Career Accelerator for Research Infrastructure Scientists
Comenius University, founded in 1919, is a modern European university which covers hundreds of local and international projects and is one of the most important scientific research institutions in Slovakia not only in terms of the number of creative workers, but also in terms of the ability to obtain financial support of scientific research and, finally, in the obtained results.
The Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin (JFMED CU) is one of three public medical faculties in Slovakia. It was established in 1969 as an independent faculty of Comenius University. For many years the Faculty has been achieving excellent results in scientific and research activities, often on international level. For several years, JFMED CU has maintained its leading position within the group of medical and health sciences in the ranking of Slovak universities. Part of the JFMED CU is the Faculty Scientific Center – BIOMED Martin (Martin Center for Biomedicine) and the Competence Center for Research and Development in the Field of Diagnostics and Therapy of Oncological Diseases- top centers cooperating with the Centers of Excellence and other faculty departments in the fields of molecular medicine, oncology, respirology, and neurosciences.
As a partner in this project, CU intends to cooperate with the EMBL towards training of the Fellows. CU can host up to three Fellows per year in the period 2020-2024 through secondments and introduce them to the ways of working, instrumentation and procedures at CU. Duration of secondments will be between 2 and 6 months and will be arranged in communication with the Fellow. Fellows who will do secondments at CU will come from the field related or complementary to the field of research of CU.
At CU, Fellows will have a possibility to learn new technologies, methods, and procedures that are used at JFMED, in particular: development of tissue culture protocols, derivation of new cancer and stem cell lines, reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSc), organoid culture, application of 3D cultures for testing new candidate substances with possible therapeutic effects, the implementation of controlled tissue regeneration, cell separation and sorting of stem cells by FACS and MACS, dissection of live cells from tissue cultures for subsequent cultivation, dissection from paraffin and cryosections, monitoring of apoptosis, cell cycle analysis, cell differentiation and cell viability, implementation of comparative genomic hybridization and whole genome sequencing, research on diabetes, obesity and its complications such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, blood coagulation disorders and a wide range of other genetically related diseases, research on substances with a genotoxic and carcinogenic effect on the human body at the molecular level, both alone and in coincidence with other risk factors, RNA analysis, DNA analysis, pharmacokinetic analyzes, and many other.
The Fellows will also have a chance to get acquainted with the operation of following equipment: Imaging flow cytometer, Mass spectrometer, Mass detector, Nano HPLC, Device for functional high speed imaging of nerve and cellular activity in vital biopsy specimens, Fluorescent microscope, Confocal fluorescent microscope, Device for pharmacokinetic and toxicological analyses, Laser microdissector, Cell analyser and sorter, Cell counter, Automatic culture monitoring device, Device for comparative genomic hybridization, Device for detecting mutations in heterogeneous tumour tissue, Automatic next-generation sequencing station, NMR spectrometer including HPLC, Imaging mass spectrometer.
CU will dedicate supervision capacity for each fellow on secondments. During secondments, Fellows can stay employed by EMBL.
CU intends also to host mini-secondments in a duration of up to two weeks, during which Fellows will shadow operations at CU.