Stem Cell Biology Personal Statement

Since I started school I have had a keen interest in science. As I progressed through school my love of science changed to biology of all forms, from a molecular level to ecosystems as a whole and this was a key factor in my decision to study biological science as it covered a broad spectrum of biology based topics. Studying for my MSci degree opened my eyes to many new areas of biology and found two areas of biology that interested me the most: microbiology and cell biology and during my final two years I have, through my module options and project choices, tailored my degree towards these two interests. In my third year of study, I undertook a project studying soil-dwelling bacteria and their ability to produce antibiotic compounds, while
Stem cells are of particular interest to me because there are many potential uses for them and many things that can be learned from their study, for example researching the functions of their pathways may lead to improvement in our abilities to treat diseases for example during my second year of study I had to do a group project creating a video for the general public about a new development in biology, my group chose the use of embryonic stem cells to treat the common eye disease age-related macular degeneration. As well as this I learn during my third year of study that the understanding of signalling pathways that are used by stem cells may provide new ways to treat cancers as many of these signalling pathways are mutated in cancers. As well as this another key factor influencing my interest in stem cells is their potential for the use in regenerative medicine, this is because last year my uncle had a spinal injury leaving him paralysed from the waist down and the idea that I could study stem cells and contribute to the understanding of how signalling and trafficking contributes to their ability to self-renew and differentiate might eventually help people like my uncle is something that excites