Since the dawn of our species man has been blessed with curiosity.
Right from my school days I enjoyed studying science, learning about Evolution at high school has been a turning point for my belief system and my curious mind, I chose Biology and chemistry as my electives at the High School and here there was a whole new world to discover for me. Ever since I wanted to study biology and despite being accepted to study several other majors and while I was studying chemistry in Iran I left my studies and decided to move to Azerbaijan to continue my education in biology here.
Finally, I had the chance to study what I always wanted.
Courses were delivered in English and I was lucky to study in a group of only four people and this gave me the advantage of lots of free discussions with my professors that expanded my knowledge of biological sciences.
Although it was hard to cope with the environment and the education system at the beginning, I managed to cope up with the situation and boost my performance. Gradually, my scores raised from mediocre to excellent making me one of the top 10 percent students of the university.
During my undergraduate studies I found molecular biology captivating in particular. my interest led to deep discussions with my professor Karim Qasimov and I joined his research group, I have learned basic molecular biology techniques such as protein and DNA gel Electrophoresis and PCR method, and participated in a workshop, of Molecular detection and molecular diagnosis of different diseases of agricultural plants that I earned a certificate for. I study transcriptional regulation of gene expression and genetic basis of cancer under his supervision up today.
I have a keen interest in delving deeper into the molecular biology of the cell.
Throughout my time as an undergraduate I have maintained my interest in molecular biology, and where possible I have selected courses related to this field.
In preparation for undertaking postgraduate research in this area,
I have chosen WRKY gene family as the focus of my final-year research project to get a better understanding of transcription factors in controlling of gene expression.
The Results: Bioinformatics analysis of EST (expressed sequence tag) database of Prunus dulcis and Punica granatum revealed two conserved WD boxes of WRKY gene family in each species, EST 1025 almond cDNA shows 99 % similarity to At 33 WRKY gene and EST1238 almond cDNA shows 95% similarity to At 7 WRKY genes, and there are similarities between At WRKY 75, At WRKY 40 and At mitogen activated protein kinase 3 with three of ESTs of Punica granatum.
I also have been active in two other labs to expand my knowledge of lab equipment and to get used to the lab environment beside molecular biology.
Biotechnology lab, working with different algae species such as ( ) and ( ) that were being investigated for an industrial scale algae farm, beside learning basic microbiology methods I learned different kinds of medium preparation, obtaining pure culture and measuring cell density from microbiology lab.
And Nano-lab, which is basically working on paramagnetic nanoparticles, I have been learning principles of EPR spectroscopy while working on my own research on accumulation of paramagnetic nanoparticles in plant species as a result of salt stress under supervision of Prof Rovshan Khalilov. Primary results support the validity of the hypothesis and accumulation of magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) magnetic Nano particles are confirmed by EPR spectroscopy in 2 different plant species so far.
Studying molecular biology as part of my degree has generated a wide range of areas that I am motivated to study in greater depth.
During my molecular biology course and lab experiments I learned about molecular and genetic basis of cancer, cancer stem cells, the micro environment of tumours and the importance of various transcription factors and cascades for the onset and progression of cancer, and from Nano-lab I learned that EPR is an effective tool for assessing changes in chemical composition of cells through stages of development of different pathology and maybe even cancer. I am eager to learn more about the molecular basis of these changes, pathways and cascades leading to metastases and plasticity of these cascades that makes cancer cells capable of developing resistance to cancer drugs.
Succeeded in the current studies I feel prepared for more challenging studies in the field of molecular biology.
My aspiration is, at the end of my studies, I could get a better understanding of the molecular basis of human diseases, personalized treatment and immune therapy. I will train myself thoroughly through my M.S. programme and proceed further on to a PhD in Molecular Biology.
... at high school has been a turning point for my belief system and my curious mind,
... l and here there was a whole new world to discover for me.
Succeeded in the current studies I feel prepared READY for more challenging studies ...
