Graduate / 'formulating natural products drugs' KGSP Letter of Introduction [11]

I'd like to apply for KGSP graduate study and the self introduction essay should have the topics below:
>Your course of life, your view of life, study background, your hopes & wishes, etc
> Your education and work experience, etc., in relation to the KGSP program
> Your motivations for applying for this program
> Reason for study in Korea

the path to my dreams

It was never occurred to me to be a pharmacist before until one day I saw a faculty ads in 2011. It said that by learning pharmacy that you will become a professional individual who could improve people's life. That simple line struck me immediately and ever since that day I aimed to be an excellent pharmacist and give back to the society in the future. Having set my target high, I knew that my journey would not be so straightforward. I do not have a rich family, not academically gifted, my grades were mediocre, nor have any particular talent. But I was determined to achieve my goal. I admitted into XXX University Pharmacy Faculty in 2011 and soon realized that it takes a great effort to be successful. The school is full of busy schedules and timetables. There were always new formula to remembers, another paper to read, another reports to write, and another exam I needed to prepare for. Despite a heavy school workload, I commit myself to be a private tutor. Research has shown that students who work while studying tend to perform better. It is true that occasionally I felt overwhelmed after returning back home and still have to study for the test next day. But I kept on going even to this date as it's turned out to be enjoyable. On top of that, I also joined student executive board, and was appointed as the group leader organizing many of the university's event. By doing this, it helps me to be more efficient in managing my time, study better, and expand my network circle.

In the beginning of my final year, I had to choose a research topic for the final year project. I chose the study on tomato sunscreen. I chose tomato because it is a tropical fruit readily available in every season and has many functional activity for its active component, lycopene, a strong antioxidant that could be useful as a skin supplement and natural UV filter. I enjoyed this research topic very much and developed affection towards the use of natural products especially for cosmetics. My topic drew attentions of many lecturers and it was featured on the first page of the local newspaper. In May 2015, I earned my Bachelor degree and was recognized as the best student with the highest cGPA in the entire cohort. I was very happy but soon realized that this was merely a good start for my next step. I took another year of professional pharmacy study. During that period, I gained a lot of practical experiences by working in both pharmaceutical industry and clinical pharmacy. I joined an internship program at XXX, an American pharmaceutical company and one of the largest. I also joined an internship program at XXX, very famous pharmacy store and health clinic. Through those internships, I was able to improve my ability in decision-making, patient-counseling, and interpersonal skills.

After finishing one year professional study, I decided to pursue a career in natural products field. I started a career as a researcher and formulator at XXX, a local company promoting themselves as a natural cosmetic manufacturer. My main responsibility is to make natural extracts from plants and formulate them into a cosmetic products. First, I should find a plant with an active component that meets cosmetic's function as skin lightening, anti-inflammation, skin tightening, etc. and find a method to extract this plant as such the active component is not missing during the process by following a proper procedure. Next, I should find a formula to ensure these active components work efficiently when applied on human skin. The experiences gained for the past one year have helped me to develop a better understanding of natural product cosmetics application and pharmaceutical formulation. I learned to be more creative and better at solving problem. Working in this field also ascertain my ambition to learn more about the natural products general applications, not limited only to its use as cosmetics but also as a drugs.

I would like to be a specialist in formulating natural products drugs and developing them into world-class medicines. There are 30,000 species of plants that grow in my country, among those 7,000 have been used as a traditional medicine. There lies a golden opportunity shall one possess the right amount of skill. Besides, I also want to have more knowledge about pharmacy so that one day I could be a lecturer and teach the younger generation. So I decided to enroll on a master programme.

I love Korea. In the beginning, I only developed small curiosity when watching a popular show "Running Man". Soon after, I began to research about studying in Korea and imagining myself living in the city. I was actively doing research about the several international universities and various scholarship programs and then heard about KGSP. It was a perfect match and I believe that this is the path to my dreams. Through KGSP, it shall enable me to enter one of the Korean Universities. I read that they are actively doing research on natural products and new drug development.

Scholarship / FUTURE PLAN KGSP - Being a superb researcher [5]

Hi again everyone.
I havent finished my study plan, that's why i post this future plan first hahahaha
Hope you all help me. Thank you.

