genes -> structure -> function

Gene -> Structure -> Function. 

This is currently the mantra being chanted by biological chemists. And this is the approach we took in developing the thesis defence presentation of one of our latest BSc student groups from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

What’s exciting about their work, without going very deep into the details, is that they have shown that results from previous studies -- which have used germplasm with limited diversity -- can be reputed because of the very fact that the genetic background of those collections were limited. And the group’s advantage was that a large collection of rice accessions was at the reach of their fingertips at IRRI.

Aside from challenging old results, the group may have discovered something new by connecting the dots from the genetic behaviour to the architecture of the polymer and finally to the cooking property.

Confident that this group’s work is high-level science and the results have paved the way for more research into the inner core of starch molecules, I went to the group’s defence with my supervisor, Melissa, on March 21.

Alas, the panelists during the defence did not get the concept. To me, it’s apparent that the group’s research is too high up the research ladder to easily be consumed by chemists not specialising in polymers… and it’s even harder to understand because the borders between the realms of biology and chemistry is blurred with this project.

By looking at starch as a polymer, one acts like a chemist; but by looking at it as a result of a metabolic pathway, one acts as a biologist. And it gets even more befuddling when starch is looked upon as a quality parameter because by then, one acts as a consumer.

Putting it this way, it becomes easier to grasp the difficulty in conveying such NEW and REVOLUTIONARY results because language and technical jargon become barriers to understanding. Because of this, I remember the importance of considering the audience during presentations. New discoveries - no matter how novel or life-saving it is - will be worth nothing if the target audience does not get the picture.