Writing Assignment #1 – Personal Statement
Alanna Morris
Rinehart-Kim
Genetics
19 January, 2024
Personal Statement
From a very young age, I knew I wanted to pursue the medical field. As a child, I thought about becoming a nurse, dentist, transplant surgeon, pediatric oncologist, psychiatrist, neurosurgeon, or emergency physician. However, I knew by middle school that I wanted to an Obstetrician/Gynecologist. Growing up I watched my mother go through four pregnancies, one of them being a twin surrogacy. My mother would take me to her appointments and I remember being so fascinated by pregnancy and watching the sonogram. By the age of nine I witnessed my mother give birth to my brother Brayden, then three years later I watched my mother give birth to my brother Cooper. During middle school I witnessed my brother Cooper go through Retinoblastoma, cancer of the Retina, so the hospital became like a second home to my family. Witnessing my brother go through cancer traumatized me into never wanting to go into the medical field. It wasn’t until my senior of high school when I decided to take a leap of faith because I couldn’t imagine myself going into another career. I wanted to help people like the doctors helped my brother.
Currently, I am a sophomore at Old Dominion University studying Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Psychology. My current pathway involves me volunteering, training, gaining medical experience and keeping up with my classes. As of now, I am training to become a certified Doula and volunteer at a birthing center. I also hold the position as Vice President of Travel for the ODU Global Brigades Club. Global Brigades is a non-profit organization where volunteers travel to under resourced countries to work alongside medical professionals and provide care for patients. Traveling to these countries allow me to interact with patients, expose me to the medical field and gives me opportunities to perform medical procedures I’d never be able to perform in the U.S. without a medical license. I also have intentions to earn my EMT certification and work as an EMT to gain more medical experience and patient interaction. I’m also looking into volunteering for American Red Cross. As of now, I’m also preparing myself for the MCAT exam so I can score high and enroll into a good M.D. program. After graduation, I plan on taking a year to volunteer, work as an EMT and Doula, and take my MCAT. My hopes are to attend the Virginia Commonwealth University school of Medicine to earn my M.D. I have intentions on making Obstetrics and Gynecology my specialty, given how passionate I am about that field and the experience I’ll already have going into it. Women’s health is something that matters to me deeply, therefore I want a career where I’m helping women through pregnancy, birth control, breast exams, pap smears, etc.
Overall, I have a very clear vision on what I’d like to pursue. My experience watching my mother go through several pregnancies and witnessing my brother go through cancer definitely influenced my career interests, but I have always felt a sense of duty to help people. I know that the medical field can be a depressing and traumatic career, however it can be rewarding and interesting. My hopes for the future is that I am able to help women through pregnancy and childbirth, but also young adults with birth control and reproductive health. My hopes are that I learn from my experiences and patients. While working as an OBYGN, I hope to eventually settle down with another doctor and start a family. This is a career I know I will not only enjoy but excel at because of my passion, grit and determination
Writing Assignment #2
Alanna Morris
Rinehart-Kim
Genetics
26 January 2024
Article Types
According to the Cornell University Library, a primary research article can be identified as an original scientific report consisting of new research discoveries. They are known for having different types of sections such as, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussions and References. Primary research articles are expected to be peer-reviewed by one or more experts experienced in the field before publication. Primary articles are very different review articles. Review articles are not peer reviewed, given how they are responsible for summarizing the research.
A review article, also known as a secondary source, is the summary and review of someone’s original research that’s already peer reviewed by experts. These can be in the form of books or review articles. The use of review articles prove to be beneficial given how the research summaries are easier to read. Review articles also include references for primary articles.
The scientific peer review process starts when the researcher has submitted their article to be reviewed by expert scholars familiar with the same field. They are responsible for making sure that the article is scientific and accurate. During the process they check to make sure that the methodology is described thoroughly. Another researcher is responsible for replicating the study. Experts also look for calculation errors along with statistical analysis errors. In order for a primary article to be published, the conclusions must be supported by the findings of the researcher.
The review article would be the “Rapid and Sensitive Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats”. This is the review article because of the list of references and citations at the end. The primary article would be the “Development of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated technology for potential clinical applications”. This is the primary article because according to the footnotes, the peer-review started November 3, 2021 and it was stated that there was no conflict of interest.
Writing Assignment #3 – Citation
Alanna Morris
Professor Rinehart-Kim
Genetics
2 February 2024
Writing Assignment #3 – Citation
Tropf, Felix C., et al. “Human fertility, molecular genetics, and natural selection in modern societies.” PLOS ONE, vol. 10, no. 6, 3 June 2015, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126821.
Writing Assignment #4 – Primary Genetics Article Review
Alanna Morris
Professor Rinehart-Kim
Genetics
23 February 2024
Defining Alcohol-Related Phenotypes in Humans
The collaborative study focuses on the genetic risk factors for the disease of alcoholism that run-in families. The conduction of this study consisted of over one thousand alcoholics along with their families. Researchers found that alcoholism is genetically determined through the presence of alcohol dependence, level of response to alcohol, presence of coexisting depression and the maximum number of drinks consumed on occasions, through psychological, physiological, electrophysiological, and genetic analysis. To determine genetic linkage regarding alcohol, researchers used statistical tests to search for relationships between the pattern of inheritance of the DNA marker and the traits in the study families. Researchers determined that if a relationship existed between certain genetic markers and a given phenotype, then it proves genetic linkage. COGA had investigated several different phenotypes such as the alcohol dependence phenotype, low-level of response phenotype, alcoholism or depression phenotype, unaffected phenotype, maximum number of drinks phenotype, and electrophysiological phenotype. The alcohol dependence phenotype showed that the underlying trait had proved genetic linkage. The low response phenotype level showed that people at high risk of developing alcoholism tend to consume more alcohol to feel the effects whereas others don’t have to. The alcoholism/depression phenotype showed that major depressive disorders share common genetic factors with alcoholism. Then comes the unaffected phenotype where people did not develop alcohol related problems, despite living among alcoholic family members. Supposedly, some people carry genetic factors and this phenotype to protect them against the development of alcoholism. An example of the maximum number of drinks phenotype showed that people who reported drinking nine or more drinks withing a twenty-four-hour period were diagnosed with alcohol dependence. Lastly, the electrophysiological phenotype shows that electrophysiological activity may determine the development of alcoholism. For example, someone who is not an alcoholic is at an increased risk of developing alcoholism if their family member suffers from it. In conclusion, phenotypes and chromosomal regions contribute to the development of alcoholism.
Bierut, Laura Jean, et al. “Defining Alcohol-Related Phenotypes in Humans. the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism.” Alcohol Research & Health : The Journal of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2002, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6683836/.