Summer Undergraduate Research Program - Fred Hutchinson ...

Graduate School Personal Statement #3
I want to pursue graduate studies in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology because I
am fascinated by the interaction between host and pathogen, the idiosyncrasies of each
relationship, and how knowledge of this interaction can be used to develop effective therapeutic
interventions.
My interest in infectious disease began with a high school field trip XXX, a non-profit
organization dedicated to improving global health by finding solutions to the world’s most
devastating diseases. I was impressed by their altruistic intentions, but mostly inspired to pursue
a career as a physician-scientist on the cutting-edge of biomedical research. It was only after
observing and talking to physicians specializing in infectious disease at the XXX Medical Center
that I realized infectious disease was my calling. As a result of this experience, I applied to
several summer undergraduate research programs, and was invited to join two competitive
programs, at XXX and at the XXX. I elected to participate as a summer undergraduate intern at
XXX, where I studied antifungal immunity in the lab of Dr. XXX. My experience working in an
immunology lab full-time led to my current decision to study cellular and molecular immunology
and host-pathogen interactions en route to a doctorate degree.
Upon completion of my degree, I plan to pursue post-doctoral work to gain specialized
experience in parasitology. Drawing from my undergraduate background in neuroscience, I am
particularly interested in pathogens that are able to breach the blood-brain barrier, such as
Toxoplasma gondii and Trypansoma bruceii. I find T. gondii to be especially interesting, as it is
known to manipulate rat predator-evasion behavior in order to complete its life cycle, and more
recently has been linked schizophrenia as an etiological factor. This microbe infects a
substantial portion of the global population and is known to lead to fatal encephalitis in
immunocompromised individuals; what could it be doing as it lies ‘dormant’ in a healthy host?
As parasites and other infectious disease-causing agents are frequently an issue in developing
nations, I want to work for a non-profit institute engaged in the development of affordable
therapeutics and preventatives meant to be dispersed globally. Eventually, I want to teach at a
university where I can offer undergraduate students the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge
research, just as my mentors did for me.
Over the past three years, I have been fortunate to work in two labs: Dr. XXX’ lab [XXX]
on inhalant abuse and Dr. XXX’s lab [XXX] on antifungal immunity. I started in Dr. XXX; lab in
February 20XX and ended in December 20XX. Dr. XXX has a very unique approach to the
undergraduate lab set-up: instead of having students work on a single project, she assigns
students to one of five student-led research ‘pods.’ With this configuration, her lab maintains a
wide-ranging research focus. I led the research group investigating the potential use of
Caenorhabditis elegans to study the effects of toluene, a common solvent in abused inhalants.
We began with a behavioral study, measuring the effects of toluene exposure on worm
locomotive behavior. We found that brief exposure to toluene decreased locomotive behavior,
which led us to our next experiment where we compared levels of vesicular transporters before
and after toluene exposure. In this phase of the project, I had the unique opportunity to learn
how to operate a confocal microscope, which is capable of capturing very clear images of
fluorescent transgenic worms. Although the learning curve was initially steep, we eventually
found a significant effect of exposure on protein expression levels. The innovation and creativity
behind this project earned us an internally-funded undergraduate grant from XXX, which
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