FUTURE PLAN IN KOREA OR ANOTHER COUNTRY AFTER STUDY IN KOREA

Upon my graduate study, I plan to work in Korea as a researcher in a Korean pharmaceutical company, which manufactures medicines and cosmetics. I want to be responsible in the development of functional materials Including the animal and plant from natural product. Primarily, I want to explore natural product that controls skin problems by doing in vitro and in vivo tests. I aim large pharmaceutical company, such as Hanmi Pharmaceutical or Yuhan Medica Co., especially those who explore in the development of natural products as medicine or cosmetics. I plan to work for a few years, probably about three years. During these three years, I would successfully patent at least one unique natural product which has gone through clinical test.

Besides adding my experience and knowledge, working in Korea also became one of my gratitude to the Korean government who has given this scholarship opportunity. I would like to give my contribution to the development of natural and health-care products in Korea. With that work experience, I also hope to gain practical knowledge about the equipment or the latest technologies which I could apply in XXX (MY COUNTRY) in order to be developed as Korea.

After working in Korea, I would like to go back to XXX, and give my contribution there. I will work again as a researcher at a XXX Pharmaceutical company that focus on the study of natural product function, such as YYY or ZZZ. As I mentioned before, XXX is rich in natural resources that are still not widely known or used. Unfortunately, that potential is not followed by a rapid development which is shown by the small number of patented natural product. Therefore, i would like to solve that problem through using my experience and knowledge i have acquired in Korea. I want to make XXX a well-known natural products resources.

While working as a researcher, I also have a plan to become a lecturer. I want to teach some courses such as pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, and natural product technology. Being a lecturer is my another passion beside being a researcher. By teaching, I find myself being useful for others because I could deliver the knowledge that I have to the younger generations. I want to trigger them to study well and become a useful person for the country.

Scholarship / STUDY PLAN KGSP - ANTI AGING RESEARCH PROJECT [7]

Hi everyone.. I have finished my study plan, even though there are grammar mistakes everywhere. hahahaha
Please take a look

Statement of Purpose
Goal of study, title or subject of research, and detailed study plan

Master's Degree within 3 years

My academic goal is to earn a master's degree in Pharmacy major. Primarily, I have a high interest in industrial pharmacy and pharmacognosy, but I also want to improve my clinical pharmacist. As I study this major, I may have the opportunity to specialize in a particular type of role, such as natural product research, new medicine development, and pharmaceutical formulation. This pharmacy major is related with my study background and my work experience, also could take me to my future goals.

I have interest in developing natural product because as I mentioned before, the world, especially talking about my own country, has a variety of plants and other natural resources that can be used as medicine or cosmeceutical. Many people also begin to switch for using natural medicines because of their side effects is more minimal than using synthetic drugs, as well as natural medicine has many benefits that are not confined to only cure one specific problem. I believe that this master's program can prepare me to have a specialty in the field of natural product research, especially about extraction and isolation of active compound in natural extracts, knowing activities of plant extract, analysis of natural's active compound, drug design, and pharmaceutical formulation. My undergraduate study on Pharmacy has provided me with a strong knowledge about the natural product drug research which can contribute in developing myself to reach my future goal in this master's program. I have completed learning on pharmacognosy, natural product technology, and botanical research, in which I got the highest score on those courses. In addition, I did research about natural product as my requirement to get the bachelor's degree. My research is about activities of lycopene in tomato water extract as natural antioxidant and anti UV-A and UV-B light on sunscreen product. With that linked experiences, I believe that the development of natural product as drug or cosmeceutical is essential, especially needed for improving the human health. For these reasons, I am committed to perform well during my graduate study.

Recently, natural product has been researched thoroughly for new drug development, primarily for its anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertension, and dyslipidemia activity. For taking this master's degree, I will focus on natural product research. The research will be about activity of natural product, especially I would like to use a bright-colored flower, such as Clitoria ternatea, as the research object. Nowadays, interest in flower shows an increasing tendency due to their activity as antioxidants. I put my interest on bright-colored flower, such as, because beside the flower's active component, the pigment color on the flower would be benefit for making the appearance of the finished pharmaceutical product look more attractive. Clitoria ternatea flower has been traditionally used in Asia for the treatment of various problems from the common disease like fever to the deadly ones such as diabetes, asthma, bronchitis, and antidote for snake bite or scorpion sting. Furthermore, it has a strong antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory properties. And some people believes that the antioxidants activity in Clitoria ternateacould stimulate collagen and elastin synthesis helping to rejuvenate the skin, reduce wrinkles and other effects of aging skin. Therefore, there is need of study to investigate the potential anti-aging activity for Clitoria ternatea.

