Institute of Experimental Medicine CAS

Published 03. 12. 2021

During November, students had the opportunity to choose from a wide offer of student scientific internships within the Open Science project, organized by individual institutes of the CAS. The project aims to support talented students interested in science and research. A total of 656 high school students applied for this year's programme. 

There was a big interest in the fields of biology and biomedicine. This is also evidenced by the considerable interest in internships at the IEM CAS. In total, we received 177 applications (the total number of applications was 1589) from 147 students. We really did not expect such an interest, and we are pleased about it!

In addition, three of the four of our internships are among the TOP 10 most requested internships of this year's Open Science. 

The greatest interest was in the internship of Yuriy Petrenko, PhD from the Department of Neuroregeneration, which is focused on cell culture technology in experimental medicine. During the internship, students will focus on research on mesenchymal stem cells, which show high potential in the field of regenerative medicine. They will explore modern technologies used in stem cell culture simply and interactively and focus on the differences in cell behaviour during cultivation in 2D and 3D environments. 

Scientists from the Department of Neuroregeneration have prepared a total of two internships for the students; the second one is an internship led by a young scientist Anda Cimpean MSc. in English, focusing on the regeneration of axons in the spinal cord (i.e. the long processes of nerve cells). 

There was also enormous interest in cancer research at the Department of Molecular Biology of Cancer. Under the supervision of experienced researcher Ing. Veronika Vymetálková, PhD, nominated for the Minister's Prize for Medical Research and Development in 2021, students will focus on research on circulating microRNAs and response to treatment in patients with colorectal cancer. 

Now it will be challenging for our supervisors to select the most suitable candidates from all the applications received. The decision on who will become a young trainee at the IEM CAS will be made before Christmas. At the beginning of the New Year, individual internships will officially start. 

We would like to thank all applicants who have sent us applications and wish them much success in the selection process.

We look forward to meeting you!