Post-Graduate Student of TNMU Department of Medical Biochemistry Participated in the Internship within the Program “Erasmus + International Credit Mobility Program KA107 PhD Mobility for Studying”

For five months (September 26, 2021 – February 26, 2022) Anastasia Pak, a post-graduate student of the Department of Medical Biochemistry, studied at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) within the program “Erasmus + KA107. PhD Mobility for Studying”.

To become a participant of the program, one first needs to submit all the necessary documents to TNMU International Affairs Department, namely CV, English B2 certificate, motivation letter and Mobility Agreement for PhD. After qualifying, A. Pak had the opportunity to study at the University of Santiago de Cospostela.

Upon arrival to Spain, on the first day of the mobility program, there was a meeting with the coordinator of the Erasmus office, Fatima Fernandez, who provided all the necessary information about the university and the city in general. On the same day, there was a safety briefing in the laboratories, from which, before starting work, one has to pass an exam in the form of testing.

The training was conducted at the special Centre for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CIQUS), led by Professor Jose Martinez-Costas and Professor Lisa Kai Bush; and on the basis of the Research Centre for Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), under the leadership of Professor Ezekiel Alvarez Castro. During the internship, A. Pak spent most of her time working with cell cultures, namely transplanted cell cultures – 3D11, DF1, IC7; and primary – CEF, HUVEC. She learned to support them in a nutrient medium and prepare for various experiments.

Throughout her studies, A. Pak most often worked on studying the structure of viral proteins, viral morphogenesis, viral inclusions and the cytoskeleton of reoviruses. To do this, she learned to use the technique of “IC-tagging”, which is based on the viral ability to form inclusions – “viral factories”. Moreover, with the help of primary cultures A. Pak acquired the skills of culturing the virus and quantifying it.

For two months she studied the method of transfection using chemical compounds, namely polyethyleneimine (PEI). To do this, A. Pak pre-purified the studied plasmids for further experiment. In this technique, she studied the effect of hypotonic solution on cellular inclusions.

Immunofluorescence microscopy was required for all studies, which allowed her to understand the essence of its implementation.

A. Pak used the technique of fluorescence reduction after photobleaching (FRAP) to study the role of the cytoskeleton in the formation and replication of viral inclusions. For this experiment, she used confocal microscopy.

She understood the essence and acquired the skills of Western blotting, spectrophotometry, electrophoresis.

A. Pak has repeatedly studied endothelial cells in the microfluid channels of dynamic and static models. She learned to inoculate microfluidic channels with endothelial cells and connect them to the system. For this experiment, she used real-time microscopy and obtained images, processed in the program “LAX” and “ImageJ”.

In her spare time, A. Pak managed to travel and visit such cities as A Coruña, Pontevedra, Noah, Fistera, Vigo and the Cies Islands.

«Erasmus + KA107. PhD Mobility for Studying” is an excellant opportunity to gain new knowledge, practice and experience, and also to discover new horizons, immerse yourself in the traditions of another state and meet a huge number of extraordinary people. Thanks to this program, A. Pak gained new skills and experience, which is very useful for her in further study and teaching, and new acquaintances opened the horizon for cooperation on new projects.

A. Pak expresses her sincere appreciation to the administration and International Affairs Department of Ternopil National Medical University, as well as to the coordinator Fatima Fernandez and her mentors at the host university Jose Martinez-Costas, Lisa Cai Bush, Ezekiel Alvarez Castro for the invaluable experience gained in five months in this program.