Biotechnology?? What is it? ---Ups n Downs of a Biotech student

It's really hard to believe that in a few hours' time i'll be in the plane, flying on my way to KL. And, in a few days' time i'll be in Kuching.. Honestly, i dont want to go back to uni yet.. Have been enjoying myself a lot at home.



Lots of things happened during the holidays. Mostly they had taught me lessons on life. But hey, ironically, i still think that life is pointless and meaningless. The gruesome accident that i witnessed a few days ago did change that thought for a moment but after a while, i still stick to my stance---life is meaningless.. (still cant get that accident out of my mind, ewww...)




The only thing i dread about my holiday is attending social parties. Some of you might think that i'm crazy to have dreaded parties...but..if you are in my shoes....THINK again..




Whenever i go to social parties, meeting up with friends, realtives, acquaintance.. The popular question seems to pop out of everyone's mind---Where are you studying now?




For medical, engineering, accounting, IT, dentistry, business etc students, they wont have hard time telling to people what courses they are taking. Whereas for biotechnology students in Malaysia, whenever i answer "Biotech", people go like, "Huh? What's that?"


These are the answers that i've got so far.....






"Biotech? Ha mik lai eh? Ka chek eh si oh?" (Biotech? What's that? Become a teacher next time one ha?)


"Bio WHAT,!! Bio WHAT?? Repeat!! Repeat?!?" (from a graduate student--OMG!!)


"Biotech.. Oh... That one.. Do fertiliser one ha?"


"Biotech ah? Never heard wor.. Cham woh.. Next time jobless la you..." (!!!!)









Never mind the ah mus and the ah peks (old aunties and uncles)... But for university graduates and politicians or educated citizens to not know current issues is really a shame.. Almost daily there are breakthroughs of biotechnology industries. Newspapers being publised talking about BioValley in Malaysia. Biofuel, gene therapy, stem cell, etc...


Worst still, once during a dinner, when i talked about biotech a politician sitting at the same table looked blur..









So, everytime i have to go through the suffering of explaining from A to Z what biotech really is.. From its existence few hundred years back, from wine making to stem cell, gene therapy, insulin production, recombinant DNA, transgenic organisms, cloning, genetic engineering.. And everytime after i've explained, i see peoples' eyes popping out from their sockets, as if i've just told them that i've discovered a new planet or i've discovered that humans have at least 3 genitals.



As i vacuumed the floor that day, ive thought of a better way to explain what biotech is next time. No need for longer elaboration, no more eye-popping experiences. I'll just tell them 2 simple words that biotech is actually medical engineering as organisms are engineered and modified for the benefits of human beings..

We can be involved in many sectors, either medical, agricultural, industrial, research, food production, etc... As for me, my plan is to be in the medical sector, either as medical researcher or maybe genetic engineer..