PinkUnicron

Here we go! I'm looking to do a PhD in systems and synthetic biology, with a specific interest in quantifying the dynamics of microbial ecosystems and using this information to develop synthetic organisms that can be stably integrated (e.g. gut microbiome, plant root/leaf microbiomes, etc.). My research experience and degree don't directly relate to this research area but I think they do give me skills that could (and have been applied to) answer very challenging questions in systems biology - will admissions committees buy that? Any feedback would be really appreciated. Undergrad Institution: University of CambridgeMajor(s): Instrumentation and Control Engineering, BioengineeringGPA in Major: 78.9/100Overall GPA: 78.5/100Position in Class: Year by year - top 39%, top 6%, top 3% (last year ranked somewhere between 5th and 7th out of 240 students across all engineering disciplines)Type of Student: International maleGRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 170 (96th)V: 170 (99th)W: 5.5 (98th)B: N/AResearch Experience: 2 years (~10 hours/week) in high school - microfluidics and microbiology in two labs. In the first lab, I proposed my own project and executed it, unfortunately did not get very far. In the second lab, I was meant to help a post-doc with one of his projects but ended up doing a lot of it independently. Our work won a poster prize at a provincial conference. No publications. 2 months (~40 hours/week) - Amgen Scholar (Europe). Worked in microfluidics again, in a relatively well-known lab. Won a poster prize at the Amgen symposium, but no publication yet. What's the best way to include a paper if it's in prep or submitted? 1 year and counting (~10 hours/week) - Currently working on glioblastoma mechanobiology. I was running some experiments for a postdoc for the past year but have expanded this into my senior thesis, where I will use my microfluidics knowledge to address some of the problems with one of the assays we were using. I'm working completely independently now and spending ~20 hours/week. Again, a possibility of a publication being submitted before applications are due, and I would likely be second or third author. Hopefully expecting a first-author publication at the end of senior year. 2 months (~40 hours/week) - Bioinformatics internship at Illumina. Developed an algorithm that is currently seeing further use.Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Full scholarship (4 years tuition + stipend) upon entry to university Top-ranking student in Instrumentation and Control last year (i.e. bachelor's diploma) Top-ranking engineering student inside my college at Cambridge for 2 yearsPertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked as project manager for the synthetic biology society. Cambridge doesn't do iGEM anymore, so students run our own organized research projects throughout the year that are similar. I planned a project and taught some students lab and computational skills while leading them through it. Undergraduates don't get to TA officially so I also ran my own computational biology workshop for around 40 students. I'm now president of the society and focus on more high-level things like sponsorship and retaining membership. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Got a silver medal in the International Biology Olympiad in high school... Does this still count for anything? If only to show that I still do know a bit of biology even though my degree isn't focused on that. Got a couple thousand dollars worth of funding on the startup circuit pitching a biotech idea, but this fell through eventually. Special Bonus Points: One of my recommenders is pretty famous in synthetic biology, another is fairly well-known in quantitative biology/biophysics.Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Is it worth mentioning differences (perceived by me?) in academic/research culture between the UK and the US, or is this understood by application committees? Is it true that participating in research in your undergrad, even through the school year, is something more normal in the States? When I wanted to do that last year reactions from my faculty advisors and peers ranged from surprised to worried for my grades, and I was the only undergrad in my department who was working on a research project without it counting for course credit. Maybe it's just sampling bias based on the type of people who are on this forum and the people I'm in contact with in North America. Applying to Where: Harvard - Systems Biology UCSF - iPQB Caltech - Biology - Systems Biology Yale - BQBS - Quantitative Biology Cornell - Biomedical Engineering Columbia - Systems Biology UW Madison - MCB, Biophysics Stony Brook - Biomedical Engineering ETH Zurich - Systems Biology Cambridge - Engineering - Bioengineering/Information Engineering