When Neha Jain walked into her first Young Investigators’ Meeting (YIM) in 2017 as a postdoctoral researcher from the United States, she didn’t know what to expect. “As a postdoc, you usually don’t get to see the other side, or meet directors, or meet mentors”, she recalls. To her surprise, leaders from institutions reached out even before YIM, and those conversations soon turned into real opportunities. Within a year, she landed her first faculty position at Ahmedabad University. A year later, she moved to the Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, where she is now an Associate Professor. Looking back, she calls YIM 2017 ‘a huge milestone’ that shaped her career in India.
Pushing boundaries
Neha’s work is driven by a simple but ambitious question: “How can basic research, rich with potential applications, find meaning through collaboration?” At Ahmedabad and later at IIT Jodhpur, she actively sought interdisciplinary places, working not only with scientists but also with engineers, social scientists, and industry partners. Convinced that research and entrepreneurship cannot be separated, she now brings this mindset to her role as co-organiser of YIM 2026. She describes the meeting as a platform to build purposeful connections across research, entrepreneurship, and industry.
Our nation is driving into more entrepreneurial activity. YIM 2026 will be a great platform to bring scientists and industry people together, and to help postdocs and young investigators think beyond what they have been doing”.
Balancing research and impact
Neha has also learned to balance research, teaching, administration, and innovation. “Initially, it seemed very challenging. But I thought of it as an upgrade of myself. Publishing papers is great, but how do you make an impact on your publications”? She decided to step beyond her comfort zone, reached out to startups, the industry, and intellectual property experts. This helped her team to apply for their first patent, a process which took close to four years, but came with a great sense of accomplishment.“That feeling, when it comes, is really encouraging for you to move ahead”, she says. For her, translational thinking doesn’t replace fundamental research; instead, it builds bridges between discovery, innovation, and application.
The science you are doing today may see application tomorrow if you can cross that bridge”.
Mentorship and Networking
At YIM 2017, Neha met leaders of India’s life science and biotech community — among them Gagandeep Kang, Jyotsna Dhawan, Pankaj Chandra, Pradeep Sinha, and L. S. Shashidhara — and those conversations stayed with her. What began as networking soon grew into meaningful collaborations and a community of mentors and peers. “That gives you confidence that people are there to help you, and that you are not alone”, she says.
Looking ahead to YIM 2026
As she returns this year as a co-organiser, Neha’s advice to early-career investigators and post-docs is clear: build bridges, seek mentors, think broadly, and, most importantly, build a career that is both personally fulfilling and nationally impactful.