{"id":1004,"date":"2021-02-24T12:39:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T12:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/?p=1004"},"modified":"2021-02-24T12:39:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T12:39:17","slug":"q","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/q\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea can be an excellent choice for medical professionals who are passionate about basic molecular research- says Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staff Reporter<\/strong>
\nA passionate public health researcher currently working at the Environmental Genomics Lab, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University and exploring ecological and human health problems by analyzing environmental DNA (eDNA) by genomics approaches such as RNA-Seq and DNA metabarcoding of bacterial 16S rRNA, fungal and plant ITS, vertebrate 12 rRNA or COI genes, invertebrate 16S rRNA gene, and other DNA markers. Always ready to extend collaboration with One Health team from home and abroad.
\nPlease don\u2019t pursue PhD just for a degree. If you finally decide to start PhD, try to keep yourself updated with what is going on in your field of research because the research field, regardless of the subject is always evolving.
\nInterview Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury:<\/strong>
\nDr. Chowdhury<\/strong> has been conducting research on brain tumor at Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea since 2015 and recently published her work titled \u201cA glioneuronal tumor with CLIP-2 MET fusion\u201d in the Genomic Medicine, a prestigious journal of Nature Publishing Group. Dr. Chowdhury<\/strong> shared her passion, ways to manage supervisor, keep balancing personal as well as research life and so on. Let\u2019s hear more from her-
\nPlease briefly introduce yourself, your PhD topic and your University to our readers.
\nI graduated from Sher e Bangla Medical College, Barisal and initially I was interested in the clinical field. I did an honorary 6 months training in Neurosurgery from Dhaka Medical College that\u2019s when I got interested in postgraduation in the brain tumor field. I completed my MS from Seoul National University, South Korea in Neurosurgery and got involved in basic medical research. Currently I\u2019m working on my PhD majoring in Translational Medicine in the same university. My research area is focused on Neuro-oncology and genomic data analysis.
\nWhat has made you have gone for PhD? In other<\/p>\n

why are you pursuing PhD?
\nTamrin Chowdhury:<\/strong>
\nDuring my masters studies I really enjoyed learning about different techniques of biomedical research and the vast potential of this field. I wanted know more about the field of Neuro-oncology and Neuro-genetics. So I decided to continue my PhD in this area.
\nHow did you choose your i) PhD topic and ii)<\/p>\n

Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury:<\/strong><\/p>\n

i) I was always fascinated by human brain and its complexity and how brain tumors affect the normal brain. So I chose this as my PhD topic.
\nii) I chose SNU as my PhD institute because my experience of doing Master\u2019s here was excellent. I got to learn new techniques and research areas in my field of interest, which is brain & brain tumors. So I was confident that I will get a more extensive experience if I continue my PhD in SNU.<\/p>\n

How will you get PhD? By submitting a thesis or publishing a certain no. of publications (journal articles)?<\/p>\n

Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>Have to publish at least one SCI paper as well as submitting a thesis related to the already published paper.<\/p>\n

Did you deliberately choose your Supervisor? What were your criteria for choosing PhD supervisor?<\/p>\n

Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, I deliberately chose my supervisor. Since my master\u2019s supervisor didn\u2019t have his own laboratory, I did most of my master\u2019s research work under another professor\u2019s lab with my master\u2019s supervisor\u2019s recommendation. That other professor I chose as my PhD supervisor because I had really good experience with him during my masters and learned a lot from him.<\/p>\n

What are the mistakes one should avoid when contacting the University or Professor for PhD studentship?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury<\/strong>:\u00a0Avoid being too generalized. Be specific in your research interests and why you think you can be a good match for the Professor in terms of research interests. Avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes in application. Check multiple times and if possible, validate with another person.<\/p>\n

What are the minimum requirements to get admission as Bachelor, Master or PhD student in Seoul National University?<\/p>\n

Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury:<\/strong>\u00a0Mandatory requirements: IELTS overall 6.0 and GPA 3.0 out of 4.0.<\/p>\n

If anyone wants to do PhD in Seoul National University\/South Korea, what are the steps one has to follow?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>First complete the IELTS. Then either contact a Professor of your field of interest and apply with his\/her recommendation. Or apply directly through university portal during admission time.<\/p>\n

What is your key to maintaining a good relationship with your supervisor?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:<\/strong>\u00a0Regular communication. Update supervisor on current project status weekly and inform him about any difficulties or problems faced during projects. Be punctual and active but also be polite.<\/p>\n

