Statement of purposes

I clearly remember the day as if it was yesterday, when I and my grandfather were making our home-made grape wine at a dark basement, even though this activity is illegal in Iran and there are severe punishments for producing, distribution, and consumption of alcoholic drinks. I was only 10 years old and did not understand the fermentation and distillation processes, but my grandfather explained the basis of these phenomena and I attracted to the usage of alive creatures for producing food products. Several years later, when I visited a diary manufacturer in one of my visits by our high school, I realized that fermentation processes have a vast variety of products that we use every day without understanding their complex mechanisms. This experience sparks my desire to the Biotechnology and the beginning of my dream to become a biotechnologist.

Since I was determined to achieve my dream career, I entered to the Department of Chemical Engineering at *****University of Technology (***), a well-known university in Iran that has outstanding faculty members in the field of Biotechnology, to pursue my career in this field. With basic understanding of the performance of microorganisms from Microbiology, I also found out that for a successful operation of a bioreactor, several other factors in addition to the suitable strain must be included and I spent more time and energy on relevant courses such as Transport Phenomena, Kinetic and Reactor Design, Biochemistry, and Plant Design and Economics, and I achieved a comprehensive understanding of both chemical and biochemical processes. I accomplished different course projects on Biogas plants, Bioethanol plants with the first and second generation raw materials, wastewater treatment plants, and an overview of biopolymers applications. I took my B.Sc. project under supervision of Dr. **** about different morphologies and applications of filamentous fungi and got 20/20 and presented my research outcome in a national conference in Industrial Biotechnology Conference, Iran.

I enrolled to M.Sc. program at *** without entrance exam (I was among top 5% of undergraduate students) and continued my graduate research under tutelage of Dr. *** and newly added faculty member, Dr. ****. At first, I chose effects of culture composition on the yield of ethanol as well as chitin and chitosan content of the cell wall of different Zygomycetes fungi due to my deep interest to Biotechnology. In several preliminary experiments I investigated different factors including carbon to nitrogen ratio, different sources of nitrogen, trace metals, and plant growth hormones. After preliminary experiments, I designed a statistical design for the investigation of effects of IAA and Kinetin concentration and morphologies of M. indicus on chitin, chitosan, and ethanol yields in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

I spent a lot of time in reading relevant articles in ‘Nature’, ‘Advanced Biotechnology’, and ‘Biotechnology Advances’ and started thinking for more innovative project and from journals and magazines studied, I found out that Glucosamine Hydrochloride that is used extensively for alleviation of osteoarthritis causes different allergies for some people that have allergy to marine products. So, I proposed the using of fungal biomass that containing chitin and chitosan in their cell wall skeleton and my supervisors concurred with this proposal and I also continued the first part of my project because they are in the same directions.

I tried different methods for analyzing of glucosamine using colorimetric and HPLC methods and faced to numerous obstacles including lacking special reagents, limited number of HPLC samples for each person, and lacking Rotary Evaporator for different parts of my experiments in colorimetric method of analyzing glucosamine and purification of glucosamine. But, with the help of my supportive supervisors I overcame to these difficulties and developed a HPLC method for measurement of glucosamine and used a novel method for acid evaporation without rotary evaporator. In this way I took the responsibility of analyzing of all the students’ samples via HPLC and served as a Research Assistant for two semesters. I also took the responsibility of Freeze dryer, GC, and Shaker incubators after graduation of the former Ph.D. student. Beside these responsibilities, I also served as Teaching Assistant for Biotechnology and Microbiology Laboratories and this was a special chance for developing my teaching abilities and I also trained three newcomers to the Biotechnology Laboratory after that.

I have sent one of my research papers entitle ‘Production, Purification, and Characterization of Glucosamine from Rhizopus oryzae’ to a high quality international journal (Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering) and I am still preparing another one about effects of different morphologies and plant growth hormones on M. indicus cell wall composition and ethanol production. I also patented the fungal glucosamine in Iranian Patent Office.

My primary research interests is novel methods for Biofuel and Biopolymer preparation using renewable sources, Metabolic manipulation of microorganisms for higher productivity, and Wastewater treatments methods. These interests are in accordance to my previous research and also were done by my colleagues while I was working in biotechnology laboratory, because we sometimes helped each other and I understood their fascinating natures. I plan to explore different factors affecting the yield of biofuel (particularly bioethanol) preparation using lignocellulosic materials by different pretreatment conditions and different substrates. Another interesting research area is the metabolic manipulation of microorganism in order to increase their biofuel and other biochemical production that is extensively done in your department.

I wish to earn a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering, and later, hope to become a faculty member at a prestigious university or a professional researcher within an international corporation. I know that this path will lead me to many obstacles, but I believe that I will be able to overcome them using my determination, hard work, and talents. Your department web site revealed a very strong faculty involved in extensive research in Biotechnology and Wastewater treatment, high quality of study, strong research facilities, and an active and competitive atmosphere for research and study. These have strengthened my resolve to research at Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at University of ****. I hope that my background and qualifications are found suitable for a Ph.D. program in Department of Chemical and environmental Engineering at***, and give me the opportunity to prove my worth and be a credit to your university.