Indian Scientist Remembers Mentorship of Late Nobel Laureate Ada Yonath

What Happened

Dr. Tanaya Bose spent seven years in the laboratory of the late Israeli structural biologist and Nobel laureate Ada Yonath, who passed away on August 31, 2026, at age 87. Yonath shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz for their pioneering studies on the structure and function of the ribosome. Dr. Bose, now a scientist at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata, joined Yonath's lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel in September 2016 after previously completing a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Mentorship and Impact

Despite coming from an organic chemistry background rather than structural biology, Dr. Bose was welcomed by Yonath and produced results within months. Yonath was known for giving young researchers demanding problems and total freedom, while actively stepping aside to let them take the credit. At a ribosome conference in Bordeaux, France, Yonath shared her scheduled keynote lecture with Dr. Bose, speaking for ten minutes before inviting her student to the stage for the remaining 15 minutes after conference organisers initially rejected a sole presentation by the junior researcher. Later, when Dr. Bose sought faculty positions in India, Yonath used her personal relationships and reputation to connect her with senior professors and help her navigate career transitions.

Context

Ribosomes are essential molecular machines inside living cells that translate genetic instructions into proteins, and understanding their three-dimensional structure has been crucial for developing targeted antibiotics. In academia, senior laboratory heads often take the primary credit for discoveries made by junior researchers, making unusual mentorship approaches that elevate young scientists particularly notable.