STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Since my childhood I have been a keen observer and

am well known for probing new avenues, always enthusiastic and ready with a chain
of questions. Having been brought up in a strong and secure family, I have been
blessed to have parents who instilled me with good values and principles. Education
was always given first priority and there was no compromise for it. My parents’
support motivated me to reach my goals. When my schoolteachers noticed my
inclination towards science, I was always encouraged by my parents to participate in
all science exhibitions, quizzes and other examinations.
Right from my school days, I always enjoy studying
biology. It is the science of life. Unlike physics, biology does not usually describe
systems in terms of objects, which obey immutable physical laws described by
mathematics. Nevertheless, the biological sciences are characterized and unified by
several major underlying principles and concepts. At the school level though
exposed to only major concepts of biology, the terms like cell, genes, DNA, protein
intrigued me a lot. I used to question myself as to how could these
molecules/components, though very small in size, could perform heavy load of work
in a well -planned manner and that too within a fraction of second. Then I decided
that after my school I should pursue my education in biological sciences.
Throughout my school I had excelled in academics by
being in top 2% of my entire school. I am proud to say that I was one of the two
students in the entire school who secured centum in mathematics both in 10th and
12th grade examinations. Also in the state level engineering entrance examination I
secured 92.86%, which put me in top1% in the state. At that time the field of
Biotechnology field was new to my country and made many remarkable
achievements. The passion towards biological sciences made me to take BTECH in
Biotechnology in PSG College of technology, one of the prestigious and oldest
colleges in the nation.
In college I have been exposed to many fields of study
like biochemistry, cell biology, micro biology, molecular biology, genetics, genetic
engineering, protein engineering, enzyme engineering, immunology, bioprocess
engineering, bio informatics, animal biotechnology. I had given many seminars in all
these subjects and have also been an active student participating in all the
department activities and functions. This had developed teaching skills within me
and I also take care that the class is lively so that all my fellow students are
attentive and come out with questions, which in turn I clarify for sure. I have also got
practical knowledge of techniques in the fields of biochemistry, cell and
microbiology, molecular biology, immunology in our laboratory classes. The ardor
for the subjects like Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular biology made me to undertake
few mini projects in the college. As a team of four members we worked in a project
called CHARACTERISATION OF STARCH IN TAMARIND SEED POWDER. Tamarind seed
powder is rich in starch and is highly used in glues. But it is poorly soluble in water,
so in order to improve its solubility we planned to modify the starch my adding some
functional groups like carboxyl methyl, etc. For that first we had to estimate the
amounts of protein, carbohydrate, lipid, fats, ash and moisture and then modify it
accordingly. I was in the estimation team of 2 members and I used appropriate
methods to estimate the amounts of starch, protein, fat, lipid, ash and moisture.
I also worked in a short-term project on ISOLATION and
CHARACTERIZATION of HIGH LEVEL GENTAMICIN RESISTANCE gene in Enterococcus
faecalis. The genomic DNA was isolated and we attempted to isolate the gene by
PCR. I have also done a project on PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF SELENOPROTREINS
using online bio-informatics tools. I used the PHYLIP program and analyzed the SelW
protein by studying its conservation and divergence and also compared it with
another functionally similar non- selenoprotein Alkaline dehydrogenase.
 I have received the prestigious Summer Research
Fellowship offered by Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore twice for the years
2004 and 2005. All undergraduate and post graduate students and also lecturers
throughout the country are eligible to apply for this fellowship but finally the
committee selects only around 100 students based on the academic qualifications
and the report submitted about their area of interest. Usually the fellowship is not
granted for second time unless the candidate is really outstanding in his/her work. I
am proud to receive that fellowship for second time. In my 2 nd year of under
graduation I had been exposed to many fields theoretically and I wanted to get
exposed the basic techniques in Molecular biology. Through the Summer Research
Fellowship 2004, I worked under PROF. RM. x, Head, Department of Immunology,
Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai where I learned molecular biology techniques
like DNA isolation from human blood samples, PCR, Agarose gel electrophoresis. It is
basically an Immunogenetics lab working with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and I
worked on HLA-DR B gene. I looked for the presence of this gene in many control
samples by PCR using specific primers. I became well versed in these techniques
and I was granted with the responsibility of managing the control sample collection.
Working in that lab had widened my knowledge in gene aspects. As I am always
known for probing new areas, I wanted to get more exposure in cloning, protein
expression and purification. So I worked under PROF. DIPANKAR CHATTERJI,
Molecular Biophysics Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore through
Summer Research Fellowship 2005. I worked on Mycobacterium smegmatis DNA
binding protein – MsDps1 and MsDps2. I sub cloned, expressed and purified MsDps2
by affinity chromatography and also purified MsDps1 by affinity chromatography for
crystallization. I also standardized the protocol for the isolation of DNA from
Mycobacterium smegmatis.
After working with expression and purification of
protein, I wanted to gain further insight in the structure of protein – 3D modeling of
protein. Bio-informatics is another area that fascinates me. I approached
PROF.N.SRINIVASAN, Molecular Biophysics unit, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore and I am currently working under him for my BTECH final semester
project. I am working on Evolution of phospho proteins where I am looking for the
conservation pattern of phosphorylation in the homologs of protein kinase
substrates and also will be doing 3D structure modeling of protein-substrate
complex to gain further insight into the phosphorylation pattern.
Apart from my curriculum, I have a very good
leadership and organization skills. I am also a good team player. I had been the
House captain of my school, an active member of Drama club in school and also the
organizing committee of my Department in the college and organized National level
Symposiums. I also play piano and have qualified two grades conducted by Trinity
College of London.
I believe that I have all the qualities of a good
researcher. I learnt many things from both my victories and failures. Being the
House captain and a member of the organizing committee had made me view things
from all perspectives. I can accept both criticism and praise with a positive attitude.
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 would be grateful to you if I am given the opportunity to pursue my
graduate studies with financial assistance at your institution and am able to justify
your faith in me.
INDHU