SELF

Self-Evaluation Paper-Why I'm deserve to get A

DongWoo Park, scm96324@unist.ac.kr

 

During the fall semester in 2017, I (Dongwoo Park) have taken BME20201 Genomics class taught by Prof. Jong Bhak. I learned a lot about Genomics from the lecture and materials that the professor provided. Also, I learned a lot about how to think scientifically, and talk properly in English. Furthermore, there were several chances for me to take special lectures from seminar or symposium. In addition to learning, to share what I know about genomics and my own idea, I gave a presentation about CRISPR-Cas9 system. I did homework by myself and now I can explain what I’ve learned in my word. Now, at the end of semester, I’m going to evaluate how I behaved, what I’ve learned, what I’ve achieved, and what I regret in detail and claim that I’m deserve to get A.

I learned a lot about genomics with joy and passion. Prof.Jong Bhak’s genomics class was about genomics but it was quite different from typical Korean teaching style. Jong taught us about scientific thinking as well as genomics. Jong encouraged us to ask questions whenever we are curious, say “I don’t know” whenever we don’t know, think scientifically and deliver it clearly in English. He also said there is no exam, no attendance checking, and no mandatory homework. Jong’s class was very fresh to me who expected Korean teaching style. However, that doesn’t mean Jong’s style discouraged me. Actually, it inspired me to learn about genomics with more interest. Since there was no attendance checking, it makes me feel I’m really eager to learn about genomics when I go to class. With such inspiration, I learned many topics about genomics. First, I learned about the two key-words of genomics which are genomic diversity and variability. Next, I learned about sequencing and aligning, which are two important techniques in studying genome. I also learned about how such techniques can be applied in research by learning about research result of Prof.Jong Bhak such as whale genome, KOREF, horse genome. Third, I learned how human reference genome came out and what its shortcomings are. Also, I learned some challenging topics from the special lectures (seminar or symposium). I attended a seminar by Prof. Steven A. Soper, from the University of Kansas, which was about “Polymer-Based Nanosensors Using Flight-Time Identification of Mononucleotides for Single-Molecule Sequencing”. Though it was hard to understand, I could learn an idea about new sequencing technique. Also, I attended 3rd IBS CGI International symposium. It was impressive to take lectures about “Dissecting in vivo Roles of DNA repair Genes Using Zebrafish VRISPR Mutants” by Prof. Yoonsung Lee. Actually I’m doing part time job in Prof.Lee’s lab and take care of fish those are used in the research. Therefore, it was interesting to see how the fish I raised are used in the research and learn phenotype examples of genome editing. Finally, I registered kmooc online lecturer about bioinformatics to keep studying after the semester.

Also, I participated in class voluntarily. Whenever I was taking genomics lecture, I thought a lot about the topics. I asked questions when something I don’t know is introduced (Such as “What is the white blanks in BLAST result?”). Also, I did my homework by myself. I summarized 30 words about genomics in my wiki page. Now I can explain what PacBio is, what Nanopore is, and which one is longer part between q-arm and p-arm in chromosome. Those all things are what Jong said to figure out. Also, I searched several youtube which are about genomics and wrote their link on my wiki page so that I and other students can easily watch the video whenever they want. By learning and doing homework, I developed my own idea about genome editing and in the late part of semester, I gave presentation about it. I presented about the topic “What is CRISPR/Cas-9 system and how it can be used to cure cancer by modifying telomere sequence”. About the presentation, Jong praised me, saying he will give me A+ since making connection between genome editing (CRISPR system) and cancer cure was great. Also, he chose telomere as that day’s topic because I gave presentation about telomere. Therefore, I think my presentation contributed to class.

Though Jong said he will give me A+ (it could be a joke, though), I don’t think I’m not qualified enough to get A+. Because first, I missed two classes because of misunderstanding about class schedule during midterm exam period. Also, I didn’t bring interesting topic that can make class more exciting and active frequently. Finally, I’m still confusing about some of Jong’s instructions about scientific thinking (I’m not talking about it is wrong. I’m just not familiar with them, yet). I think I should do better so that I don’t have any regret about the class to get A+.

The reason why I took this course is to know what genomics is as a start point to learn about bioinformatics. Jong’s class was good enough to learn a lot about genomics as well as science. I learned hard, participated with joy and developed my own logic as I described above. Therefore, it is enough for me to feel the fall semester was valuable because I achieved my goal of taking the course. As a result, I want to get A based on my effort and evidences which I described.