The following personal statement is written by an applicant who got accepted to top Ph.D. programs in biochemistry. Variations of this personal statement got accepted at University of Utah and Johns Hopkins. Read this essay to understand what a top personal statement in biochemistry should look like.

Sample Personal Statement Biochemistry

The day I dared to tell my parents, with a transcript in my hands with excellent grades in humanities, that I had decided to study Biology rather than Philosophy… the day I dared to ask my supervisor to change my research focus to fish virology, which had a high risk of failure… the day I dared to stand in front of an audience attending an international zoology congress, barely prepared to present my very first paper … are the moments that made me realize my daring nature and my passion for my domain.

Research captivated me from the beginning of my undergraduate thesis. My newfound fascination blossomed under the aegis of my Biochemistry Professor. My professor was a research enthusiast and an inspirational teacher. He combined knowledge with research in a truly intriguing way that traditional teachers simply could not equal. Therefore, despite growing up in a culture where doctors and engineers are the only scientific community accorded social preeminence, I embraced research as my vocation.

Becoming a dedicated researcher was tough, especially in Canada, where few institutes are committed to producing meaningful research work in Biosciences. Nonetheless, I have persevered, always striving for perfection and never allowing limited resources to hinder my progress. Indeed, the hurdles I have faced have only deepened my passion for research.

In research, more than in any other field, it is often the tortoise who wins the race. Consistency and hard work outstrip ingenuity. Excellence is acquired through unwavering passion rather than God-giftedness. Research demands consistency more than anything. Here, we learn why things sometimes operate differently than we want. Every day, we regather our energies, return to our work, and patiently proceed toward perfection.

Graduate school is the next logical step in a career dedicated to scientific research. For me, research in Biosciences is about responsibility, individuality, and the discovery of new branches of innovation. My experience in a non-traditional research environment will add immense value to the well-structured research-oriented set-up of graduate school.

In the summer of 2021, hoping to experience firsthand the application of the research tools in biochemistry, I began working with stressors that affect the immune system of foals. I was fascinated by the sensitive nature of this system and by the delicate balance in which disturbances cause autoimmune, allergic, and inflammatory responses. I recorded the numerical data and published my research in the Journal of Veterinary Science.

The diversity of nature unfolded further when as a principal investigator, I started working on interferon regulatory proteins in Cyprinus carpio. My research uncovered evidence that the fish body, even under healthy conditions, produced these proteins to counteract the viral attack. Ranging from IRF1 to IRF8, I isolated all transcriptional factors of IFNs proteins expression. I extended my project to gene sequencing by applying BLAST and arranging partial sequences. My work was later authenticated by RCMB (Research Centre in Molecular Biology), and a corresponding research paper was published in the Annual Review of Biochemistry. My future strategy would be to develop IFN vaccines because these vaccines, if successful, will enhance the overall immune system.

Soon afterward, I joined a project on the characterization of an inflammatory cytokine, TNF. I was responsible for training three undergraduate students in molecular biology techniques. Considering my deep curiosity in this domain, my supervisor made me part of two senior Ph.D. student teams. We worked on the characterization of MHC class II (Major Histocompatibility Complex) in Labeo rohita and Cyprinus carpio. Upon contact with foreign prions, toxins, poisons, viruses, and bacteria, these antigenic molecules are expressed naturally by dendritic phagocytes, B cells, and T cells.

While gathering data about Egyptian mummies and reading about curse diseases, I initially dismissed it as a perverse form of fictional beauty. Microorganisms have been close partners of human beings for centuries. However, while reading the paper “Pharaohs and Mummies: Diseases of Ancient Egypt and Modern Approaches,” I appreciated Mycobacterium’s enduring nature and concluded that these particles have been co-evolving with humans.

My childhood fascinations ceased to exist within the boundaries of strategies viruses employ during the “encephalitic” and “paralytic” phases of rabies. Instead, my curiosity embraced the swaths of molecular details of simple queries to complex inter-connected abstractions. How viruses use tricks to escape our defense system, and how HIV rapid mutation potential benefitted the viruses, but most mutations are deleterious to human beings.

All these have become new avenues of research for me. Working in Dr. Wayne Potts and Dr. Saveez Saffarian’s labs is particularly interesting in this scenario.

I look at microbes from a different perspective: they have enormous potential, and if something has potential, there is always a way to turn it to use. Therefore, we must search for a meaningful channel into which it can be diverted. Now, we are standing at a very primitive stage and must proceed with immense care.

After earning my Ph.D., I see myself working as a research scientist cum teacher of Virology and Biochemistry. I want to pass on to future generations of scientists the passion for research with which my teachers inspired me. My faith in mixing teaching and research work has strengthened as a lecturer.

If I were asked to give a single reason to pursue a graduate degree, my answer would be love. I love my subject and can achieve something marvelous in this discipline to help make the world a better place.