Prof. Raghavan Varadarajan, a researcher at the Molecular Biophysics Unit, IISc, was the first stakeholder and expert we consulted. At the time of our first meeting, we were still ideating and were completely new to the concept of using oligonucleotides for targeted protein degradation, having with ourselves nothing but a mere idea.
We intended, through our discussion with Prof. Varadarajan, to enhance our knowledge and learn more about this concept. The discussion helped us become confident in our idea and become convinced that we could pitch it as a certified model. It was then that we set off on a search to find a model disease, which we could work on, one that was widespread across the world - so that we might easily pitch it to people, and so that people would also relate to it.