果冻影院

Raju grew up in a farming family in Periyavadi, a small rural village in South India 50km from the nearest train station. Raju was the first of the family to go to university, after his father spent years toiling on the farm to save up enough money to cover the fees.

Raju excelled as a cancer researcher and went on to do his PhD at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Inspired by his father鈥檚 work ethic, he saved up his PhD stipend to pay for his brother鈥檚 university education. Raju is now a successful researcher in Professor Charlie Swanton鈥檚 team at the Crick and the 果冻影院鈥檚 Cancer Institute, where he developed a technique for detecting lung cancer relapse in the bloodstream a year before clinical signs appear.

When the聽Nature聽paper reporting this technique was published in 2017, Professor Swanton posted Raju鈥檚 parents a copy of the paper and a personal note about Raju鈥檚 important contribution. They were incredibly proud when they heard the news and called him up in tears of joy to congratulate him. So you can imagine how they reacted when they heard that Prime Minister Modi, was due to visit the Crick with UK Prime Minister Theresa May and hear about Raju鈥檚 work.

鈥淢y parents were so excited when I told them I was going to meet Prime Minister Modi!鈥� says Raju. 鈥淥ur village doesn鈥檛 have internet, so my brother drove them two hours to Pudukkottai, the nearest town, to see pictures from the visit at an internet caf茅. They were in floods of tears and wanted to thank everyone involved in organising the visit. Seeing their reaction was truly humbling.鈥�

Raju鈥檚 parents printed off a few pictures to take home, and now everyone in the village has been over to see them and celebrate Raju鈥檚 achievements.

"Raju is a true inspiration and his parents are right to be proud of him,鈥� says Professor Swanton. 鈥淲hat he鈥檚 achieved in the face of real hardship is truly incredible, and we鈥檙e lucky to have him in our lab.鈥�

To give Raju鈥檚 parents a more permanent memento, Professor Swanton spoke to Joe Brock from the Crick鈥檚 Research Illustration team who kindly printed and mounted high-quality images of the occasion to post to Periyavadi. The images capture the warm, friendly tone of Raju鈥檚 interactions with the Prime Ministers.

鈥淭he visit was a brilliant experience and Prime Minister Modi was so warm and down to earth,鈥� says Raju. 鈥淲hen he came to meet the Crick鈥檚 Indian staff, he happily chatted to us in English and Hindi and it was very casual and friendly. We had a really nice time, and a lot of us didn鈥檛 know each other before. After coming together for the visit, we鈥檙e all going to meet up again and maybe spark some collaborations 鈥� so there鈥檚 another bonus!鈥�

Source and Images

The Francis Crick Institute

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