During a postdoc seminar in April, the four current ongoing projects where presented. Postdocs Yike Xie, Evgeniia Shcherbinina, and Gayathri Narasimhan presented their work together with Angana Patel who is a Phd and presented in place of postdoc Nadia Gul.
Yike Xie emphasized that having access to both the university and the AstraZeneca labs and capabilities is of great value for her project.
“I am for example using the transwell system at AstraZeneca, while the method for selecting the specific cells that I am interested in, is available at the university,” Yike said, also mentioning that the project includes collaboration with the Sahlgrenska University Hospital for access to human kidney samples.
Working together as one team
Pernille Laerkegaard Hansen who is Executive Director and Head of Bioscience Renal and CVRM at AstraZeneca, was one of the participants at the seminar.
“The joint postdoc program is intended as a close collaboration allowing the researchers to work as one single team, although placed in different organizations and locations,” Pernille said.
Pernille also highlighted that the collaborations are based on open innovation, allowing all participants to publish scientific papers.
“This is very important, and we want innovation and common goals to be the driving force.”
Project progression and support
Although the seminar focused on the projects’ methods, results, and timeline, it also aimed at getting the participants together, stressing the importance of not working as isolated islands but rather to learn from each other and take advantage of the extensive experience from all who are involved.
“I think it is good to be introduced to each other in this way, we learn from each other and also find inspiration from the projects and research aims,” said Gayathri Narasimhan.
Camilla Skånberg, research coordinator at WCMTM who also led the program of the day, highlighted the importance of the forum.
"We gain more knowledge about the status and progression of each project so we as a center can continue to support them in the best way. A big thank you to everyone who participated," Camilla said.
Learn more about the AstraZeneca-WCMTM partnership, and find a list of ongoing as well as previous projects at our website.
AstraZeneca Collaborations | University of Gothenburg (gu.se)
