Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry Personal Statement Example

How drugs are synthesised, what area they know to attack and how scientists know what materials to precisely use are questions that fascinate me. Professor Don Craig from Imperial University described Chemistry as the "central science" at a taster day.

I did not realise how significant chemistry is until that very moment, medicinal chemistry in particular. Doctor Ken Yeong demonstrated to his audience, in his Tedtalk, the re-purposing of drugs for multiple uses. A drug that can be used for something that ostensibly has no parallels can subvert the researcher's expectations and be extremely useful.

The beauty of science is discovery. All knowledge you earn opens wide a new door that can apply to other researchers' investigations. How I can use these doors to help maintain diseases inflicting our world is what I want to find out at university.

My passion for chemistry stems from the omnipresence of carbon, in carbon-containing compounds. This vital element has produced many wondrous drugs such as aspirin, and I know medicinal chemistry will engage me with further knowledge into the arts of organic chemistry. Moreover, studying English literature has enforced my key problem-solving skills.

A key skill in being any sort of scientist is evaluating and analyzing other researchers' discoveries, dissecting their investigation to apply to your own studies. English literature enforces these processes which have greatly developed my analytical skills. My third A-Level, Biology, introduced me to the great relevance of proteins for enzymes, transport, and other biological molecules throughout our bodies.

Attending bioscience and life science taster courses at Bristol University, Kings College, and UCL I enjoyed learning about the interdependence of human body systems within physiology. Furthermore, a chemistry taster course at Imperial College University went in-depth with the parts of A-level I'm most engaged with, organic and physical chemistry and biological molecules. The taster course included a lecture on the chemistry of cell membranes and protein channels, then a laboratory practical on the synthesis of luminol.

I very much enjoyed the process of synthesis and the beauty of the result; seeing the glow in the dark substance that my partner and I produced pushed me to research further into chemical synthesis. The great relevance of medicinal chemistry came alive for me attending The Royal Society of Chemistry National Periodic Table Careers Event.

I spoke to chemists who are suppressing the symptoms of anti-cancer drugs cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin using enantiomers and investigating whether catalysts could be drugs of the future. I engaged with pharmaceutical chemists from AstraZeneca using portable spectroscopy to keep patients safe from counterfeit medicines.

And In my 2-week summer school with In2science at Imperial College White City Campus, I shadowed a Ph.D. student working with chemical instruments such as the spectrometer to determine the mass of compounds to then be used inside his Organ-in-a-chip.

Right now, in science, many experiments are carried out on animals. Practices such as Organ-in-a-chip eradicate using animals and will give us human-specific data because human cells are being used. I need to play a part in science that really makes a difference in people's lives and our world.

My hope for the future is to go into toxicology and study the adverse effects of chemical, physical or biological agents such as drugs. I believe it is imperative to acknowledge that being a chemist, particularly a medicinal chemist, you are using your knowledge to help people.

Therefore, a sense of community is important. Volunteering at Dalston Library for 2 weeks taught me this importance, through my interactions with all kinds of people. As a chemistry student I will be eager to learn and help others to learn.