Prakhar Srivastava is fascinated by biology, life sciences, and the field of biotechnology. He has pursued degrees in biotechnology and genetic engineering to further his understanding of microbiology, molecular biology, and stress response in bacteria. His master's thesis involved characterizing a universal stress protein gene in Lactobacillus reuteri. He now seeks to join the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis to study the molecular mechanisms of polarized growth and cell morphogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans under renowned faculty and expand his knowledge of fungi and microbiology techniques.

1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Prakhar Srivastava
Science has always been a fascination and more of a miracle to me from my childhood especially
biology and mysteries surrounding Life Sciences. The enigma of life has always fascinated me.
The unabated technological advances in the field of science have opened up growth opportunities
in newer dimensions. To shine in the revolutionary workplace of tomorrow, one has to have
perfect combination of theory and practical knowledge. Biotechnology is the field of future that
is beneficial to the individual as well as the society. I want to be an element of innovation in this
field, which is creating a better tomorrow for everyone. To do this, I need to arm myself with
requisite knowledge which a doctorate program can furnish. I envision your university as the
right stepping stone to pursue my dreams and achieve my career goals.
It was learning about the discovery of penicillin that first stimulated my interest in the behavior
and destruction of microbes by the action of drugs; for example antibiotics. Learning about this
giant leap forward in medicine and the way it transformed the treatment of disease inspired me to
pursue the study of Microbiology. I am also fascinated by the compounds that go into medicines;
for example Aspirin which is produced from willow bark. For this reason, I would relish the
opportunity to study Microbiology in greater detail and further my learning and enjoyment that I
have experienced during my professional studies; in areas such as genetics and cell biology.
The World of “Cloned Dollies” and “Gene Silencing” further kindled my passion and turned out
my interest and curiosities into realities. At the adolescent age all I knew was Biotechnology is
not just a tool that benefits an individual but also the entire community and society at large. I
want to be a part of the existing race to create a more scientifically advanced tomorrow and I
envision graduate study as a path towards my advancement in this direction.
An affinity for Life Sciences inspired me to take up Biology (in addition to Physics and
Chemistry) as a major during my High School Education. My propensity to the course propelled
me to perform creditably securing 63.8 % in National Level Board Examination. The ongoing
Biotechnology revolution seeded in my visions of the sensationalism that could be created when
the spheres of engineering and biology combines.

2. As an immediate move to get started this journey I joined Bachelor of Technology in Jaypee
University of Information Technology, Shimla (H.P), a well-known Deemed University in India
for Education in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. My target then being to increase my skills in
the basic sciences and to major in Biotechnology, which would give me a firm grip on one half
of my ultimate objectives. During my period of study here, I performed pretty well in courses
like Microbiology, Molecular and Cell Biology Biochemistry, Immunology, Bioprocess
Engineering, Enzyme Technology and many more.
This provided a firm foundation and took me a step closer towards the field of Microbiology. I
volunteered to take part in seminars in and outside University on different topics of
Microbiology and Molecular Biology where I could bring out my presentation and oratorical
skills in my reports and speech. I remain indebted to my Professors who have fostered in me a
flair and flamboyance for higher education and an achievement of 71%.
In the due course I did my first mini Project “Isolation and Sequencing” of genes (TOL1 and
HAL 4) from Halophile (Staphylococcus arlaettae) during my third year and also a mini project
on Fermented Food where I prepared ginger beer and got good appreciation for my work. In my
third year of study I got an opportunity to work for Microbiology and Fermentation department
unit for “Ethanol Production” in India Glycol Ltd, Gorakhpur (U.P), where I learned about basic
fermentation technique which showed that fermentation was done by zymomonas culture and
molasses in a large fermenters and then process was continued by various distillation units
having different water coolers and then the downstream processing done in packaging and
bottling unit, this internship provided me good practical skills and help a lot in shaping my
technical skills in the field of Microbiology and Biotechnology as a whole. This motivated me to
do my Final year Project on “Cloning and expression of protease from Lactobacillus sp ”. Under
Dr. Saurabh Bansal , JUIT, My project basically dealt in DNA isolation process and Plasmid
isolation step followed by amplification process through PCR, For PCR we got forward and
reverse sequence from wischart bacmap atlas and then performed restriction digestion of PCR
product and Plasmid . This project made me understand the basic facts which are related to
bacterial stress response, and this laid to the foundation of my area of interest which is stress
Biology and Stress Biology in Fermicutes.
By now I was pretty much clear about my objectives and in order to expand the boundaries of
my research interest, I went to pursue my Master’s in Genetic Engineering, Now the basic
transition from Biotechnology to Genetic Engineering was because I was sure that the area in

3. which I have to study further will be valuable if I go much deeper inside the truth of Life science
because it encompasses all the basic molecular biology and Microbiology techniques in detail,
Molecular Biology laid the foundation of basic cloning strategies which I can apply in my area of
research that is Stress Response in Lactic acid Bacteria (Fermicutes), Functional characterization
of putative stress response genes by complementation studies showed me the path to learn and
enhance my knowledge regarding Gene knockout studies, My aim was to know the basic
concepts of Gene Knockout out studies, Because in order to study the various pathways in stress
response mechanism of bacteria, I have to go for overexpression and low expression studies of
proteins, This idea laid the platform for my M.Tech project entitled ”Heterologous Expression
and Characterization of Universal Stress protein G (uspG) gene of Lactoacillus reuteri DSM
20016 in E.coli”, This project taught me the basic cloning strategy and various biochemical assay
in order to functionally characterize my protein of interest and also I have communicated this
work in Current Microbiology and the paper is under review. . I am indebted to my Professors
who encouraged me throughout my project and my course because I was able to achieve 8.59
GPA on 10 point scale.
In order to enhance my knowledge in various other course in Genetic Engineering, I assisted
Molecular genetics, Immunobiology for M.Tech students and Gene Expression laboratory
practical sessions for B.Tech students as I got M.Tech Fellowship during 2015-2016
It is this pursuit for overall individual excellence that has made me decide that my next career
move would be to join University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis because the project entitled”
molecular mechanisms of polarized growth and cell morphogenesis in the budding yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae and human pathogenic yeast Candida albicans” will make me
understand the molecular mechanism in S.cervesiae and Candida albicans, and even I can have a
basic knowledge regarding fungi and various other tools and techniques about the
characterization of fungal species which will again increase my knowledge in the field of
microbiology. The renowned faculty, the immaculate lab and the enviable atmosphere of
working with the finest of research scholars in the world come in as the ultimate conglomerate
where I can pursue my dream. Given the opportunity I would wholly dedicate myself towards the
field of Microbiology in which a great deal of fascinating work is being undertaken currently in
your department