PhD Biomedical Sciences SOP Sample for US Applicants

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

My initial encounters with my paediatrician left a remarkable impact on me as a kid. Having my sister diagnosed with β-thalassemia major was shocking and at the same time instilling a struggle to understand the disease. Indians usually are brought up with an idea that diet resolves most issues. Appallingly, my doctor completely disregarded the idea and stated how nutrition couldn't help make a single drop of blood in her body. I was taken aback and thought how would a completely healthy-looking child not be able to make blood on her own for survival despite eating healthy? Little did I know about mutations or the ill effects of blood transfusions back then. I read about Thalassemia from accessible sources like relevant newspaper articles, interviews of a few doctors, awareness magazines and whatever I learnt contradicted what we were facing on many levels, which led me to conclude the role of epigenetics and several other unknown factors in disease progression. And with this, I began my pursuit of research in biological sciences.

I began with BSc in Zoology intending to understand evolution's role in the existence of hemoglobinopathies but my college curriculum did not allow me to explore that. However, my mentor, [PROFESSOR NAME] allowed me to work as a research student in the Biochemistry department where I learnt a lot about research. As a team of three students under [PROFESSOR NAME], we carried out this research focused on optimizing the culture conditions for degradation studies. Microbial species from automobile garage soil were isolated that degrade engine oil using enrichment techniques on hydrocarbon as the sole carbon and energy source. On screening five isolates for optimum oil degradation potential, it was found that one of the isolates could degrade 1-9% engine oil at 46% efficiency in 21 days. To find out the optimal conditions for degradation studies of oil by microbes, various conditions were monitored like aeration, pH and nitrogen and sulphur concentration. Further, plasmid was cured from the isolate SXCA BCGS3. The curing was done using different concentrations of the curing agent Ethidium Bromide having the anti-plasmid effect on the above-mentioned strains. The plasmid cured isolate was then used to check the oil-degrading potential to confirm the role of plasmid in oil degradation. We were awarded a gold medal for this work under Student Research Program. This was a great motivation for me and it only encouraged me to do better and believe in my dreams.

I had realized that without the knowledge of Immunology, Molecular biology, Human Physiology and Biochemistry, I would lack many skills necessary to understand the entire problem I aim to solve. I went on to pursue my Masters in Life Sciences at [UNIVERSITY NAME], [CITY]. The vast college curriculum served me right and proved to be very beneficial. Under the supervision of [PROFESSOR NAME], I led our team of three to design experiments that focus on studying the antibacterial activity of four medicinal plants on E.coli, a pathogenic bacteria that causes throat infections. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Zingiber officinale, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Tinospora cordifolia and Calotropis gigantea were selected based on their previously known activity and ease of availability. This project was undertaken to contribute to addressing the problem of bacterial resistance developing day by day. The phytochemical components of these were also analysed to strike initiatives to discover the chemical component responsible for the antibacterial activity. The antibacterial assays were performed using the disc diffusion method. Standard methods were used to analyse the extracts for secondary metabolites. Among the four plants, Zingiber officinale showed the highest antimicrobial activity followed by Ocimum tenuiflorum, Calotropis gigantea, Tinospora cordifolia. Managing classes and research was not an easy task. However, this work allowed me to imbibe leadership skills and lead the project to the best of my abilities. Time constraints, pressure to get results and planning a project that could be done given the limited resources in college was a difficult task.

Under the supervision of [PROFESSOR NAME], at [INSTITUTION NAME], I worked under a mentor to establish the importance of proper diagnostics for pets that is usually undermined. This project aimed to highlight the risks involved with the use of broad-spectrum drugs and develop an alternative using molecular diagnostic methods. Blood samples from pets of different canine and feline breeds were collected and screened for parasites such as Babesia, Trypanosomes, Ehrlichia canis, Theileria annulata, etc. Future goals of this project involve having a database from where veterinarians can derive information about when to start the treatment, study the dose-response relationship and replace the current gold standard diagnosis method with a more efficient and reliable one.

A year after my graduation, I got an opportunity to work at [INSTITUTION NAME] under the supervision of [PROFESSOR NAME]. As fate would have it, my hands-on working experience with Plasmodium falciparum brought me back where I started. Malaria asserts strong selection pressure on human evolution and has led to increased prevalence of diseases like sickle-cell anaemia, thalassemia, G6PD deficiency in the population, as genetic polymorphisms associated with these diseases have a protective association with malaria in humans. The understanding of malaria biology, the importance of haemoglobin's conversion to hemozoin has not only helped me understand diseases pathogenesis but also helped me learn in-vitro culturing of blood along with parasite culture. The lab focuses on processes regulating parasite development and disease pathogenesis. One such experiment involved docking studies that revealed drugs that could target the RBC stages of Plasmodium falciparum. Therefore, in-vitro screening of these potential in-vitro drugs was done using high throughput assays on two different strains of Plasmodium falciparum. High throughput screening assays were set and read using flow cytometry. Data was analysed using Prism GraphPad to find out the IC50 values of each drug. Compounds having IC50 values less than 1uM were taken for in vivo evaluation. Experiments were performed to study the deviation from normal morphology of the parasites under drug treatment using microscopic techniques to understand at what stage could the drug possibly be affecting.

