This summer from the 15th of August to mid-September, a group of Medicine & Surgery and MEDTEC students from HUMANITAS University Milan, Italy spent their summer delving into research at the University of Helsinki in Finland, under the mentorship of Prof. Seppo Meri.
At the Department of Bacteriology & Immunology, everyone learnt lab techniques to investigate the complement system’s role in specific diseases:
This opportunity has enhanced their problem-solving, research, and team-working skills while learning about the rich Finnish culture.
This summer, Complement group had eight visiting medical students from HUMANITAS University Milan, Italy. They stayed for four weeks in August - September 2022, in our laboratory.
In November - December 2021, four CORVOS Early Stage Researchers (ESR) visited Helsinki and took part in a month-long clinical secondment, together with the two local ESRs.
Professor Seppo Meri with Complement lab group hosted the Corvos Students with their own projects in parallel with clinical visits to the Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) and HUSLAB.
Here you can read more about the visit - the travel report of Pedro Miguel Coelho Medeiros - number 13
This summer, Complement group had eight visiting medical students from HUMANITAS University Milan, Italy. They stayed for four weeks in August - September 2021, in our laboratory.
Each student had a project and a supervisor with whom they worked in the laboratory.
CORVOS, for COmplement Regulation and Variations in Opportunistic infectionS will train 15 widely recruited and highly motivated ESRs. They will fill the current scientific gap in the understanding of the role of complement in opportunistic infections, and translate this knowledge into clinical practice. ESRs will become creative alumni, all with a jointly awarded "double" PhD of two European universities and equipped with entrepreneurial and clinical skills, making them attractive human resources to academia and industry alike.
CORVOS is an ambitious pan-European initiative of 10 European universities, 5 research institutes/public health bodies, 3 biomedical companies and 3 hospitals that comprises an interdisciplinary doctoral programme including cross-sectoral secondments and training in transferable skills. CORVOS includes 12 internationally renowned multidisciplinary scientists, 8 of them members of the European Complement Network. This established organization will ensure that the high quality and efficient implementation of the CORVOS training programme will sustain after its funding and will be embedded into existing doctoral and research training programmes across Europe.
This summer, Complement group had six visiting students from Milan, Italy. They stayed for three weeks in August 2019, in our laboratory.
Soumya Kotha wrote about her experience and tasks she was participating in:
"My experience in Prof Meri's lab cemented the knowledge that I gained during my preclinical years of medical school. It allowed me to delve deeper into the subjects which I find interesting and see how this knowledge translates into a more clinical narrative. I found it very interesting to work with and observe techniques such as western blotting and ELISA tests, which I had previously only read about in textbooks, as well as read many articles of literature which I found helped me understand the subject of complement and see how it related to different pathologies. Following my experience here in Helsinki, I have decided that gaining more research experience, perhaps in different fields of medicine, is something which I look forward to doing in the future."
Giorgio Ratti shared his thoughts about working in our lab:
" I analysed selected genes expressed by different microglia with presence of factor H, amyloid β and the various isoforms of apolipoproteins. I learned how to use the MST machine and took part in cell cultures and ELISA assays. Working with MST helped me to understand the different basics, how it works and try to make previsions of what would happen. Reasoning about everything is what I loved in this experience, no certainties, but just experiment everything. The more I worked hard the more the results were evident and the more I learned. Everyone was very warm to me and gave me the chance to express myself at my best. I will always be grateful for this."