Merry Christmas!
I am from Dept. of Agronomy, Kansas State University. And after I worked in the USDA Small Grain Genotyping Laboratory in Kansas for more than two years, I decide to pursue a graduate degree in plant genetic in an university of the USA. That is why I am writing this letter. I believe it is an important and wise resolution for me, though I have received one in botany from Nanjing University, China.
In the last two years, my work has mainly focused on genome-wide association researches in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from model simulation to kinds of important complex traits dissection such as aluminum tolerance, scab, and stem rust resistance. As most of the phenotypic, genotypic data and statistical analysis have been well done, I am now spending a lot of time on manuscript organization and the deeply fine mapping toward map-based cloning of an aluminum tolerance gene. For this trait, I have used two natural mapping populations from Asia and U.S. and three F2 populations to map the gene within a 2.0 cM genetic distance. Besides this, some other related works nearly went to be published. One manuscript about population structure and genome-wide LD analysis on US winter wheat is in press on Plant Genome.
Since the year of 1998, just after I was graduated from Yangzhou University in the Dept. of Agronomy, I have been working on plant physiology, gene expression, gene cloning, QTL mapping and association mapping for over ten years. More than ten papers have been published on these kinds of journals. And additionally, One new gene, SbPIP1 (GenBank: DQ451602), was cloned by mRNA subtractive hybridization during my last PhD program and registered as a National Patent in China in 2006.
By recognizing my high research interests in plant quantitative genetics as well as career challenges, I am going to seek a graduate degree from an university of the USA. One reason is the good training system for student in American makes its student more competitive than any from other countries. As we know, University of Wisconsin-Madison is a prestigious institute in American as well as in the world, and your researches in evolution and genetic basis of maize during its domestication have impressed me most and I really want to express my great interests in your research focus. The distinct difference between wheat and maize using as materials for genetic study is also an important consideration for me. Comparing to wheat, maize owns full genome sequence information available, relatively simple genome organization, and out-cross species, which make it more suitable for genetic studies. Although I haven't worked on maize study previously, I believe my comprehensive background in plant genetics fits well to your research interests. Therefore, I would like to know if it's possible for me to get a offer for PhD program in your lab? I think it is a great moment for shaping my future career. Here I enclosed my resume for your review. If possible, I will send the GRE & Toelf score and all the other necessary materials to the Graduate school for a formal application. I look forward to hearing from you!
Appreciate for your consideration!
Sincerely,
Dadong Zhang
I believe it is an important and wise resolution for me, though I have received one in botany from Nanjing University, China.
This part is unclear...
I believe it is an important and wise resolution for me, even though I have already received a degree in botany from Nanjing University, China. ---> now add one more sentence to the end of this first para ... a sentence that conveys the central meaning of the whole essay. You are of to a great start! But I would reinforce the main idea by adding one more sentence to the end of this paragraph.
Since the year of 1998, just after I
was graduated from Yangzhou University in the Dept. of Agronomy, I have been...
By Recognizing my high research interests in plant quantitative genetics, as well as career challenges, I
am going d
ecided to seek a graduate degree from an university of the USA.
GRE & Toelf score--- I think you mean TOEFL, right?
This is so impressive, I am sure they will accept you.
