The project «Blended Kurs «Integrative Biowissenschaften» was developed for support of Ukrainian biological students as part of initiative of professor Olga Garashchuk (head of the project), professor Volodymyr Lushchak and their colleagues. Team of Ukrainian and German scientists have performed online courses for students under financial support of DAAD. Courses were developed in order for Ukrainian students to be able to catch up with lost knowledge of biological disciplines affected by a full-scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine, as well as to improve their previous skills. The project included two online courses – an integrated course of “Life Sciences”, which included the following subjects: biochemistry, biophysics, instrumental methods, introduction to microscopy, molecular biology, physiology, and “Bioinformatics” course. The courses has provided the theoretical part within that students were able to listen to interesting lectures from teachers and seminars/practical classes. In addition to being free, 50 participants received scholarships.
Three PhD students of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian University, Myroslava Vatashchuk, Victoria Hurza and Nadiya Stefanyshyn received a great opportunity to take part in practical training at the Institute of Physiology, Department of Neurophysiology, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany under the guidance of professor Olga Garashchyk (head of the Institute). During a practical training from November to December 2022, PhD students performed part of the experimental work on the basis of the Institute of Physiology of the University of Tubingen, namely, they determined markers of oxidative stress and energy metabolism in samples (liver, brain, kidneys) from old and young mice with 30% reduced access to food. This work was under the guidance of senior colleagues (professor Olga Garashchuk, professor Volodymyr Lushchak and professor, head of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of PNU Maria Bayak). Moreover, through work in a foreign team, PhD students not only improved their technical skills, but also improved English. Myroslava, Victoria and Nadiya attended scientific seminars, where not only were able to learn about the interesting experimental works of the staff of the Department of Neurophysiology, but also had the opportunity to report and discuss the results of their own research. Finally, the methods that were used during the training, in particular, the determination of markers of oxidative stress, the activity of enzymes of antioxidant defense and energy metabolism enzymes (from glycolysis, pentozophosphate path, etc.) and results will also be used in PhD thesis of students.
We congratulate our students with the successful completion of courses and traineeship!
