Successful Research Training

Successful research training

More than 10 years of exciting and successful research training and networking between the Division of Medical Microbiology, Linköping University and the Institute of Biochemistry, Vilnius, and more lately the Institute of Cytology, St. Petersburg, Russia, is the result of the support from the SI - Visby Programme. Professor Karl-Eric Magnusson is the Swedish co-ordinator, and Associate Professor Ruta Navakauskiene and Professor George Pinaev the group leaders in Vilnius and St. Petersburg.

It all started immediately when the Visby programme was launched by networking between Linköping and Vilnius through Professor Arunas Gineitis, a frequent guest researcher to Umeå University, and Professor Algirdas Jesaitis, Department of Microbiology, University of Montana at Bozeman and a guest at Linköping University.

In fact over the years the programme has brought “old friends” together, since several of the Vilnius participants originally graduated with a Ph.D. from St. Petersburg.

Presently around 10 scientists are directly engaged in research focussed around “Regulation, signalling and differentiation of normal and cancer cells”.

So far, three students have presented Ph.D. dissertations, Dr. Agné Kulyté, Linköping University, Dr. Danas Baniulis, University of Montana, and Dr. Augustas Pivoriunas, Vilnius University (and Linköping University), and three young fellows are more recently engaged, two of which are presently in Linköping, Veronika Borutinskaite from Vilnius, and Anastasia Bolshakova from St. Petersburg, and Rasa Merzvinskyte is in Vilnius.

The first insert shows Dr. Grazina Treigyte (in front) and Ph.D. student Veronika Borutinskaite in full experimentation and the present “research team” in Linköping.

One important aspect of successful networking, scientists coming and going is the infrastructural support and local organization, in Linköping brilliantly organized by Mrs. Ingegärd Wranne, and now by her successor, Mr. Anders Ekwall (Insert two).

The research has resulted in over/around 20 mutual publications, with several submitted or in preparation.

Through the very active collaboration and focussed research of central interest to all participants and activities in St. Petersburg, Vilnius and Linköping the results form a continuum, which contributes to the success of the collaboration, and a happy team of researchers. An additional very positive asset is the cultural experience and the possibility to meet other scientists, be it in Vilnius, St. Petersburg or Linköping.

The third insert shows: In front, from the left: Dr. Jurate Savickiene, Vilnius, and Dr. Olga Petukhova, St. Petersburg. Next row from the left: Dr. Lidia Tiroverova, St. Petersburg, Ph.D. student Veronika Borutinskaite, Vilnius, Ph.D. student Anastasia Bolshakova, Dr. Vladimir Bobakov, and Dr. Dmitri Tentler, St. Petersburg. In the background: professor Karl-Eric Magnusson