Tamalika Paul: Mothers are always right — follow your heart!

This piece was written in the spring of 2025 by GRAD 5144 (Communicating Science) student Tamalika Paul as part of an assignment to write a personal narrative about her research.

August 1, 2004, was a very gloomy day. I was waiting in the hospital with my mom and some relatives.

     "Well, we are sorry to say, but your dad is no more," the doctor informed my father, who was standing next to the intensive care unit. My grandmother and my mom hugged my father, and  they all started crying. 

    My grandfather was 85 years old. We had lived in the same house as a joint family, and he had been with me literally since the day I was born. Not having him any more was a shock to me.

    I was in fourth grade, and I knew my best friend — my grandfather, with whom I shared all my  stories and always had a great time — would not return home and share my favorite cookie with me. I remember I was upset, but I also couldn't fathom the grief at that age.

    In fact, I was curious. I wanted to know why the doctors could not save him. My father had told me that he had hurt his head and had a cerebral stroke. I could not understand any of the technical terms. But something struck me: I was curious about how the body worked, how and why the doctors could not bring my grandfather back home, and what had caused everything that had happened to him. 

    From this loss my love for science grew.

    I was an overachiever in school. I topped the exams, and I decided to pursue medicine. I studied very hard for the qualifying exam, but life had other plans. A few weeks before the exam, my grandmother expired, and I fell very sick. My body was so weak I couldn't even get up from my bed. I could not focus, and I believed that I could not give my best in the medical entrance examinations. I was distraught. I knew that even if I could answer questions, I would not be able to perform well. I ended up not taking the exam, which meant that I couldn't qualify for medical school entrance.

    As my brother and father were civil engineers, my parents encouraged me to pursue civil engineering. I did not want to give up on my dream of research focused on biology and of serving humanity; therefore, I decided to pursue biotechnology, which would allow me to pursue both biology and engineering skills. During my undergraduate school years, I studied immunology. I fell in love with the course. It seemed magical to me that our body has a defense system that constantly fights pathogens to keep us healthy.  

    I am from a town in India where students are not exposed to research during their undergraduate studies. Therefore, I decided to pursue higher studies and started a master's program at one of the finest institutions in India. I finally started research and lab work; I began picking up some lab skills, and I got involved in a project working on neurodegenerative disorders. I missed working in immunology, but I enjoyed my lab work as I learned new techniques. I decided to go to graduate school, come to the United States, and continue my work in neurodegenerative disorders. 

    I began my research journey in the United States, where part of the lab’s focus aligned with the work I had pursued during my master’s in India. However, life in the lab wasn’t quite like what I had read in the books. I started losing interest in chemistry research; I missed my home back in India. I was in a dilemma. Do I follow my heart, join a new research lab focusing more on immunology and translational research from bench to bedside, or do I stay in my current lab?

    I finally decided to follow my heart. I decided to leave the lab. My then advisor was very supportive of my decision to leave chemistry research. I joined a new research lab where the researchers focused on developing a new technique for treating cancer: histotripsy. 

    Histotripsy is a method of cancer treatment in which high-pressure focused ultrasound sound waves cause acoustic cavitation or a “bubble cloud” at the target site. The bubble cloud rapidly expands and collapses and mechanically breaks down the tumor and also stimulates the immune system. It is a non-invasive technique that is image-guided. We don’t have to open up the patient; we can precisely target the tumor because the treatment is image-guided. It is a non-ionizing, non-thermal ablation treatment modality where the treatment precisely targets only the tumor.

    Destiny works differently, but I didn't know destiny would bring me to something I love and always wanted to work on. I was thrilled with this new work, and I am very excited now to continue my research. I am currently working on pancreatic cancer, where I aim to precisely treat the tumor at non-surgical locations and investigate how the technique stimulates immune responses. Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive form of cancer, making it the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Difficulty in diagnosis, late symptoms, and complicated locations make it difficult to target and treat. My research focuses on precisely targeting the pancreatic tumor by histotripsy and, along with that, stimulating the patient’s immune responses so that if there is a distant metastatic tumor or if the entire tumor was not treated, the immune system will be activated and destroy the rest of the tumor or any metastatic tumors.

    My mom always tells me that I should always follow my heart and that if I love something passionately, it will return to me. I think destiny has played a significant role in my life. When I was on the verge of giving up, destiny decided to bring me back to my passion, to something I thoroughly enjoy. 

    As Stephen Hawking says, "However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up."

    I didn't give up!