Letter of Motivation

Dear Professor
I am writing to express my keen interest in applying for the PhD position in genetic adaptations to environmental
and cultural changes in human populations of West Eurasia offered by Tartu University. I am going to receive my
BS-MS degree in Life Sciences from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal; in May
2020. In my masters I did an internship which revolved around bioinformatics, evolution and genomics, and a 1-
year dissertation project where I studying the Selection Pressure Analysis on different genes in different species
according to their clades and how a gene is mitigated throughout the process using Computational Approaches.
Having worked in these fields of bioscience for around one and a half years now, I desire to pursue my PhD
exploring their further facets. I am eager to work on the field of Population genetics, specifically in birds and
mammals. Based on my knowledge and the experience that I have gained working in my institutes, I believe I
would make a good fit for the PhD positions offered by your University.
I started with my research career in May 2018 when I began interning as a summer trainee at Indian Institute of
Science Education and Research, Bhopal; under the aegis of Dr Nagarjun Vijay. I was trained in computational
evolutionary biology techniques in their lab, such as RNS seq. & Ancestral State Reconstruction, out of interest in
exploring the science of evolution I involved myself in a project dealing with a technical re-examination of the
effect of the effects of sexual selection on sex-biased gene expression in Galloanserae. In parallel, I also started a
new foldscope-based project, wherein we identifying the various invertebrates in different climatic conditions
and also observe the species called Tardigrade (water bear). In my final semester dissertation, along with my
project, I am learning about how relax selection work and what are the effect of relax selection in particular
species if there is relaxation of gene for example I am working on many genes one of them is ADO gene that adds
2 oxygen atoms to free cysteamine to form hypotaurine and hypotaurine is converted into taurine. The best food
source of taurine is meat and fish so when I check relax on ADO gene in carnivora (mammals) clade I found relax
on Puma Concolor and the puma consumes only meat that means he consume taurine rich diet. According to his
diet I should be found intensification in ADO gene but I found strong relaxation of ADO gene, so I am searching
why that gene found relax in puma. I have received formal training in computational approaches such as RNA
sequencing data analysis and learnt the Linux and R programming language, which involves bash scripting, basic
statistics, graphics visualisation and software handling.
My experience in lab I am working with, has taught be how to work in collaboration, manage time for research
effectively with course work, overcome failures in experiment and be perseverant. My MS including the research
exposure I received, imparted me with clarity on my academic and research goals, passion to pursue a career in
research; it also trained me to readily accept new responsibilities and work under pressure; Especially, my
master’s project instilled in me, not only the scientific breath of the subject, but also the skill of devising a study,
followed by its improvisation. While writing its thesis I developed my scientific writing skills and communication,
which I further polishing while making a poster of this work, which I presented in Indian Institute of Science
Education and Research Bhopal at the Annual Biology Meet (ABM), on January 2020 in Bhopal.
I want to work at your University because the work diversity it offers aligns with the idea of an educational
environment I conceived while planning for my higher education and the PhD project in your lab aligns to a great
extend with the area, I am interested in. There are some peculiar aspects of your programme which really makes
it stand out, and there reason why I want to get enrolled there- the provision provided to students to work in
collaboration; the opportunity to work with more than one scientist would add greater depth to our studies and
instil in us a sense of independence to plan and execute them.
I hope you would feel that the combination of my academic training, my research work, background and personal
qualities has provided me with the preparation for the demands of a PhD position at your department. Thank
you for your time and consideration. I look forward to discuss this opportunity in greater detail.
Thank You
Yours sincerely
Rahul Kumar

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