Many people concern about skin aging, it is a complex evitable process of human life. Two important mechanism of skin aging are the breakdown of collagen and elastin. Therefore, the inhibition of elastase, which responsible in elastin breakdown, and MMP-1 (Matrix Metalloproteinase-1) enzymes, which responsible in collagen breakdown, could be potential to be cosmetic ingredients in combating skin aging and its anti-inflammatory effect due to their usefulness in preventing the loss of skin elasticity and sagging. However, to date, the inhibitory effect of Clitoria ternatea on elastase and MMP-1 activity has not been demonstrated. The in-vivo test of anti-aging potential of the Clitoria ternateaflower also hasn't been done before. If Clitoria ternatea is proven to be an elastase and MMP-1 inhibitor, and the in-vivo test shows a good results, the extracts can be a potential ingredients for anti-aging. Therefore, the objective of this research is to assess the anti-aging potential of Clitoria ternatea flower using in-vitroŹ and in-vivo test. So I would like to give this research's title as 'In-vitro Elastin and Collagen Breakdown Inhibition and In-vivo Anti-aging Effects of Spray-dried Aqueous Extract of Clitoria ternatea Flower'.

In this research, the dried Clitoria ternateaflower would be extracted with water then the aqueous extract would be dried using a spray dryer. I prefer using this spray-dried method to keep the extract to its original color and that would give a nice color on the finished product. Furthermore, the spray dried extract is more durable than the condensed extract which easily contaminated by the microbes and have a brown-sticky texture that is not good for the finished product quality. The extract that has been obtained then will be tested for its activity on elastase and MMP-1. The elastase inhibition will be performed by using UV-Visible Spectrophotometer. The absorbance of the sample will be measured at 410 nm for detecting the release of of p-nitro aniline due to proteolysis of N-succinyl-(Ala) 3 -p-nitroanilide by human leukocyte elastase in the presence or absence of inhibitor. While the MMP-1 inhibition will be determined by using 96 well fluorescence microplate which is measured by hydrolyzing a collagen substrate to yield a fluorescent product. The fluorescence product will be measured at excitation maxima at 495 nm and emission maxima at 515 nm. For the in-vivo test, the extract will be formulated into a vanishing cream. Then by using around 20 volunteers whose ages were in between 30 and 40 years, the vanishing cream contain extract and the blank cream will be applied at volunteers below eye or cheek area. The aging parameters such as skin moisture, amount of wrinkle and its depth will be measured using skin analyzer.

I contend that this research will be valuable in the future considering that the issue of skin aging still hot in every country and people tend to use a product based on natural active ingredient. The findings of the research will highlight the Clitoria ternatea flower as a skin-aging prevention. Furthermore, Clitoria ternatea could be developed as wound healing agent as their mechanisms are same which work on elastase and MMP-1 inhibition. This scientific research could indicated that the Clitoria ternatea can be potential candidates for anti-aging cosmetics as well as in other healthcare products where skin evaluation, irritation and eye shall be conducted in future for cosmeceutical application and to be included in cosmetics products.

In order to get the Master's Degree, I plan to finish it within 3 years. I would focus on learning Korean Language for the first year. While studying language, I would also prepare my research by communicate with the professor who major in my research's topic. I would discuss with the professor about the aim and the method of the research so that I could start to prepare making the proposal. And maybe I could join the professor's research project that related to my interest and make a publication papers. I would like to do it on the second semester. I would also collect and review journal that related to my research. After finishing the first year learning Korean language, for the next two years, I want to focus on strengthen my fundamental knowledge so that help me on the research. Besides learn the theory on class, I would like to finish my proposal and show it to my professor so I could start doing the real research at the laboratory. I also want to join some seminar related to my research area so that can add my knowledge. For the last semester, I would work hard to finish my thesis and getting my master's degree.