Personal Statement

Research area of interest

By: Angélica M. González Sánchez.

“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically

and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.” (Marcus Aurelius)

Following this idea of the great Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius, I will

be able to explain the origins of my interest on research and to which area it has inclined. Since I

was little, I have always been amazed by nature. Every time I went outside to my backyard I

spent hours watching the plants and the insects. As I observed, I started to become curious about

why things in nature functioned as they did, and so I started asking my parents and grandparents

about the World. They certainly made my curiosity grow even bigger by answering my

questions, but their most significant contribution for my developing inquisitiveness was that they

taught me to read and to appreciate the power of books as the mean to enrich myself with

knowledge. Likewise, that’s why when I got to school my interest directed towards Science

classes, since they functioned to answer many of the questions I had and also increased my

curiosity on new topics. However, my interest in Science has always been very broad. I have

liked every topic on my Science classes, from cellular biology to geology. It wasn’t until I got to

the university that I’ve been able to define a little bit more on what area of Science it is that I

would like to specialize myself.

I entered the University of Puerto Rico atCayey through the Chemistry Department

because Chemistry was the class that I liked the most in high school. During my senior year in

high school, a friend told me about the RISE program which enhances research interest in

students and helps them to pursue a Ph.D. At that time, I didn’t even know what a Ph.D. was, but

my participation in Science Fairs had awakened in me a passion for research, reason why I

decided to enter the program. In RISE I got the opportunity to present a research proposal on a

topic I would like to research about. I decided to focus it on the topic of analyzing the

bacteriological contamination of a community water system. The presentation of this proposal

was the event that marked the start of my real passion for research and when I finally realized

that research was made for me. All the organization, responsibility, perseverance, quick learning

skills and public speaking abilities that I possess came to test and they outstood. Above all, the

satisfaction I felt after all the hard work was indescribable.

Moreover, during this semester’s scientific literature course that RISE offered we got the

opportunity to write a review paper on a topic of our choice. One day I was reading some articles

about treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, trying to understand more about this

conditionbecause my dad suffers from it. Casually, I got acknowledge of curcumin, a natural

compound that has been found to have immune-modulatory activity upon the deregulation of

several molecules related to inflammation on the mentioned disease. I continued to read more

and committed lots of hours on learning about this topic until I finally made my review paper

about it. Then, I realized that this topic had a lot to do with Biochemistry because it analyzed the

effect of a chemical compound on a biological system, as well as the chemical processes that

naturally accompany the functioning of the system. Thanks tothis paper it was that I defined my

interest on Science as directed towards Biochemistry, and now it is between the areas on which I

will probably be pursuing a Ph.D.,along with Chemistry and Pharmacology.

Ever since I got a much clearer view on which areas of Science I am more interested, I

have been researching on recent and relevant topics of research that are related to

Biochemistry.Casually I was talking to a friend about my interest on Biochemistry and he told

me about the Endocrine Society and how it focuses on studying the biochemical processes on

endocrine systems. He told me about some of the topics that the society studies such as obesity,

diabetes and breast cancer. Because of the great importance that all of these topics have on our

society, they all resulted very interesting for me, reason why I decided to investigate a little bit

more about them by reading articles. Also, I have personal experiences with endocrinology

because of a thyroid condition. Therefore,my visits to several specialists have made me realize

that it is an amazing field that affects lots of significant areas of the human life and involves very

fascinating processes.

On the other hand, I’ve also read several papers and went to various seminars offered by

the RISE program which have mostly focused on topics related to cancer. Consequently, I have

gotten to know about the great need that there is for more knowledge about cancer so that it

would be easier to make an early diagnosis and to develop more effective treatments.Likewise,I

have personally been closely related to cancer because of friends and family members who have

suffered this condition. That’s why during my life I have gotten very interested on this topic and

on doing something about it. In fact, last year, a bunch of friends and me made a group to raise

money for the American Cancer Society and to participate on the Relay for Life of our town. We

raised about three thousand dollars and also shared a lot of experiences with cancer patients. It

was a very meaningful experience both to appreciate more my life and to increase my desire of

doing good acts for others because of the satisfaction that they cause. For all these, I am aware of

the transcendence and impact of cancer in people’s life and how all of us could be susceptible to

this condition. That’s why right now I would like to research about topics related to cancer. I

consider this to be my research area of interest because it is a relevant field for investigations that

has to do with biochemical processes and also affects people’s life directly. That’s why I would

be much honored to be part of a research related to Biochemistry, especially on cancer. Above

all, as I stated in the beginning with the quote from Marcus Aurelius, my main interest is to

investigate about the things that I observe and consider important in life. For me, Biochemistry is

one of those things.