Monday, July 25, 2011

First Step

Question : Which field do I like most in Life Sciences?

I'm in Biotechnology and this field branches into many other fields. Do I like to work with humans, animals, plants, microorganisms, or extinct lives? Or perhaps non-living objects such as food, technology and the environment? Do I like a micro-analysis like genetics, biomolecular, biochemistry or do I prefer macro-analysis like ecology, ethology and botany?


I know Life Sciences is very broad but I did not really focus on the 'large scale' part, rather I've been working (during FYP and now as RA) on the molecular and microbiology part. So, maybe I prefer to do lab work with minimum strength used rather than going out under the sun and get some samples and do tests on them.

So, I like to stay in lab and use lab apparatus. This might just mean I like to deal with molecular level, but this haven't answer another question- what do I want to do with this tool/technique?

Do I want to get involved with humans? Create artificial organs, do gene therapy, find a cure for cancer or study human diseases?


Do I want to get involved with the plants? Study their stress responses, diseases defend, increase their yield, or produce genetically modified plants?

Or maybe I want to get involved with the invisible bacteria and viruses? Study their protein trafficking, interaction with each other, or modify them to be useful to human?

Lots of reading to do.

So many questions and such a long process to get to know myself better. What do I like? When I asked myself this question, I thought of the primary reason I chose Biotech years ago- I want to be a genetic engineer. I want to help the environment. With these 2 short answers in mind, perhaps I can take the next step and ask myself, what and how do I want to help the environment?


A good advice from my supervisor, "Like the Science, not the technique."

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Messy Head

It has been almost a month since I last updated.

So, now I'm back in Kampar, starting my project as an RA. I realize all the academic learning I went through in any level in education institutes taught me a lot of theories. Theories are all the same. They are all reading and understanding. You may like a certain subject because it triggers your curiosity but the hands-on practical for this subject may be boring. Thus, these theories did not 'teach' me what I actually like to do. It's like I'm okay with everything but there is no one specific field that I am really into. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm not liking my current project. I'm doing molecular work now and I enjoy it. I just thought, if I was exposed to more fields, then perhaps I would know which field I really like.. or at least which I do not.

There's a lot in my head right now. I got to solve things one at a time. Hopefully with determination comes success.. and hopefully, the success comes quickly.