Larysa Ivashko, Ukraine

• Current position: Bachelor student at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
• Scholarship: OeAD Sonderstipendien (IST Austria) 07.2018 – 09.2018
• Motto: Be better than yesterday

Curriculum Vitae

Larysa Ivashko is currently a bachelor student at Educational and Scientific Center "Institute of Biology and Medicine" of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Department of Biochemistry, specializing in biotechnology. From 2016 she has been a student at the research lab "Chemical and Physical Biology", Kyiv, Ukraine. In March 2018, Larysa Ivashko participated in the conference "Theoretical and practical aspects of the use of biological markers in fundamental and applied medicine and biology" in Prague, Check Republic. In March 2018 she furthermore attended the training program "Algorithms and standards of the biological markers used in the modern medical-biological studies".

Reflection

This summer I was participating in the ISTernship program at Institute of Science and Technology Austria and I joined a Loose Group, which works on self-organization of the cell. From the first day I felt myself accepted into the team and was excited to participate in a research project. I had a chance to work with world-class scientists using modern research facilities and learn many advanced methods. I received training in conducting studies and literature search, analyzing and summarizing data. Working in the lab gave me invaluable experience and enabled me to learn first-hand from research staff. I learned a lot of techniques, such as molecular cloning, protein labeling, preparation of supported lipid bilayers and reconstitution of proteins interactions using them. I also learned how to apply Total internal reflection microscopy to visualize our experiments and then perform data analysis. This summer school provided me a great chance to develop expertise and boost the quality of my research. Moreover, I had an excellent opportunity to work in an international environment, meet a lot of interesting people and make friends who I hope to meet again.

I also joined bike a tour in Vienna and a nature hike on the Schneeberg organized by the OeAD. On the bike tour I was impressed with the Viennese charm and I think Vienna is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Now my dream is to come back one day to see all of this again. During the hike I had a great chance to rest my mind while being surrounded by nature and enjoying the picturesque Alps, but the most important thing during these events was meeting people from different countries, exchanging opinions and getting to know their ways of interpreting the world, which is an invaluable experience that will help me to grow as a person.

My summer internship helped me to decide which career path I want to pursue in the future. As a biotechnologist I may work in the industry or as a scientist and after trying myself in the science I got passionate about my research and realized that I want to continue doing that after graduation. Now I am as motivated as I have never been to continue studying at my university and I already know on which subjects I want to focus so I will do my best to become a scientist. In conclusion I want to say that spending summer in Austria was an excellent opportunity to meet a lot of great people who have become friends, learn many new things, challenge myself and grow as a personality. Especially I appreciate the team in which I have been working as I got help at each step of my project and answers to all my questions. It was also great to get in touch with the culture of Austria and experience the international atmosphere. I hope to visit this amazing country again and I am grateful to OeAD for giving me this chance!