Non-globular proteins in the era of Machine Learning

COST Action CA21160

Short Term Scientific Missions

Description

The Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) were exchange visits aimed at supporting individual mobility and training of young researchers (YRs) through general activities of Working Groups.

STSM applicants were engaged in an official research programme as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow (completion of their PhD within the last eight years). Principal investigators and senior researchers were also able to apply to STSMs to build new scientific collaborations and prepare grant applications.

Applications were accepted from Action participants with a primary affiliation to a legal entity located in a COST Full or Cooperating Member country, a COST Near Neighbour Country or a European RTD Organisation.

A number of STSMs were financed each year for exchange of technologies and training between labs in different member states as defined in the rules of the COST framework. Successfull STSM were the ones which specifically contributed to the scientific development of the ML4NGP COST Action, whilst at the same time allowed the grantees to learn new techniques, gain access to specific data, instruments and methods not available in their own institutions.

In the selection process of STSM proposals, ML4NGP Action always have ensured inclusiveness through COST Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) representation, geographical diversity, gender balance and empowerment of young researchers.

APPLICATIONS FOR SHORT TERM SCIENTIFIC MISSIONS ARE CLOSED. 

FEEDBACK FROM SELECTED CANDIDATES

This internship has given me the opportunity to develop skills needed for our on-going computational study of intrinsically non-globular protein tau. Although this has been a short stay, I am very pleased to see that our collaboration will continue.

Stefana Njemoga from Slovakia Visiting researcher at University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czech Republic

This STSM was a unique experience for me. I would like to thank COST Action ML4NGP (CA21160) and the National Institute of Chemistry (Ljubljana, Slovenia) for the opportunity to work with great people and experts. I spent three weeks in the Department of Synthetic Biology and Immunology characterizing intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) from plant. I learned a lot about experimental confirmation of secondary structure and characterization of aggregates. I gained knowledge about circular dichroism spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering, and the discussions with my colleagues were very stimulating. This visit was very useful for me as part of my PhD thesis is the characterization of the secondary structure of IDPs.

Ana Pantelić from Serbia Visiting researcher at National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia

I can gratefully say that the STSM fully reached its purpose, and I would like to sincerely thank to the organizers for making it possible to me. During my time in JKU I had the honour to join a flourishing research group with extremely enthusiastic and helpful researchers. The high standards here motivated me to perform on my best level in everyday work, and I can hopefully say that I was also able to contribute to the Institute of Biochemistry. (…) I truly believe that my time spent on JKU through the STSM is an important chapter of my PhD which sets the path for my future goals.

Soma Varga from Hungary Visiting researcher at the Institute of Biochemistry, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria

During my stay at prof. Ben Schuler lab and under direct supervision of Dr. Andrea Holla, I acquired hands-on experience with the technique, including sample preparation, measurement of experiments on single photon counting confocal microscopes, and data analysis of the acquired data. The stay was fruitful both in the sense of training experience working with a new method, but also in a sense of acquiring new insightful data to the investigated system.

Dávid Tužinčin, Czech Republic Visiting researcher at University of Zurich, Switzerland

We now have structural information on IDR (intrinsically disordered region) ensembles in DisProt. This data will soon be deposited in the Protein Ensemble Database (PED) and will serve as a valuable resource for obtaining insights into the structural ensembles of IDRs in DisProt.

Hamidreza Ghafouri, Italy Visiting Researcher at University of Copenhagen, Denmark