"What is life?" - Statement of Purpose (biotechnology)

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

"What is life?" – is an important question before the scientists who are struggling to define life as they manipulate it and even look for it on other planets. Although there were several breakthroughs, a complete answer is still elusive. We understand the structure of universe better than working of living cells. Scientists are able to calculate the age of a star and predict when it will die; however, they are unable to explain how is it that a human being lives for eighty years but a mouse for only two. The rapidly advancing field of biotechnology provides the tools to delve deeper in finding an answer to the enigma of life. The field of biotechnology not only benefits an individual but also the community and society at large. My curiosity to understand life and the power entailed by biotechnology to manipulate a living system for the benefit of mankind inspired me to pursue a career in this field.

My fascination for biology started during my school days, it excited me at the first acquaintance. Biology – the science of life intrigued me a lot. My mind became occupied with questions about biomolecules, their structure, synthesis and interaction that are incumbent in maintaining life. The passion towards biological sciences made me take up Bachelors Degree in Biotechnology at Karpagam Arts and Science College, now a deemed university. At college, I was introduced to various fields of study like cell and molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, recombinant DNA technology, immunology and bioinformatics. I gained practical knowledge of techniques in the fields of biochemistry, cell biology, immunology and molecular biology in our laboratory sessions.

In continuation of my pursuit, I enrolled for Masters Degree in Biotechnology at RVS College of Arts and Science, an autonomous college affiliated to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. In my post graduate studies, I was benefitted from breadth of syllabi content that gave me a comprehensive exposure to core areas of biotechnology, and a strong conceptual understanding of the same. As part of the course, I underwent training in "Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics" at Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), Calicut. The training involved lecture series by eminent scientists from the Institute, as well as hands on practical experiences in biochemistry of spices, bioinformatics and molecular approaches in detection and identification of pathogens affecting spices. I began my steps towards research by joining Plant Molecular Biology Group of Division of Biochemical Sciences at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, for my final year project work. My work entitled "Studying plant pathogenic fungi: Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri" was supervised by Dr. XXXXX. The project was to identify virulence genes present in Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri and analyze its tissue specific expression during different stages of infection in susceptible chickpea cultivar JG62 by PCR, using gene specific primers. I became well versed in techniques like isolation of RNA, PCR, bacterial transformation, colony PCR, plasmid DNA isolation and restriction digestion.

My experiences prompted me the interest in pursuing a research career in biotechnology. I got admission to Master of Philosophy program in Biotechnology at the University of Calicut through an entrance exam. I worked under Dr.XXXXXX, Reader, Recombinant DNA Laboratory, in the Department of Biotechnology for my dissertation project. The project examined whether uptake of different types of RNA (namely Total RNA, Poly A¬¬+ RNA and miRNA) causes any discernable changes in the cell cycle of slime mould Physarum polycephalum. The study demonstrated that RNA uptake perturbs cell cycle progression accompanied by changes in precursor pool concentrations (of DNA, RNA and proteins) and variations in protein profiles.

Seminars were a perfect opportunity for me to explore beyond the syllabus. Apart from class seminars I had also participated in intercollegiate and national level seminars. During my Masters program, I was elected as the Chairman of the Department Association and had the opportunity to organize a national level seminar on "Emerging Trends in Biotechnology" and a one day workshop on "Fermentation Technology". I also presented papers for the "Journal Club" in the Department of Biotechnology, University of Calicut, while doing my M.Phil degree.

As my education progressed, my resolve to have a career in research has strengthened. My life experiences have molded me into a hardworking and determined person. I feel that graduate study at your University will be the most logical extension of my academic pursuits and a major step towards achieving my objectives. I am sure that the MRes course in your University will definitely widen the horizons of my knowledge and help me in pursuing a career in research. My goal is train myself thoroughly through the MRes program and proceed further on to a PhD in biotechnology.

You seem to have done a lot of impressive stuff. That's good.

I see one tiny little problem though: after reading your "Statement of Purpose" all I know about your purpose is that you plan to learn more and get a PhD in order to eventually get some sort of research job.I sort of already knew that you planned to learn more, because you are applying for graduate studies at a university. Since you are applying to a graduate program in biotech, I was even able to guess that you probably wanted to pursue a career in research, and that you thought a PhD might be useful for this. So, your statement of purpose tells me nothing about your purpose that I couldn't have gleaned from knowing that you wrote one.

So, you need to tie in some of what you say about yourself to your larger research goals. What do you want to research? Why? How will this benefit anyone, apart from allowing you to make money? That sort of thing.

You might do what Sean suggests by referring back to your introduction, which does touch on the (alleged) purposes of the field you are entering. Where do you see yourself fitting into that?

Thank you for the feedback EF_Sean and EF_Simone. I will add those aspects you pointed out. Again thank you very much for going through the SOP.

rahulclt

I have added a para on my research goals and modified the last para of my SOP. Kindly go through it and give your opinions. I would like to make sure that there are no grammatical errors or problem with overall structure of the essay.

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........I also presented papers for the "Journal Club" in the Department of Biotechnology, University of Calicut, while doing my M.Phil degree.

During the course of my studies, I have become interested in regulation of gene expression by microRNAs (miRNAs). Unraveling the secrets of gene regulation is essential to interpret the book of life: the genome. Discovered just over a decade ago, miRNA is now recognized as one of the major regulatory molecules in cells. Research has revealed that miRNAs plays critical roles in many key biological processes such as cell growth, tissue differentiation and apoptosis. As such, mutation of miRNAs, the dysfunction of miRNA biogenesis and the dysregulation of miRNAs and their targets may result to various diseases like cancers, cardiovascular diseases and other disorders. Hence research in this area would provide valuable insights to understand the genome and to exploit the therapeutic potential of miRNAs in treatment of diseases.

As my education progressed, my resolve to have a career in research has strengthened. My life experiences have molded me into a hardworking and determined person. I feel that graduate study at your University will be the most logical extension of my academic pursuits and a major step towards achieving my objectives. I am sure that the MRes Advanced Genomic and Proteomic Sciences course in your University will definitely widen the horizons of my knowledge and help me in pursuing a career in research. Apart from theoretical knowledge in concepts of molecular biology, the course provides comprehensive training in genomics and proteomics which I believe will assist me to achieve my larger research goals. My goal is train myself thoroughly through the MRes program and proceed further on to a PhD in biotechnology.

...may result in various diseases like...

Your text: "Discovered just over a decade ago, miRNA is now recognized as one of the major regulatory molecules in cells."

en.scientificcommons.org/43254787 text: "Discovered just over a decade ago, microRNA (miRNA) is now recognized as one of the major regulatory gene families in eukaryotic cells."

Your text: "Research has revealed that miRNAs plays critical roles in many key biological processes such as cell growth, tissue differentiation and apoptosis."

pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2559869 text: "There is increasing evidence suggesting that miRNAs play critical roles in many key biological processes, such as cell growth, tissue differentiation, cell proliferation, embryonic development, and apoptosis"

While you seem to have made some effort to reword the sources you used for this, the similarities in phrasing are still close enough to count as plagiarism, should anyone care to Google random passages from your letter, as I did.

Good catch, Sean!

Thank you. I will rephrase the entire paragraph.