Meet Dr. Sophronea Tuithung Post-doctoral Fellow in Neuroscience at Harvard University.
–Ngahanyui Zimik.
In the not so distant past, I once pondered briefly in the figment of my own little or limited imagination, as to which Naga will become the first STEM Faculty member at the Premier Harvard University, USA. And within the immediate period, when I was informed that my own Tangkhul friend Miss Dr. Sophronea Tuithung was pursuing Post-Doctoral research in Neuroscience at Harvard (Massachusetts), it was quite close to a de javu moment. To specify, Dr. Sophronea Tuithung is currently a Post-doctoral fellow at BIDMC, Harvard Medical School and her Current project is titled “Targeting FBXW7 as a therapeutic strategy for Parkinsonโs Disease.”
Nowadays the common refrain among the Senior Citizens /Elders of the 2.5 Lakh Tangkhul Naga Community of Manipur is the curious and often, fascinating phenomenon in which the larger Tangkhul Villages that had traditionally been the intellectual or academic strongholds of the Tangkhul Community (Hunphun, Somdal, Talui and Phungcham as examples ), have now receded to the background, and the smaller Tangkhul Villages are now at the frontiers of the New Knowledge, having captured the reins of intellectual leadership, within the tribe.One such example is Kashung Village, the native place my own friend Dr. Sophronea Tuithung.
An alumnus of HRD Academy Imphal, Dr. Sophronea Tuithung had been a serious academic all along, manifested in a remark she made about her alma mater (HRD Academy) and Herbert School(which I joined in 2003)- both located along the Airport road in Imphal- being fervent Competitors, since the early 2000s. Unfortunately, I left Herbert School when a realisation dawned on me about the little prospect of securing a moderately good rank in the IIT Entrance, and thereby, shifting my academic gears for the ultimate objective of sitting down for the National Civil services Exam.
Intelligence/academic brilliance seems to run, more or less, in the bloodline, for my friend Dr. Sophronea. As I remember, her father’s first cousinย Mr. Wungreihor Tuithung was the first Tribal to top the Matriculation Board of Manipur in 1987, fifteen (15) years after it achieved statehood in 1972. Mr. Wungreihor Kashung went on to pursue his Bachelor’s (1989) and Master’s (1991) in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, which was conveyed to me by the person himself, more than a couple of years ago. I was introduced to Amei Wungreihor Tuithung while I was in School, as early as 2001, through one of his Articles published in the widely read North East Sun, a fortnightly English Publication, Published in Delhi then.
Dr. Sophronea is the daughter of Late Chinaochung Tuithung, a retired PHED engineer, Government of Manipur and, anterior to her momentous leapfrog into the most coveted academic Corridor at the prestigious University of Harvard, she had earned a Ph.D Degree from University of Delhi (Thesis- Study the role of intracellular Calcium, mitochondrial Calcium and mTOR/AMPK pathway in Neuroprotection mediated through Adenosine A2A receptors in the Neurodegenerative model of Parkinsonโs Disease) and also, her Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from IIT-Bombay.
