An SOP for a biology summer program...
Since the age of fifteen I have belonged to the ZOOLOGY SUPERCLUB, a field biology group where middle and high school students get to travel all over Russia researching the population dynamics of various small mammal species. While developing a system for cataloguing the Club’s library, I stumbled upon a Soviet-era translation of Charlotte Auerbach’s “Heredity: an Introduction for O-level Students” and “The Science of Genetics”. This led to a fascination with genetics and, later, molecular and cell biology.
However, after graduating from High school, I was still unsure that I could handle the challenge of being a researcher for the rest of my life. In order to figure out what I wanted to major in (In Russia, the major is chosen before applying to University. Once accepted, you cannot transfer to another discipline.), I got a job as a research technician at the Molecular Biology Department at MY UNIVERSITY(THE BEST ONE IN THE COUNTRY). I was required to attend most of the undergraduate courses given at the department, which gave me the unique opportunity of learning from Russia’s top scientists about their research. Also, there were several projects underway at the laboratory in which I worked which focused on the structure and regulation of the biosynthesis of the yeast cell wall. I was fortunate in that Dr. RESEARCH ADVISOR 1, the head, and her graduate students were extremely open about their work and would talk to me endlessly about their results and the methods they used to get them. One observation made in the laboratory was that, in yeast, DRUG A, a commonly administered antiarrhythmic agent, seemed to cause not only apoptosis, but also a striking change in cell wall morphology. I became curious as to what exactly was going on, and Dr. RA 1 generously provided me with the opportunity to study this phenomenon. Hence, in the spring after the year of my graduation from High School, I used transmission electron microscopy to capture the changes in yeast cell wall morphology under the influence of DRUG A. However, we quickly realized that the procedure used to prepare EM samples could potentially disrupt any contacts between yeast cells, and had reason to believe that the few cells that did not undergo apoptosis did this by exchanging genetic material with each other via thin, fragile intercellular contacts.
By this time, I was sure that I wanted to pursue a full-time research career, so I applied and was accepted to the Biology Department at MY UNIVERSITY. During my freshman and sophomore year, I juggled full-time study and research at Dr. RA 1’S laboratory, trying to develop a way to visualize the amiodarone-induced exchange of DNA in yeast using fluorescent and confocal microscopy techniques.
While listening to both the courses required by my department and those I chose to attend in my free time at other departments, I became fascinated by not how the cell dies, but by how it manages to carry out the infinitely complex task of living. How is it that the cell responds to a plethora of different stimuli from its environment and doesn’t get confused and go amuck and become cancerous? This question led to an interest in the regulation of gene expression, especially through epigenetic mechanisms. Hence, in my third year of study, when it came time to choose an Undergraduate research project, I entered the COOL LAB AT WAY COOL RESEARCH INSTITUTE. The primary interests of Dr. RESEARCH ADVISOR 2’S group, in which I work, closely match my own: the structure and function of the human genome, the regulation of gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation and ncRNA, tuberculosis and cancer biology. Currently my research focuses on elucidating the structure and function of a ncRNA transcript on chromosome XX, evaluating the endogenous expression of this transcript in different cells and analyzing the promoter structure of the region.
The fact that 60-70% of the genome of higher eukaryotes is transcribed, but only 1.2% codes for proteins, seems fascinating to me. According to J. Mattick and I. Makunin’s article in Human Molecular Genetics (LINK 2006):
Both logic and evidence suggest that both developmental programming and the phenotypic difference between species and individuals is heavily influenced, if not fundamentally controlled, by the repertoire of regulatory ncRNAs, which are only now being recognized and beginning to be studied in any systematic way.
I would like to continue exploring ncRNA biology in mammals both as my diploma project at MY UNI and in graduate school.
I would like to be a part of the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING summer program for several different reasons. First of all, the research carried out in the laboratories of PROF 1 and PROF 2 on ncRNA and the methods they use are apt to be very different from those I have hitherto used to study transcripts. I would love the challenge of working with them, learning new bench techniques and ways of looking at and studying the transcriptome, and of being a part of the research underway in their laboratories.
Second, joining the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING scientific community, even for a short three months, will give me the opportunity to learn about studies conducted at the cutting edge, from the people actually carrying them out. I believe this will serve to broaden my horizons both career-specifically, as a scientist, and in general, as a human being very curious about the way life works.
Presenting and defending my results before an audience of the most critical scientists will undoubtedly make me better qualified for talking about Molecular biology to others, which I believe is an invaluable skill for anyone who hopes to pursue a career in science.
Also, the bioinformatics course and advanced seminars given at ABSOLUTELY AMAZING PLACE will expose me to methods and theories I couldn’t learn about anywhere else.
