Statement Of Purpose

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

I have always possessed an innate inclination for the love of life forms. My parents and cousins say it manifested the most during my younger years, when I ran behind dragonflies and butterflies with a yen to keep them as my pets. My mini excursions to Sanjay Gandhi National Park that stood a few meters away overlooking my house, planted in me a love so deep for nature that I became determined to pursue this passion as a career. I started by procuring a seat in Ramnarain Ruia College, one of the prestigious institutes of India in the field of Life Sciences at Mumbai. I selected this subject because it touches upon all the fundamentals of all biological sciences. As a student of Ruia, I got entitled to unrestrained access for initiating novel group activities like the intercollegiate bio-festival Synapse and honing my skills at arts, sports, personal inter-communications and curricular facets. I completed my Master’s degree from the Department of Life Sciences, Sophia College. This fabulous department where I aspired to get myself enrolled for the Neuroscience program, and which I did on securing the 1st merit seat, has been the fountainhead for my love in research. The faculty of this department unconventionally imprinted values of integrity, humility, self-confidence and team-spirit in my genome. I firmly believe that the pursuit for a doctoral degree is highly suited to a person who harbors these qualities and bears a positive insight into research. These, I confidently add are my fortes. As I standardized protocols in the first year of my Master’s program to narrow down on Acetylcholinesterase isoforms from adult and embryonic chick brain and skeletal muscles, I compared their patterns using gel electrophoreses and 1

assayed for their enzyme activity. The excitement that triggered in my nerves as I acquired the confidence to dissect an adult chick brain in less than five minutes and run acrylamide gels to localize the enzyme isoforms was astounding. My dissertation for the year 2007-2008 titled ‘A study on effect of Melatonin on Sodium Potassium ATPase in developing chick ocular tissues’, gives an account of the project I worked on during the second year of Master’s program. My project aimed at human health-care benefits, the efforts for which were appreciated and supported by the much acclaimed Lady Tata Memorial Trust’s scholarship. I received further extension for this project, during which I enjoyed setting up bowl cultures for physiological studies on chick embryo. I also got savvy with cryo-sectioning with the aid of my prior experiments based on microtomy. Apart from the research project I carried out, I assisted the Sophia’s Life Science department in organizing an array of workshops, annual nobel-prize orations, journal clubs and weekly student project presentations. I feel privileged to have attended two annual neuroscience conferences for the years 2006 and 2007, organized by Indian Academy of Neurosciences. In the latter, I presented the paper ‘Effect of melatonin on embryonic chick neuro-epithelium’. A sundry of seminars delivered by the dignitaries present at the event was a spellbinding experience per se. Although research is my prime interest and I aspired to gear up for my Ph.D, I serendipitously found my spark in teaching, while assisting the staff at Department of Biology at Sophia College. Thereafter, I got an opportunity to teach neurosciences, population genetics, biostatistics and animal physiology at graduate level at St. Xavier’s Life Science Department.

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At the same time, I got enticed to a project at National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), where I presently work as a junior research fellow. I became eager to explore the human endocrinological aspects at molecular levels, where the hormone-receptor interactions exert their actions below the neuronal levels. The cynosure of this project is an FSH-receptor binding inhibitor (FRBI-8), the N-terminal amino acid sequence of which is known. I am contributing to studies that deal with deciphering the functional significance of this peptide as a potential contraceptive on its administration with nanoparticles. I was thrilled to know that I would be working on Marmoset monkeys. I distinctly remember my first trip to the animal house where I first saw these monkeys and was so overwhelmed by their sight that I tried to strike a conversation with them. My anxiety transformed into excitement as I started handling animals such as rats and mice as well. As I entered the nanoscience arena for improvement of drug delivery systems, I realized the strength in the phrase ‘Small is Big’. All these experiences have triggered a copious rush of adrenaline to motivate me for a doctoral program in life sciences, especially in neurosciences which has granted me a better understanding on complexities that make life simpler. My understanding is that knowledge kept fettered to oneself on the basis of hierarchical or experimental know-how is indecorous. In order to enable proliferation of knowledge, its permeation into every human who yearns for it is absolutely essential. A doctoral course allows teaching and to be taught endlessly with perseverance and this gives me a prime reason to zero down to doing a Ph.D. I believe that the American outlook has the best to offer in this

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course and it would surely multiply not just my learning prospects, but also of those who I get to network with. As I begun streamlining my research interests, I came across the work of neuroscience faculty at Case Western Reserve University and found it tremendously splendid. Given a chance to intermingle with these dignitaries, I would strive to bring out the best in me to deliver quality research and do justice to the pioneers of this field. I am specifically fascinated with Professor Mark Willis’s research interests, as I have always been keen on comprehending entomological

behavior.

In

addition

to

this,

Dr.

David

Attenborough’s

documentaries on the class ‘insecta’ gave a boost to my insect passion. What interests me is the approach adopted in Prof. Willis’s lab to merge biology with technology. The other projects that interested me are those of Prof. Debra Wood and Prof. David Katz. I am assured that the Neuroscience program at Case Western Reserve, with its plethora of varied scientific research and state of the art facilities would provide me with a lifetime opportunity to excel in science.

As far as my achievements range so far, I have been a recipient of Smt. G.A. Bhiwgade gold medal, a prestigious honor bestowed by Mumbai University for securing the highest marks at Master’s level. I was felicitated at Sophia College as the deserving student in senior college (science), and awarded the Suman and Ramesh Tulsiani Golden Jubilee Scholarship. I have been a team member of a project proposed for entrepreneurial prospects that received acclamation at 6 th position amongst all the entries received nationwide. I consider myself a strong contender to make a good part of a team while working independently as well. My teachers, mentors and colleagues at work have played pivotal roles in 4

facilitating my metamorphosis from a bio-enthusiast I have always been, to the science enthusiast I stand today.

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