Academically, my main interest has always been Human Biology.

This probably
stems from the fact that ever since my early years, I've been extremely
fascinated by the structure and functions of the human body. I've always found it
remarkable how everything works together to form a complex machine that
brings about life. However, I realised that this machine doesn't work as efficiently
for everyone. Due to my father suffering from diabetes and Parkinson's disease,
he has to take various types of medication and a trip to the doctors has always
been a regular occurrence. Over the years, I've become increasingly aware of the
importance of the role of doctors in providing help and support and the role of
medicine in improving health. I have also witnessed first-hand, the positive
impact that these can have on patients and their families. For this reason, it has
become apparent to me how gratifying it would be to contribute to the world of
medicine and have such great effects on people's lives on a daily basis. Because
of my fascination with Human Biology and my determination to in some way be
involved in the medical industry, I believe Biomedical Sciences is the perfect
course for me.

I have many close family members in the healthcare profession who have been
generous enough to share some of their medical knowledge with me and give me
advice. One of which is my uncle who is a surgeon in Bangladesh, who I regularly
speak to on the phone. One recent medical breakthrough he told me about that I
found intriguing was the first transplant of a heart from a dead body, which I did
some further research on. They were able to preserve these hearts using a
machine called OCS-heart and preservation fluid. All organ transplants are only
possible with the use of immunosuppressive drugs, preventing your body from
rejecting an organ. I find it amazing how development of these kinds of drugs
has saved so many lives and prevented the suffering of so many people. Reading
about such discoveries is a good reminder of how rapidly the field of Biomedical
Science is evolving and that it has a great future ahead, which further fuels my
desire to study it.

For my A-levels, I chose Biology and this has given me an in depth understanding
of various biological processes that take place inside organisms and has provided
me with a foundation of knowledge of Human Biology, which I would like to build
on. I have also chosen Chemistry, which has improved my laboratory skills and
given me awareness of the science behind why certain chemical reactions take
place in the human body. The other subjects I've chosen are Maths and Physics,
and studying these has greatly developed my logical skills and problem solving
ability. Maths also enhanced my data handling, which I believe are essential for
research involving analysis of any type of experimental data.

During the summer, I gained work experience by spending two weeks at the
analytical laboratories in the Institute of Food Research. During my time there, I

spoke to many research scientists in the field of both Biology and Chemistry and
helped carry out their experiments. This taught me how to correctly utilise many
analytical techniques for research concerned with how substances affect the
human body. This included: Western blotting, electrophoresis and RT-PCR. I also
volunteered at a care home for a few days. Here, I interacted with many elderly
people suffering from memory loss diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's,
who take a lot of medication. Although this helps, it's clear that further
development would be very beneficial and this has given me an example of how
Biomedical Science can be applied to everyday life.

Although Biomedical Science is a very complex subject, I am a very selfmotivated person and I believe my underlying passion will allow me to be
successful in this field.