What principle do you follow to maintain a good relationship with your labmates?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>I try to help them whenever it is necessary. I seek helps from the experienced labmates when I do something new. And I try to guide my junior lab mates in their projects too if they require. I cooperate with the general lab works as much as possible.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t doing PhD a stressful job? How do you manage or what do you do to release stress?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>Of course doing a PhD can be sometimes stressful when things don\u2019t go according to plan. But I view my PhD as a journey rather than a job. I read a lot of books. Books are my get away portals from everyday stress. I listen to music sometimes. I also talk to my parents and siblings every day and it helps me a lot to release my stresses.<\/p>\n

How many days in a week you go to the lab? Why?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:<\/strong>\u00a0Usually from Monday to Friday (5days). Sometimes have to go on weekends if any experiment requires.<\/p>\n

PhD is considered as training for a career in Research. What 1. Technical and 2. Soft skills you are focusing to develop or\u00a0already developed by this time?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>I am currently focusing on developing my genomic data analysis skills as my thesis is heavily based on this. I\u2019ve experience in writing manuscripts and I\u2019m familiar with the process too. I want to learn about writing a research grant and developing a research project from the scratch in the future.<\/p>\n

Nowadays many medical professionals are being interested in molecular research. Being a medical graduate, what is your observation about South\u00a0Korea in the field of biomedical research?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>South Korea can be an excellent choice for medical professionals who are passionate about basic molecular research. You can start your post-graduation journey here even without extensive prior experience in research field. The Professors usually appreciate the hard work of students and guide personally to increase the experimental skills of the students. Being from a medical background is considered an advantage here when applying for research fields related to medicine.<\/p>\n

If any medical student wants to come to South Korea, what are the fields available for research (if you could specify some) and what are the\u00a0scholarship opportunities?<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>Most of the medical subjects usually have a research opportunity here but it varies from university to university. From my experience, in SNU medical students can apply for a research based masters or PhD degree in basic subjects like anatomy, pathology, physiology etc. and also in basic research for clinical subjects like general medicine and surgery, cardiovascular medicine, neurosurgery, respiratory medicine, nephrology, neurology etc. When a supervisor is confirmed, after getting admission the scholarship opportunity is usually very high (80-90%). Since there are extensive lab works in the medical research field, apart from the tuition fee scholarship, the supervising professor arranges for a monthly stipend based on the degree type (stipend amount is higher for PhD students).<\/p>\n

Although many medical students want to move to research, they are scared to apply due to not having prior research experience. Is it a prerequisite to\u00a0have prior research experience for securing Masters or PhD position in\u00a0Korea?<\/p>\n

Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury:<\/strong>\u00a0It is possible to apply for masters here in South Korea without prior research experience. If you can show your eagerness and interests for research in your related field through the application and have a good score in IELTS, it is sometimes enough for securing a position. Personally, when I applied for my Masters, I had zero experience in medical research but I enriched my CV with several online free courses related to neurology and brain function research which showed my interest in starting a career in research.<\/p>\n

What are your suggestions for prospective PhD students?<\/p>\n

Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury<\/strong>:\u00a0Try to understand if research is really the field you are passionate for. Please don\u2019t pursue a PhD just for a degree. Focus on your interested research area. Read a lot of current journal articles regarding your field. Try to keep updated with what is going on in your interested field of research because the research field, regardless of the subject is always evolving.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What is your future plan? Want to go back to Bangladesh?<\/p>\n

Dr. Tamrin Chowdhury:\u00a0<\/strong>In my 10 years future plan I want to establish a solid career as a biomedical researcher first, most probably in a research oriented country. I dream about going back to Bangladesh in the long-term and help developing the biomedical research sector if I can find the opportunity there.<\/p>\n

Thank you very much for your valuable time. Keep making us proud with your research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staff Reporter A passionate public health researcher currently working at the Environmental Genomics Lab, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University and exploring ecological and human health problems by analyzing environmental DNA (eDNA) by genomics approaches such as RNA-Seq and DNA metabarcoding of bacterial 16S rRNA, fungal and plant ITS, vertebrate 12 rRNA or COI genes, invertebrate 16S rRNA gene, and other DNA markers. Always ready to extend collaboration with One Health team from home and abroad. Please don\u2019t pursue PhD just for a degree. If you finally decide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-style"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1006,"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions\/1006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailysylhetersomoy.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}