Lin Yang Sop Ucsf

Lin Yang 2010 UCSF Biomedical Sciences PhD Program My first exposure to research in the biosciences was in high school, when I was selected to participate in the Singapore Science Research Program. This experience was pivotal in helping me identify the direction for my future career because it awoke me to my passion for scientific research. During the one year program, I was attached to a plant virology lab headed by Professor Sek Man Wong at the National University of Singapore, and worked on a project to characterize the catalytic efficiencies of two different types of DNAzymes (a class of nuclei acid-based catalysts) in cleaving RNA transcripts. As I went through the various stages of my project, from proposing hypotheses and designing experiments to practical execution and data analysis, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the work because it was intellectually stimulating and very satisfying. I loved thinking through problems, considering the different ways to tackle them, and experiencing the excitement as pieces of the puzzle gradually fell in place. There were, undeniably, minor setbacks along the way, but these challenges were what made the subsequent successes particularly satisfying. While my determination to develop a career in science grew stronger as my research experiences accumulated, the subsequent exposures to lab work also changed my perspective of biological research. When I first began my Pratt Research Fellowship, I was very keen to work in the biomedical engineering field because it stood at the interphase of medicine and basic biology and gave me the opportunity to develop tools for clinical applications. Indeed, my work with bio-artificial tissue had tangible therapeutic potential and held clear implications for the field of regenerative medicine. However, as my understanding of tissue engineering grew, I discovered that the field was relying predominantly on trial-and-error methods in hopes of developing protocols robust enough to generate viable and functional 3D bio-artificial tissue which could be used in therapy. This approach, despite lacking in direction, was one of the few options available at the time given our incomplete understanding of cellular processes such as metabolism regulation. I realized that our comprehension of many phenomena in basic biology was insufficient to support the manipulation of biological systems to suit our needs – our solid foundation in the life sciences have carried bioengineering to where it is today, but we need to continue building upon this through the acquisition of basic biological knowledge before we can advance further. While my dream of harnessing the power of scientific research to revolutionize human medicine has not changed, I now want to work towards this goal by engaging in basic biomedical research. These beliefs have led me to pursue questions in basic cell biology. Since graduation, I have been working in the field of factor-mediated somatic cell reprogramming at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) under Dr. Huck Hui Ng. My project focuses on the identification of novel reprogramming factors, small molecules and/or culture conditions which could replace previously discovered reprogramming factors. I have made significant progress in the 6 months at GIS, most notably through my contributions to the discovery of the very first factor capable of replacing Oct4 in reprogramming murine fibroblasts (paper in review). As a recipient of the National Science Scholarship (PhD) from the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR), I see the PhD process as a period of

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Lin Yang 2010 UCSF Biomedical Sciences PhD Program rigorous training to prepare myself for a future career in science. My long-term goal is to build up, through the PhD program, a strong foundation in the methodologies and concepts of basic biological research and integrate these with my engineering background to explore inter-disciplinary solutions in the biomedical sciences. I hope to eventually make my mark in academia both as a researcher with a lab of my own and as a mentor to help train the next generation of scientists.

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