Dibesh Karmacharya always wanted to work in wildlife, and later, in genetics and biotechnology. And he wanted to do his work in Nepal. The first time he tried to do so, after having finished his studies in the US, he couldn’t get things going here, so he went back to work in the US. But even as he worked on challenging projects there, he kept thinking about doing cutting-edge research here in Nepal. In 2007, he was finally able to set up the Center for Molecular Dynamics – Nepal (CMDN), which has since its inception been involved with work of immense value to biologists, conservationists and the medical community. The executive director of CMDN talks to VMAG’s Alok Thapa about the challenges of changing how science is done here in Nepal and about the hope he has for the research community here.