***** Vol.3 Chap.14 Camaraderie slowly cracking *****
For the time being, Frank’s life returned to normal, at least for a few days. But at the back of his mind, a dark cloud still hovered over him.
In the meantime, there were other pressing commitments, taking up his time for the better part of the rest of the week. Before he could come to his senses, the week was over and it was time for another research meeting that he had asked for right after he came back from the conference.
JB showed up late for the research meeting.
“Overall, it was a good presentation,” Frank reported to the team about the presentation. “Most of the questions were reasonable ones. But Professor Tahati from UCLA was skeptical about the results presented and was belligerent against any extrapolation of the results at all.”
“JB,” Frank turned to JB, “someone asked about the program and I didn’t know what to tell him.”
“What did he ask?” A blunt response.
“He was wondering about the accuracy of the program. I told him that the best way to check out our program is for everyone else to duplicate our answers.”
“There is nothing wrong with my program.” JB shuffled her feet defensively.
Frank detected a hint of anxiety in the voice but decided not to pursue it.
“Well, Dr. Abrahamson, the President of AAAS, came over and talked to me after the presentation. He wanted me to be in a panel discussion. But he would not tell me who else would be on the panel. So, I want to be sure about the results and the facts before I go to this panel.”
“We can rerun the results, but they will be the same because I have rechecked and rerun the results thrice,” said JB as-a-matter-of-factly.
“No, that is unnecessary. I would like to use another database. I would like to repeat everything we have done in the past few weeks on a new database.”
“Any thoughts, Margaret?”
“To me, I admit I am not totally convinced, either. But the more we tried the idea on different data, the more confidence we will gain.”
“Can we do that, JB?”
“I guess.”
“Ok, I have a short time frame on this because the panel discussion is in a few months. So, give me any results, even partial results, as soon as you have them. Don’t wait for the weekly meetings.”
“Sure.” A lack-luster answer.
“I have some good news for us today.”
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“We need all the good news that we can get,” Margaret said.
“Dr. Sabinski from the National Science Foundation called me and suggested that we submit a proposal on the things that we are doing.”
“Wow, they called you?” Margaret was surprised.
“Yes, I was surprised, too. Anyway, we also have a very short time frame in submitting the proposal as well.”
“What are you planning on proposing?” Margaret asked.
“I don’t know. Anyone have any suggestions?”
They all looked at one another.
“Margaret? JB? Mark?”
“Genetic decoding.” JB did not hesitate.
No one else seemed to come up with anything. Frank waited for a little while.
“Well, genetic decoding is certainly worth considering. If no one else has any ideas, I suggest we write up something related to what Mark was doing. First, this is for the National Science Foundation and not for the National Institute of Health, so we must emphasize a little more on the science aspect of this research. Second, Mark needs support to continue his post-doc.”
JB pouted with an ugly face in disapproval.
“I suggest we task Mark to write the proposal with the budget going to Mark for his full-time post doc and the rest of the budget for the rest of us. How does that sound?”
Frank felt a sense of dismay and disapproval from JB.
“We need to write another proposal on what we are doing on the genetic coding.” JB countered.
“We could. But since we still have two more years on the NIH grant, and I am at a loss on what additional research direction we are going to go at the moment, it might be wise to wait a little on this first. Margaret?”
“We can always do more genetic coding. But isn’t it that NSF wants more science than genome research? NSF has relegated the genome research largely to NIH.” Margaret came to the rescue.
“JB?” Frank asked.
JB sat quietly, scowling.
Frank waited for a few tense moments.
Then turning to Mark, “Mark, what would you propose?”
“There are a lot of areas that need to be explored.” Mark replied, highly engaged.
“Enlighten us.”
“While cracking the genetic code is important and worthwhile, the progress is slow and difficult. Billions of years have gone into developing the human genome. It is the most complex coding we have today on this earth. To learn the workings of such a complex mechanism when the science is still in its infancy is ‘mission impossible’ to me.”
Frank noticed JB was offended by that remark.
Mark continued, “I favor taking a small system in a controlled environment such as my artificial creatures and propose working on the social impact based on some simple genetic traits…” Mark was about to go on and on.
“Hold on Mark.” Frank stopped him. “Every topic you said can be a proposal and a PhD dissertation. They are all worthwhile projects to do. To me, there is an overriding factor. I only have enough support for your post-doc for one year. We need a new grant to keep you going for additional years.”
“Yes, having financial support is important.” Mark stopped.
“Margaret?”
“What Mark proposed is interesting and had more to do with science than health. NSF should look on that favorably. JB?”
“I still think there are many topics in the genome decoding that NSF would be interested in.” JB replied bitterly seeing that she lost the battle already.
“Why not send two proposals in?” Margaret asked.
“That’s a thought.” Frank responded, pausing for a while.
“Given the short time frame, let me propose we do this. We first write up Mark’s stuff and sent that in immediately. Then JB, we can work on your stuff and send that in afterwards. I don’t think we can work on both proposals and do a good job on both within such a short time frame.”
“That sounds prudent.” Margaret said.
“I will work on the proposal right away.” Mark was elated.
“JB?”
JB shrugged his shoulders.
“OK, team, that was excellent discussion and contributions. You all have your assignments. I will work on the budget. Don’t forget the departmental seminar next week.”
Margaret and JB turned to leave.
“JB, can you stay for a minute?”
“Not really. I got some errands to do.”
“Could you stop by later in the day?”
“I’ll try.”
JB left quickly.
Mark stood up to leave as well.
“Oh Mark, just a minute. I like to talk to you about your program again.”