Undergraduate / "biomedical research" + "an eye clinic" - why duke and previous research projects [4]

1. If you are applying to Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, please discuss why you consider Duke a good match for you. Is there something in particular at Duke that attracts you? Please limit your response to one or two paragraphs.

I am thinking of going into the field of biomedical research in the future, and Duke's facilities and projects directly address many of my interests. Being located in the research triangle gives Duke a huge advantage in providing unique research facilities and opportunities to students. Additionally Duke's FOCUS program is particularly appealing, especially the work being conducted on the genome revolution and its impact on society, since genetics is one of the areas I may specialise in. It was researchers at Duke who mapped out the final chromosome of the human genome and I would love to be a part of such a driven community.

I come from a school where local and global service is an integral part of our experience and was personally a founder of a project to supply blankets and clothes to Indian families in the winter, and participated in raising money, awareness and petitioning for animal rights in South East Asia. I want to play an active role in community projects in Duke as well. The Duke Engage program allows me to do this. Duke also balances its focus on research and service with a large foundation in sports. I am on the international badminton team for my school, and although it is not a prominent sport yet on the east coast, Duke does have a badminton club where I can participate in competitions and perhaps set up an initiative with other surrounding schools to make badminton an inter-collegiate sport. The aspect of Duke that appeals to me the most is that it never rests on its laurels; it is always looking for a way to get better. Duke's "building on excellence" projects and the completion of the Duke Energy Centre earlier this year, in support of a greener future, epitomise this attitude. Duke constantly strives to challenge and compete with itself. This parallels my own mindset and is why I feel Duke is the right match for me.

2. If you have participated in any significant research activity outside of school, please provide a brief description and limit your response to one or two paragraphs.

Last summer I had the opportunity of working in an eye clinic where I surveyed patients with diabetic retinopathy. Their responses and medical records were used in the senior researcher's longitudinal study on how the standard of living of such patients is affected by their illness. I was a part of the initial collaboration and processing of data which will ultimately be published next year. It may be used to introduce holistic methods of treatment to diabetic patients in Singapore, such as counselling, as the results indicated that the majority of patients blame themselves for their illness, and the subsequent difficulties they and their families face.

The following two weeks I observed technologists in the genetics department of a hospital laboratory, where I was able to watch how processes such as QF-PCR (quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction), reverse-dot blotting for suspected -Thalassaemia carriers and Southern Detection are carried out. All the testing and data was combined to go towards a research project that identifies if other relatives and younger generations of patients with Thalassaemia major or minor have the disease that was undetected thus far, or if they run a high risk of inheriting the disease. This also allows many young couples to consider if they are able to support a child if born with the disease. Both opportunities exposed aspects of interacting with patients as well as solo lab investigations that gave me good insight into the possible paths I may consider in the future, if I pursue a career in biomedical research. In retrospect, through these experiences I realised I have more of an affinity towards laboratory work, particularly in Genetics. The gene sequencing especially fascinated me; the technologist was looking for mutation insertions and deletions that cause Craniosynostosis. I learnt how to recognise patterns of chromosome ratio in the peaks to identify the specific syndrome that each specimen child had. Various other areas of research in their lab sparked my interest; I researched further into the Crouzan syndrome to find out why it was more prevalent in Singaporean and Asian patients, than foreign patients. Additionally I am interested to look into the genetics behind Huntington's disease which I was briefly introduced to at the end of my internship.

Please please give me an advice on hwo to improve this supplement. harsh critique is fine too. i really need help, since duke is my first choice and i really want to make it as good as possible. please any help is greatly appreciated!!