Admissions Committee the Extent of My Abilities

¶ … Admissions Committee the extent of my abilities and experiences. I am applying for a position in the field of Bioinformatics, a burgeoning area of research that will redefine the future of the life sciences and medicine.

Historically, Bioinformatics drew worldwide attention as an independent discipline after the publication of the Human Genome -- the genetic blueprint for mankind -- by a public consortium and in the private sector. The information portends previously unimaginable consequences in the medical field. Gigabytes of genomic information became available and could only be processed using computational techniques. Very few personnel are qualified in both: the information sciences and life sciences. In this aspect, I am unique qualified.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from the prestigious University of California at Los Angeles followed by two years experience as a research scientist at Maxim Biotech in San Francisco. My biotech experience extends to a comprehensive analysis of the Arabidopsis (a plant belonging to the mustard family that has become the model for plants) genome. I was involved in identifying the gene sequences in the genome using Bioinformatics methods. I was also involved in the annotation of the protein sequences that gene-portions on the chromosome encode.

I have made indirect contributions towards finding a cure for cancer. My research involves work in the area of apoptosis or cell death. Our bodies are composed of organs and tissues where the basic unit is the cell. Cells have a lifetime during which they perform their functions. In most cancers, the signal for cell-death malfunctions resulting in unlimited cell growth -- malignant tumors.

I was actively involved in the development of kits that detect HIV (Human Immuno deficiency Virus) that many researchers believe is the virus that mutates into the AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) virus, besides other sexually transmitted diseases that are becoming the scourge of our times.

DNA evidence is now the state of the art in crime detection. How a DNA sample can be obtained from a hair or a single fingerprint? Due to a technique called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) that amplifies the signal of a DNA. I was involved in the development of a new PCR kit.

My crowning scientific achievement has also been in the area of PCR. I am the inventor of a new technique called SPAS (Self-Primed Amplification System) for which I have obtained a U.S. Patent (# 6,207,424). The technique is related to copying a nucleic acid with a self-priming primer. This new method improves the fidelity of the PCR results. Conventional PCR requires twice the sets of primers for as the number of genes being studied; my method involves only one additional primer. SPAS reduces the primer usage by half.