra in the year 2000.
Recalling this period as ‘great fun’ working on the hepatitis virus, he is ecstatic to be in the scientific community and goes on to explain: “Biological research is like any other field where success depends on dedication, hard work and having a passion in doing what you do.” Sometimes, he adds, “it may seem frustrating but everything leads to a new finding and that is real fun though it requires lots of patience and one should be observant.”
He has truly endeavoured in this field as he went forward to extensively experiment with science and went on to work with the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology as Junior Research Fellow and later promoted to Senior Research Fellow. After 7 years of vigorous studies on Protein Chemistry relating to infertility, he earned a PhD Degree from Jadavpur University. Elsevier Science published his research findings in three separate issues, following which two more papers have been communicated and some more in the pipeline.
Apart from attending and giving presentations at several National and International symposiums, he also worked as a Project Associate at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, on a CSIR network project on proteomics. Subsequently, he got an offer from Canada but withdrew his application on account of VISA problems and changed routes to the United States of America where he is currently doing his Postdoctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston SC. USA.
Visesato is one of the very few Nagas who have reached this far in academic pursuits and is evidently doing well. The young Scientist is working on a fungal pathogen about which he explains as: “When it enters the body through the lung, disseminates to the brain through the bloodstream and causes a life threatening meningo-encephalitis in susceptible patients.”
“We engineered the pathogens' genetic materials to study the changes in their metabolic pathways, their susceptibility to drugs, how they behave inside the host,” he further explains while adding, “We have a system that mimics the human physiological system to test the engineered organism”. He has screened around 50 thousand drugs and having found few of these promising to be drug candidates for the diseases says that more studies are on. In the wake of these undertakings, definitely something special could be born out of it.
Driving his thoughts back home, Visesato feels that Nagas can do extremely well in biological research/biotechnology but states, “It is unfortunate that we still lack infrastructure and facilities.” However, he optimistically adds: “That should not be the end.”
“After all, only an unskilled labourer blames the ineffectiveness his tools,” he says.
As a biotechnologist, he is keen on looking for possibilities in biotechnological application in Nagaland. Towards this end, he thinks it would be a good idea to set up a biotechnology/technology incubation centre where information technology and engineering can also included.
“This age, this era, is after all running after the knowledge-based economy; therefore, a single field of knowledge is not enough.” he says, while suggesting further that young Nagas having innovative ideas may bring forward their ideas to work out with experts from the centre.
He feels that if the project works, then entrepreneurs may also be encouraged to set up small scale industries which can generate a huge job market. And as a concerned Naga, he looks forward to playing his part.
“My father owned a Morung and I inherit that as the youngest son,” he says. “I understand how the Morung played a very important role in imparting knowledge in olden days. I do not plan to shift that Morung to another place. I dream of starting a biotechnology centre and biotech-based industry in Nagaland where I, with the help of other experts, would like to impart knowledge and provide job opportunity to our youngsters”.
He opined that widening of ‘poor and rich divide’ and the ‘educated unemployed’ problem are very important issues. “I don't know whether the two are related, but these issues affect both the social and political area,” he felt.
Going on to state that ‘a jobless person's mind tends to remain idle and an idle mind is very dangerous as it tends to breed evil’, he added: “I believe that if all Nagas have a job and if all Nagas are rich then the respect of one another, the trust, understanding one another can restart amongst Nagas as we were before.”
But all these aside, the 33-year-old Naga scientist lives by the line - “Do your best and God surely is going to do the rest for you”.
While many of us may think somebody who is so engrossed in one too many scientific activities would have no poetry in his soul, he surprises with a gem saying that it might sound weird ‘to enjoy leaning on a chair and looking up’ while describing it as a very relaxing thing to do when off work. A little of nature also seems to refresh his mind as he talks about his love for strolls in the woods and the sight of trees and greenery.
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