In this episode, I converse with Dr. Rubul Mout, a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and at the Stem Cell Program, Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). Born, brought up, and educated in India, Dr. Mout moved to the United States to pursue his PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Prior to joining Harvard/BCH, he was a Washington Research Foundation Innovation Fellow at the Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington. Dr. Mout is the inventor of numerous technologies in gene editing and protein design, and in the last decade he developed a technology for intracellular protein delivery and gene editing in mammalian cells, termed as the ‘E-tag’ method, which was in 2020, granted a patent by USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office).

At Harvard/BCH, Dr. Mout works to engineer bone marrow stem cells (Hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs) to cure genetic diseases of blood origin and uses various technologies, including techniques he invented in his prior research, to engineer these HSCs. In particular, he uses patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to differentiate them to HSC first, and then to produce and train T-cells that could potentially fight off many diseases. We indulge in a terrific conversation on his magnificent journey through science and life inspired by his innate curiosity; growing up in a poor peasant’s family in a far remote corner of Northeast India, near the Assam-Arunachal border; undertaking a majestic quest from Tinsukia to Mumbai to Amherst to Seattle to Boston; inspirational mentors like GK Johori, David Baker, Vincent Rotello, and George Daley; fantastic dedication to scientific outreach and activism; writing outstanding books including a popular bestseller that chronicled his splendid journey; and many more things!!