Dear Future Lex,

As an Old Dominion University psychology major, I am pursuing a minor in biology to help me understand the basics of how cells operate and function in the body to build on that knowledge to learn cell processes that go on in the brain. With taking this minor, I believe it will set me apart or help me in the application process for getting into a competitive graduate school for neuropsychology; as out-of-state institutions have requirements for undergraduates to have taken courses that are related to the program of interest.

With having psychology as a background in biology, I recognize that behavior and psychological diseases can be related to biological and even environmental aspects. With knowing the foundation of cell operation, I will be able to understand bases for how genetics are transferred and brought about in the stages of development in others. This will help me understand the underlying circumstances that cause abnormalities in others. From my curiosity about the ‘unknown’ in why people do things has influenced me to learn more about the functions and processes that occur within the brain. The brain is the most important muscle in the body because of its complexity. I say this because without the brain the body is just a vessel. From this course, I hope to learn about the signaling and processes cells go through to communicate with each other for nerve reactions. I also want to learn how medicine can react or counteract to bacteria in the body. From prior knowledge, I know viruses are even more complex because of their ability to grow new strands and become more difficult to cure.

From this curriculum, I am excited to learn how genetics are regulated so that I could clearly understand how children inherited psychological diseases as well as other biological diseases from their parent’s genetic makeup. For research purposes, I hope to find information on how cell regulation and expression of genetics occurs in children. When formatting my paper, I plan to discuss the order in which genes are given by both parents which can affect the offspring. The research paper will also present methods for testing potential gene expression in infancy.