This experience has so far been the most challenging phase of my professional life. Just a month after my joining, we had to adjust to the new "pandemic" norms which imposed a lot of challenges. My mentor resigned as he was stuck in another country and post that I had to independently handle this project. The experiments hit a road-block due to non-reproducibility, some drugs did not work apparently due to improper storage during the lockdown and this was realized only after some failed experiments, the flow cytometer sometimes ran into issues when no technical help was available which coaxed me to try several permutation combinations to identify the issue and solve it alone, and the stringent shift allotments made it difficult to plan the experiments. However, at the end of my tenure, I successfully screened 21 drugs on two different strains. A little patience and determination helped me go a long way. When the experiments moved to in-vivo studies, we also learnt that the non-reproducibility was due to a scientific reason. Our protocol was based on an assumption that the drugs would work the same for male and female RBCs. Interestingly, that was not true for some. We hope to publish our findings soon. The manuscript for the same is titled, "Bazedoxifene, a postmenopausal drug, acts as an antimalarial"

During my tenure, I also assisted in two other projects, "Identification of enzymes involved in neddylation pathway in Plasmodium" and "To study the role of VMP1 in Plasmodium biology/Investigation of autophagosome biogenesis and secretory proteins." My role was to help conduct a growth curve experiment (in-vivo using BALB/c mice) to determine the vitality of PbUBA3 and I assisted in the cloning of plasmodium origin genes VMP1, VP1 and SERCA into the mammalian system. However, due to codon bias, the genes didn't express in mammalian cells. Working under the supervision and coordinating with Graduate students in the lab, helped me learn more in terms of the subject and also helped me build teamwork efficiency and time management skills. Handling time-point experiments for routine drug assays and coordinating with other people for additional work was quite a juggle and came across as a challenge.

My pursuit to explore advancements in the disease are categorised into three major areas: Studying blood cell development and mechanisms that regulate haemoglobin switching, iron metabolism and haematopoietic stem cell transplantations as a curative measure. I was excited to read about the recent discovery of Luspatercept (Reblozyl), which works through blocking SMAD2/3 signalling thereby enhancing erythroid maturation. However, these treatment options remain unavailable to many due to financial constraints. I have gone through the research at [PROFESSOR NAME]'s, [PROFESSOR NAME]'s, [PROFESSOR NAME]'s, [PROFESSOR NAME]'s, [PROFESSOR NAME]'s and [PROFESSOR NAME]'s work and I find that my research interest aligns with these labs. I am aware that so far, my experience does not involve clinical exposure and, in India, I haven't had a chance to study hematology since I am from a basic sciences background. [INSTITUTION NAME], being an academic medical centre is one of the few schools which covers areas of my interest—malignant and non-malignant hematology and studying disease progressions at the cellular and molecular level right from the regulations of hematopoietic stem cells. Along with my previously laid interests, I have also come across many new concepts like cancer stem cell interactions with tumor microenvironment in disease progression and I am interested to explore those. Most cures can be obtained by studying the body's natural state, and [PROFESSOR NAME]'s lab focuses on studying erythroid maturation and development in both normal and disease states. Moreover, the collaboration between clinicians and basic scientists is very important for the research I am interested in and I believe that [INSTITUTION NAME] will provide the right environment. I hope to sharpen my scientific skills and build my expertise in hematology. After I graduate, I wish to continue in research through post-doctoral work and later on establish my laboratory to continue work that would translate to the clinic and find a use in making it easier to live with diseases that could otherwise prove fatal.

I am currently working at [COMPANY NAME] as a biology educator for students preparing for their masters in Biology so that I could prepare myself financially to apply for graduate schools. Nonetheless, successfully overcoming all these hurdles have now given me much confidence to commence my PhD journey. I am sure that being a part of [INSTITUTION NAME] would only increase my pool of knowledge and accelerate my zeal to think bigger and achieve bigger things in life. I am fully aware of the perseverance and commitment required for research and I hope that my aptitude and motivation will pursue you to consider me as a potential candidate.

[APPLICANT NAME]