Application Letter and Job Ad

Ok so here's my application letter. Just rip into it if you have to. And anyone who's familiar with Blogger, help me out with the format, yeah? Its driving me crazy!


Application Letter: 

32 Verde Crescent  

Singapore 688387

February 7, 2012

Professor Jackie Yi-Ru Ying
Executive Director
Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
31 Biopolis Way
The Nanos, #04-01
Singapore 138669

 Dear Professor Jackie:

I have noted with interest your research job opening in the Biodevices and Diagnostics division. I believe that with my experience in doing cancer biology laboratory work and my work in drug resistance would make me the ideal candidate for the position of Lab Officer (Cancer Biology) in the Biodevices and Diagnostics division of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN)

My degree in Bioengineering would make me an excellent fit for the position as I will be able to provide both an engineering perspective as well as conventional biological lab research work. Furthermore, I am familiar with many of the common labratory diagnostic procedures such as Reverse Transcriptase RT-PCR, Immunohistochemistry, Hematoxylin and Eosin staining and general cell culture protocol. My experience with research also includes the field of fluidics and pressurised systems. I participated in a Undergraduate Research Opportunities Project (UROP) based on pressurised bio mimetic fluidics for the period of a year.

My Final Year Project (FYP) was also based on the culturing of osteosarcoma cancer cell lines in a bioreactor. Finally, my FYP involved the testing of anti-cancer drugs on cancer cells grown in the bioreactor. These projects have given me a good grounding in microbiology and cancer biology. These would be aligned with IBN's current Cancer Diagnosis and Cancer marker capture work.

These experiences and skills would, I believe, make me a suitable candidate for this position.I feel that my qualities of diligence and meticulousness with regards to my assigned work (as evinced by my references), would also be a great asset to IBN's Biodevices and Diagnostics division.

Enclosed is a resume outlining my qualifications and references. I look forward to meeting you in order to further discuss the position and my qualifications. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours Sincerely,

Govin Dass Naidu

Job Ad:

http://www.ibn.a-star.edu.sg/careers_at_IBN_0.php?expandable=5&postype=research&grptype=Biodevices%20and%20Diagnostics#Lab Officer/Senior Lab Officer (Cancer Biology) :Biodevices and Diagnostics

If you have a passion for innovation and the desire to be at the forefront of scientific research, send or email your curriculum vitae to the following address. Please include a cover letter and three references.

Professor Jackie Yi-Ru Ying
Executive Director
Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
31 Biopolis Way
The Nanos, #04-01
Singapore 138669


Please send your CV to recruit@ibn.a-star.edu.sg

Research Positions

• Biodevices and Diagnostics
  • Lab Officer/Senior Lab Officer (Cancer Biology)
  • Lab Officer/Senior Lab Officer (Protein Capture Agents)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Scientist (Bioinformatics)
     
• Cell and Tissue Engineering
  • Lab Officer/Senior Lab Officer (Biomaterials)
     
• Pharmaceuticals Synthesis and Green Chemistry
  • Lab Officer/Senior Lab Officer (Organic Chemist)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Scientist (Organic/Catalytic Chemistry)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Scientist (Protein Capture Agents)
     

Biodevices and Diagnostics

Lab Officer/Senior Lab Officer (Cancer Biology)

Reference No. IBN030112/R/CB/MH


Responsibilities

• Our research focuses on systems medicine from multiple perspectives, including biological (genetic, molecular, microbiologic and metabolic), clinical and engineering views. The laboratory environment is focused on translational research and accompanying development of practical tools and technologies with immediate clinical and industrial benefit.
• The primary job scope for this position will focus on evaluating drug resistance in both in vitro and in vivo cancer and bacterial infection models.

Requirements

• Highly motivated candidates with at least an Honors or equivalent degree in Biology/ Engineering Chemistry or related field.
• Practical experience in laboratory animal work, bacterial and viral microbiology would be an advantage.

back to top

Interpersonal Conflicts

       Conflict. Its inevitable in the realm of interpersonal relationships. After all, the only thing everyone can agree upon is that when there is an opinion, someone will disagree with it. Human nature, or specifically the core individualism within us, often gives us different perspectives on the same issue. There's nothing wrong with this, of course. The various views, when considered on the merit of their substantiations help provide a plethora of perspectives on an issue and therefore help in decision making processes. This is especially useful in organisations which require decisions to be made as problems which had not been hitherto considered, might be brought to attention. The main problem with interpersonal conflict however, is the human habit of weaving emotion into perspective. This often degrades the ability of people to see the merits of the argument of others.