Finally, I would very much like to be part of a group of undergraduates from all over the world, united by a passion for science and research. I believe we could learn a lot from each other, and I’m sure that my somewhat unique background of field biologist turned lab rat will be very different from where the other PEOPLE APPLYING TO ABSOLUTELY AMAZING PLACE are coming from.
Thank you very much, in advance!!!
However, after graduating from High school, I was still unsure that I could handle the challenge of being a researcher for the rest of my life. In order to figure out what I wanted to major in (In Russia, the major is chosen before applying to University. Once accepted, you cannot transfer to another discipline.), I got a job as a research technician at the Molecular Biology Department at MY UNIVERSITY(THE BEST ONE IN THE COUNTRY). I was required to attend most of the undergraduate courses given at the department, which gave me the unique opportunity of learning from Russia’s top scientists about their research. Also, there were several projects underway at the laboratory in which I worked which focused on the structure and regulation of the biosynthesis of the yeast cell wall. I was fortunate in that Dr. RESEARCH ADVISOR 1, the head, and her graduate students were extremely open about their work and would talk to me endlessly about their results and the methods they used to get them. One observation made in the laboratory was that, in yeast, DRUG A, a commonly administered antiarrhythmic agent, seemed to cause not only apoptosis, but also a striking change in cell wall morphology. I became curious as to what exactly was going on, and Dr. RA 1 generously provided me with the opportunity to study this phenomenon. Hence, in the spring after the year of my graduation from High School, I used transmission electron microscopy to capture the changes in yeast cell wall morphology under the influence of DRUG A. However, we quickly realized that the procedure used to prepare EM samples could potentially disrupt any contacts between yeast cells, and had reason to believe that the few cells that did not undergo apoptosis did this by exchanging genetic material with each other via thin, fragile intercellular contacts.
By this time, I was sure that I wanted to pursue a full-time research career, so I applied and was accepted to the Biology Department at MY UNIVERSITY. During my freshman and sophomore year, I juggled full-time study and research at Dr. RA 1’S laboratory, trying to develop a way to visualize the amiodarone-induced exchange of DNA in yeast using fluorescent and confocal microscopy techniques.
While listening to both the courses required by my department and those I chose to attend in my free time at other departments, I became fascinated by not how the cell dies, but by how it manages to carry out the infinitely complex task of living. How is it that the cell responds to a plethora of different stimuli from its environment and doesn’t get confused and go amuck and become cancerous? This question led to an interest in the regulation of gene expression, especially through epigenetic mechanisms. Hence, in my third year of study, when it came time to choose an Undergraduate research project, I entered the COOL LAB AT WAY COOL RESEARCH INSTITUTE. The primary interests of Dr. RESEARCH ADVISOR 2’S group, in which I work, closely match my own: the structure and function of the human genome, the regulation of gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation and ncRNA, tuberculosis and cancer biology. Currently my research focuses on elucidating the structure and function of a ncRNA transcript on chromosome XX, evaluating the endogenous expression of this transcript in different cells and analyzing the promoter structure of the region.
The fact that 60-70% of the genome of higher eukaryotes is transcribed, but only 1.2% codes for proteins, seems fascinating to me. According to J. Mattick and I. Makunin’s article in Human Molecular Genetics (LINK 2006):
Both logic and evidence suggest that both developmental programming and the phenotypic difference between species and individuals is heavily influenced, if not fundamentally controlled, by the repertoire of regulatory ncRNAs, which are only now being recognized and beginning to be studied in any systematic way.
I would like to continue exploring ncRNA biology in mammals both as my diploma project at MY UNI and in graduate school.
I would like to be a part of the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING summer program for several different reasons. First of all, the research carried out in the laboratories of PROF 1 and PROF 2 on ncRNA and the methods they use are apt to be very different from those I have hitherto used to study transcripts. I would love the challenge of working with them, learning new bench techniques and ways of looking at and studying the transcriptome, and of being a part of the research underway in their laboratories.
Second, joining the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING scientific community, even for a short three months, will give me the opportunity to learn about studies conducted at the cutting edge, from the people actually carrying them out. I believe this will serve to broaden my horizons both career-specifically, as a scientist, and in general, as a human being very curious about the way life works.
Presenting and defending my results before an audience of the most critical scientists will undoubtedly make me better qualified for talking about Molecular biology to others, which I believe is an invaluable skill for anyone who hopes to pursue a career in science.
Also, the bioinformatics course and advanced seminars given at ABSOLUTELY AMAZING PLACE will expose me to methods and theories I couldn’t learn about anywhere else.
Finally, I would very much like to be part of a group of undergraduates from all over the world, united by a passion for science and research. I believe we could learn a lot from each other, and I’m sure that my somewhat unique background of field biologist turned lab rat will be very different from where the other PEOPLE APPLYING TO ABSOLUTELY AMAZING PLACE are coming from.
Thank you very much, in advance!!!