She has two more interviews with Principal Investigators
of the University Medical Center Groningen as part of her study
programme International Master in Innovative Medicine, or IMIM.
Then Anna Vidina (22) will have to decide on a lab where to carry
out her internship. ‘There are so many great researchers,
that it’s hard to choose.’
The main topic of this two-year international master of
excellence is the translational science. Students gain a full
perspective on the medical sciences and their clinical
applications. ‘From Bench to Bedside and Back, as it’s
called,’ Anna explains. ‘It is quite
application-oriented, which I love because it will enable me to
apply fundamental knowledge directly in the clinic or
industry.’
Groningen - Uppsala
Graduates of IMIM receive their degree from the Top-100 EU
universities of Groningen, Heidelberg and Uppsala. ‘The
international aspect was important to me,’ the Latvian
student says. ‘It gives me the opportunity to attend the
programmes at at least two of these universities. After Groningen I
will finish the master’s track in Uppsala
University.’
Computed tests versus cell experiments
This first semester was all about coursework and research methods.
Next up: the internship. Will it be at a so called wet-lab or
rather at a computational biology lab? ‘To find out, I
arranged interviews with professors performing research in gene
engineering and computational genetics fields. Why bioinformatics
and statistics? Data analysis is certainly intriguing. By knowing
the molecular interactions and kinetics within a cell, you can set
up a computed test. And that means faster results compared to
working in the wet-lab, an immense decrease in workload for future
researchers and hopefully new breakthroughs on medicine and health
practices.’
Spring and summer
‘As a student of IMIM, you have to be pro-active. You have
all the possible resources, but it has to come from you to make it
work,’ according to Anna. So, to become this leading
translational biomedical researcher which the programme promises,
all IMIM students additionally participate in five-day Spring and
Summer Schools at the partner universities. Anna: ‘These
training weeks are designed to develop both personal and business
skills. I am especially curious about how entrepreneurship and the
industrial perspective on medicine and research have been taken
in.’
Anna’s advice for future
IMIM-students:
‘Don’t let the admission requirements, application
procedure and the fact that you will live in a new country scare
you off. I talked about this with my fellow IMIM students, they too
were somewhat intimidated to apply. But as it turned out, we were
all fit for this. And so can you!’
