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PhD interview

Hi guys!

I was invited for a bioscience PhD Interview next week. The email has mentioned a short math test.

Does anybody know that kind of questions can be asked?

Cheers,
Pj
Hello there! [sorry you have not had any replies for so long]

Bioscience is one degree that I have not done (yet!), so I cannot advise you from first-hand experience.
I can only provide a prediction and I hope you find it helpful.

My interpretation of "math tesst" in this context would be st based on the application of maths to biology/medicine/physiology etc.
I would be prepared to be able to answer ALL the below:-

a) using Poiseuille's equation to work out blood flow in an artery.
b) quick calculation of organelle size from electron micrograph given the magnification OR vice versa.
c) know that 1 Gray (Gy - SI unit of radiation) is equal to 100 rads [old unit], and perhaps be able to work out radiotherapy dosages.
d) know all your serum level units [mmoles/L for e.g., K+, Na+, Ca++, etc.; nmoles, pmoles and fmoles for hormones; IU/mL for enzymes e.g. creatine kinase, alkaline phosphatase, ALT]; AND interconversion between them
e) scale on an ECG e.g. that a vertical deflection of 1 cm represents 1 mV and 1mm on x axis represents 40 ms.
f) also look up some practice Qs on UCAT and BMAT; a v good book to refer to is Hutton, Hutton & Taylor
etc etc
Happy to provide info if necessary - PM me.

Be safe and best of luck c i-view!

M
Reply 2
Hi! Many thanks for your comprehensive answer. I hope the test will be easier as I do not know any of the answers to the questions you have suggested.


My interview for the MIBTP program is on Monday so I have a weekend to prepare.

Cheers, PJ
Sorry if I scared you! I have not even got a BSc in bioscience, so maybe I was completely off the mark [at least let us hope so!]!

However, just in case one or two of my topics come up, here is a bit of info:-

a) using Poiseuille's equation to work out blood flow in an artery.
You can google the equation: the crux is that flow is directly proportional to the fourth power of the radius, and directly proportional to the pressure,
BUT:
inversely proportional to the viscosity [eta] [as you can imagine a gunjy viscous liquid will move slower].

b) quick calculation of organelle size from electron micrograph given the magnification OR vice versa.
e.g. if an EM shows a mitochondrion of length 5 cm on paper, and the actual length of it is 5 um [micrometres] then what is the magnification? Well, it is 5 X 10 mm on paper = 50,000 um so magnif-n = 50,000/5
= 10,000X

c) {know that 1 Gray (Gy - SI unit of radiation) is equal to 100 rads [old unit], and perhaps be able to work out radiotherapy dosages. [unlikely to come up, on second thought]}

d) know all your serum level units [mmoles/L for e.g., K+, Na+, Ca++, etc.; nmoles, pmoles and fmoles for hormones; IU/mL for enzymes e.g. creatine kinase, alkaline phosphatase, ALT]; AND interconversion between them
1 millimole = 1000 micromoles
1 micromole = 1000 nanomoles
1 nanomole = 1000 picomoles
1 picomole = 1000 femtomoles

You can then deduce other permutations e.g., 1 millimole = 1 million nanomoles;
1 picomole = 10^-6 micromole

Oc the prefixes also apply to e.g., nanograms, picometres, etc.


e) scale on an ECG e.g. that a vertical deflection of 1 cm represents 1 mV and 1mm on x axis represents 40 ms


They probs will not expect you to know this, but one way of working out the heart rate on an ECG is to take the interval between two R waves [tall peaks] in number of 5 mm squares, then divide 300 by this number e.g. if there are four 5mm squares between adjacent R waves [called the R-R interval], then HR = 300/4 = 75 bpm.

Once again, best of luck!
M.

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