why do you think Doctoral study is important for you

Doctoral study is a significant milestone in the perpetual journey to education and the best exposure to this would be a worthy platform to prove the skills and knowledge that I have learned. With due reverence to the department and the university, I pen down a ‘statement of purpose’. This statement is an endeavor to project my credentials as an aspiring researcher, my achievements as a biotechnology graduate, my interest in this doctoral program, and my ambitions. The dynamic nature of a living system fills me with wonder. This is precisely why I would like to pursue a career in research so that I can acquire new skills & knowledge and contribute to science. Both my school and college education has been inherent in shaping up my interests and future aspirations. I had excellent facilities and faculty, which emphasized fundamentals. This triggered my interest in academics and research and thus I have worked consistently towards a research career. Distinctions in my school exams, a Bachelor’s Degree in Biotechnology from Techno India University, India, Kolkata, and a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from Heritage Institute of Technology, MAKAUT, Kolkata, India, I am now looking forward to doing a Ph. D. and sense that the experiences in my life have been so far instrumental in getting me equipped to embark on this venture. The comprehensive program that I undertook taught me both theoretical and practical aspects of a variety of life science subjects such as molecular biology, cell biology, immunology microbiology, genomics, bioprocess technology, environmental biology, medical biotechnology, Biostatistics, and many others. My dedication to studies even bagged me a fifty percent scholarship in my Master’s degree. During my university studies, I have pursued many projects, drawing upon the knowledge and skills that I acquired through classroom teaching as well as extensive practical training. Among the projects that I undertook, during my Bachelor’s in Technology on Biotechnology was “A brief study on the role of some genes related to non-communicable disease and effect of few medicinal plants on them”. The project was divided into two parts. In the first part, a few genes found to play important role in various non-communicable diseases were shortlisted based on data available from previously published work. For this purpose, an extensive search on existing literature was done using standard search portals such as Pubmed, Google Scholar, etc. 15 genes were selected and further information was collected about them from various open-source resources. In the second part of the work, 6 medicinal herbs and trees were selected to understand variation in their biochemical properties. These were shortlisted based on reports of their protective role against various non-communicable diseases. For this purpose, specific samples of different medicinal herbs and trees were collected to test the presence of various macro and micronutrients and thus the medicinal properties that they are involved in by accounting for the estimation of protein present in each sample, with the change in pH that they undergo. This project was a part of my dissertation that I completed under the guidance of Dr. Malavika Bhattacharya, Dept of Biotechnology, Techno India University, India, Kolkata from August 2018-August 2019. The observations were, that out of the 15 genes, most of them were involved in regulating pathways that were involved in one form of cancer or another. In addition, a few of these genes were found to regulate various inflammatory components, such as TNF-α and Interferons. It was during this project I started taking a liking for Immunology and Cancer Biology. I also started getting interested in the role of Immunology, both in non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, as well as the microbiome. I have further done a project presentation titled “Study of genes KRT14, EZR, PCSK1”. This presentation showed the roles of some rare genes such as Krt14: Little is known about the signaling mechanisms controlling meibomian gland (MG) homeostasis and the pathogenic processes leading to MG atrophy and dysfunction in dry eye disease (DED). I investigated the role of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) in the MG homeostasis of adult mice. EZR: Recent studies find in the identification of the EZR-rosi fusion gene in a mice model as an essential driver in oncogene lung carcinogenesis. Pcsk1: Implantation of high fat-diet glucose-intolerant mice activated brite enhances the systematic glucose tolerance. I have also worked at Techno India University, Kolkata, India on their project titled RAMT: Recent Aspects of Microbiological Techniques. Throughout my undergraduate and graduate career, I have equipped myself with participation in various technical symposiums attended seminars, and have done projects across a spectrum of fields. I believe that the interdisciplinary learning that I have strived to acquire, has taught me to look for answers and overcome challenges. Knowing various fields certainly makes that job easier, as we know which field can cater to what part of the solution. This approach has helped me in working in collaborative research initiatives and I wish to be a part of similar initiatives in the future. Therefore, I am now ready to pursue a Ph. D. to advance my career in basic and translational research. I am a keen and hard-working individual with a passion for Cell Biology, Genetics, Immunology, and Cancer Biology. I am certain that I will be able to cope with the rigors of an international curriculum with ease. Non-communicable diseases are a major cause of concern worldwide as they are responsible for most of the deaths, much higher than communicable diseases. So, vivid studies are required for a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that govern these diseases. Medicinal plants are an important part of ongoing treatments. A lot of traditional approaches for addressing this group of diseases are based on local knowledge of unique plants which have protective/beneficial effects. A lot needs to be validated scientifically in this area. Hence, all such studies are important. The prospects of such studies include a better understanding of how each of these plant extracts affects the functioning of individual genes, those found to be involved in any of these diseases. Also, it would be interesting to look into the variation in the protective ability of each of these medicinal plants on one specific target gene. My research interest is to work on the mechanism of tumor cell metastasis and also to study the role of immune surveillance in modulating host responses in various non-communicable diseases, including cancer. I also want to engineer new technologies to improve diagnostics for early metastasis. The faculty with whom my research interest matches at Temple University is Dr. Bojana Gligorijevic. I found out that her research interests are cancer complexity, Tumour microenvironment, Mouse Model of Metastasis, etc. I further went through Gligorijevic Lab I found that her lab investigates mechanisms of tumor cell metastasis by implementing established and developing new microscopy technologies at multiple scales, combined with approaches from cell biology, tissue engineering, and systems biology. The focus of her lab is on the analysis of tumor microenvironment complexity and emergent tumor cell behaviors as they relate to the tumor microenvironment and its spatial and temporal changes, including extracellular matrix remodeling by tumor cells themselves. They strive towards predicting tumor cell decisions, which are a dynamical, ever-changing outcome of multiple mechanical and chemical signals from different cell-based and extracellular sources. They are also engineering new technologies and are highly curious about the mechanistic understanding of metastasis, their overarching goal is to translate our findings into improved diagnostics for early metastasis and point to novel therapeutic targets. I got exhilarated to find that my research interest matches her area of interest. If I get an opportunity to work under her supervision then I will be able to fulfill my ambition to research my area of interest I highly value time and resources and as highlighted in my application, I have worked hard in the last six years to thoroughly train myself to pursue a career in research. The cutting-edge research environment at Temple University with dedicated research teams and technological facilities will be highly suitable for advancing my career.