Magdalena Justyniarska is a fourth-year student of medicine. Our laureate is interested in immunology and cell biology, particularly immune cell interactions and the regulation of the immune response. - I work on immunomodulating properties of erythroid cells (i.e. precursors of erythrocytes) in a research group at the Department of Immunology, in the group of Prof. Dominika Nowis and Prof. Jakub Gołąb - says Justyniarska. At the University of Chicago, where she will travel as part of the BioLAB Program, she will join Prof. Bana Jabri's group. There, she will examine the function of cells within Peyer's patches in the gut.
Ignacy Górecki is also studying for his medical degree and is in his fifth year. He is fascinated by cell biology and cytophysiology, especially how disruption of the most basic cellular processes affect the balance of the entire organism. - The topics that are currently absorbing me the most are the mechanisms of DNA repair, as well as mitochondrial biology. I believe that the key to the development of medicine is a thorough understanding of all the processes that occur in a single cell. That's why, from the beginning of my studies, I've put the emphasis on the development in basic science areas like microbiology and histology - Górecki says. As part of the BioLab program, our student will be interning at the Oklahoma Medical Foundation, where he and Dr. Chi Fung Lee's team will conduct research on mitochondrial dysfunction and NAD+ metabolism in the onset and progression of cardiometabolic diseases.
The BioLAB program is designed for graduate and doctoral students in biochemical and medical fields of study. It is organized in cooperation with the Polish-American Fulbright Commission. This year's edition received 110 applications. Recruitment consisted of two stages: formal and substantive evaluation of the electronic application form, and interviews with the selection committee. Forty-eight laureates were selected.