I served my two years of national service in the army. And as many of the readers who served similarly will attest, the army is a hotbed of interpersonal conflict. I served as a sergeant and in that capacity was often invited to sit in at meetings, so as to act as a proxy for my men. In this particular case, a person of higher rank than me made a suggestion regarding a routine operating procedure. The senior management (officers and their ilk) were suitably impressed with the suggestion. It saved on manpower, money and other resources which the procedure required. They began, in their enthusiasm, to press for this modification to be submitted to the headquarters(HQ). In the army, you see, one had to obtain approval to change procedure. The HQ was required to approve the change and and then allow it to to be included in the Standard Operating Procedure. But my fellow sergeants and I saw a problem with the proposal immediately, a problem that could compromise the safety of our men. We spoke up suggesting that perhaps the matter should be examined fully in order to assess the risk to the men using it. Instead of engaging in discussion as to how this might be the case, we were told that we were trying to be lazy and didn't want to teach the procedure to our men. We explained our stance but were instead told that our objections were far too vociferous and that they bordered on insubordination. I was silently fuming that day when I went home.

A week later, HQ identified the problems to safety regarding the new procedure and in no uncertain terms, told my unit to revert to the original, safer procedure. The sergeants were vindicated but it came at a price of the senior men thinking that we "were out to get them". The working relationship rapidly soured.

In my opinion the problem could have solved simply by considering the viewpoints. After all, workplace seniority does not mean that they had examined all possible consequences before proposing a solution. While I was glad that none of my men was injured by implementing the flawed procedure, it also meant that it would be harder to get things approved by senior personnel in the unit. The consequences of interpersonal conflict would then rely on the objectivity of both parties in assessing each other's views.

The Importance of Effective Communication

One cannot overemphasize the importance of effective communication, however clichéd it might sound. Human beings are, after all, social creatures and we cannot discount the sheer magnitude of interactions we have with family, friends and even strangers. Furthermore,  we come to realise that these interactions throughout the course of our lives go on to define or even dictate the rest of our lives.

I had never considered this in my youth, of course. What need did one have for communication in primary school? We answered teacher's questions, we answered parents' questions and communicated with each other via a weird "single-word question," type language. For an instance, "Let's go get some food from the canteen. " was transliterated into "Food?" and so on. My parents still joke that they feared throughout my primary school years that my speech would deteriorate into a series of primitive grunts and clicks. But in those days, we didn't have a need for sentence construction let alone the elimination of ambiguity in what we meant. Me and my friends were on what is colloquially termed "the same frequency".

My transit to secondary school however, changed all that rapidly. My school emphasized the importance of effective communication and prized oratorical skills as well as the ability to interact with our peers and teachers in a clear, concise and unambiguous fashion. I had difficulty adapting of course, coming from my days of barely comprehensible language. But the school forced us via presentations, formal events and other meet and greet sessions. We were expected to hold our own in conversations among not only ourselves but with adults regarding any topic. It is said that on the steepest learning curve, one acquires the most knowledge (voluntarily or not) and at this stage of my life the adage held true. More than that though, was the development of confidence in oneself.

As I moved through the various stages of academia I began to comprehend the advantages of possessing effective communication. Those among my peers who were able to confidently converse with others or present content in front of large crowds began to stand out. Furthermore the confidence we had gained allowed us to converse with people from any sort of background and comprehend exactly what their motivations were. We made friends easily, mingled in crowds easily and were able to interact with people in a satisfactory fashion. CCA's and other social interaction based activities were made easier on account of the skill we gain. Networking and other skill sets we acquired allowed us to participate in things we would have never dreamed of considering.

I have seen first-hand the importance of effective communication and world of opportunities it opened up was nothing to scoff at. It is for this reason alone, more than any form of academic instruction that I am forever grateful to my secondary school. The motto for Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) [ACS(I)] was "The Best is yet to Be." I hope sincerely that this will hold true in terms of my skill and knowledge regarding effective communication.