Vidyanand Nanjundiah, faculty member at TIFR in 1980s: On his move from IISc to TIFR, and reflections on the newly proposed (c 1981) IISc-TIFR joint centre for biology.
Shaju Varghese, hospitality/security/canteen supervisor: His team's work in running a thinly-staffed canteen during the 1992 Bombay riots, and how it shaped his career.
PN Bhavsar, scientific officer at TIFR from the 1960s till his retirement: On his interview process at TIFR in the 1960s for the position of a lab assistant.
N Shanthakumary, early hire in NCBS administration: Memories of entering the IISc campus for the first time in the early 1980s, and being hired into the system.
Sumantra Chattarji, faculty member at NCBS: Starting as a new NCBS member in the late 1990s, and the encounters with Obaid Siddiqi, K VijayRaghavan and Jayant Udgaonkar.
Satyajit Mayor, faculty member and current director, NCBS: His perspective on the sweet spot that NCBS is in today, with an ability to grow with thought and deliberation.
Sudhir Krishna, faculty member at NCBS: The future of the NCBS funding structure as it grows and the need to consider the future of students studying at the institute.
SN Basha, staff member of the NCBS security services: On the difficulties of keeping track of everyone on campus as it grows, and the need to request IDs of people who enter.
TM Sahadevan, long-time administrative architect at NCBS: On the concerns of the institute as it grows and a need to cut across red tape while following structure.
Prem Chandra Gautam, head, Instrumentation Division: On devising a way to build two parallel telephone exchanges with inter-operable numbers, based on his previous knowledge of telephone exchanges.
MK Mathew, faculty member at NCBS: On the early days of NCBS, his role as a bridge between IISc and NCBS/TIFR Centre, and getting grant money for new research.
Satyajit Mayor, faculty member and current director, NCBS: The thought process prior to joining NCBS in the mid 1990s, the intense persuasion from NCBS and the immediate aftermath upon landing in Bangalore.
KS Vishalakshi, early NCBS hire for administration: Reflections on starting at the TIFR Centre as a daily wage worker and typing up 100s of theses for students.
PN Bhavsar, scientific officer at TIFR from the 1960s till his retirement: On becoming a purchase officer for NCBS at its early stages in the mid 1990s.
L Shashidhara, early post-doctoral researcher at NCBS, faculty at IISER: Start-up days at NCBS in the mid 1990s and an ability to apply for grants independently.
Villoo Patell, early post doctoral researcher at NCBS and entrepreneur: Reflections on starting a company in NCBS in the mid to late 1990s, and the research environment at the time.
Mukund Thattai, a 'Young Investigator' NCBS hire and current faculty member: The struggle for research centres in finding the right students and ensuring both faculty and students benefit from the process of a PhD.
K VijayRaghavan, faculty member at NCBS: Reflecting that enthusiasm in the early faculty was a significant influencer for students to opt for NCBS when it started up.
Aditi Bhattacharya, research scientist and former student: On entering NCBS as a graduate student in the early 2000s with no experience reading research papers.
Sumantra Chattarji, faculty member at NCBS: The back story for his group's 2002 Journal of Neuroscience paper on looking at chronic stress patterns in the amygdala, http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/15/6810.full
PN Bhavsar, scientific officer at TIFR from the 1960s till his retirement: Tales from the lab -- on drawing horse blood for scientific work, and on a ghastly sulphuric acid incident.
Satyajit Mayor, faculty member and current director, NCBS: The back story to his group's field-altering 1998 Nature paper, "GPI-anchored proteins are organized in submicron domains at the cell surface",…
Mitradas Panicker, faculty member at NCBS: Tales from the process - a story of problems with pregnant animals when they were shipped from Hyderabad to Bangalore.
Ajith Kumar, NCBS faculty member and co-ordinator of MSc programme in Wildlife Biology: An explanation of why his 1982-83 field notes from the Anamalai Hills in Tamil Nadu are on Braille paper.