About Polina Foteva
Hi, I'm Polina and I'm a Biochemstry student at the University of St Andrews. I am interested in the properties of enzymes and mechanism of biocatalysis. It is really exciting to be part of the Laidlaw Network. I had the most amazing summer in my life last year, doing research in MacNeill Lab, St Andrews. Looking forward to my second summer as a Scholar, which I will spend volunteering in Ghana.
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I am open to participating in mentoring/buddy programmes
Intro Content
Proposal
Biochemistry
Biological Sciences
Biotechnology
Preliminary Research Proposal
Quick insight into my plans for the summer. Here I am talking about my research on essential enzymes, encoded by a novel class of viruses infecting bacteria - crAssphages.
Influencer Of
Popular Content
Laidlaw Reflections: Some secrets from the lab
These six weeks passed too fast! I achieved my principal research aim, but, not to my surprise, a lot of questions remained unanswered. I will leave the scientific details for my final report and just share some ‘backstage’ scenes from the lab here.
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Channels contributed to:
Leadership STEM Scholars' Stories ResearchRooms participated in:
University of St AndrewsRecent Conversations
Inspirational Women - Dr Kamal Ranadive
Probably you have seen the Google Doodle last week, when the spotlight was this powerful woman Dr Kamal Ranadive. Although I'm biased by both being a biologist and a woman, her story is truly inspirational for everyone.
Scientific Contribution
After receiving her BSc in Zoology and Botany and her MSc in Cytogenetics, Dr Ranadive started working in a hospital. Simultaneously, she was doing her PhD at the Indian Cancer Research Centre. She received a fellowship to work on tissue culture at John Hopkins University. Once she completed it, Dr Ranadive returned to India and founded the first tissue culture laboratory.
Kamal's research found additional links between breast cancer, heredity and viruses. Moreover, her studies on the bacteria causing the leprosy disease have enhanced the development of a vaccine.
Social Influence
Kamal chose to return to her home country and work towards improving the quality of health and education. She trained women from rural communities as healthcare workers and encourage students from abroad to return back home.
Together with her colleagues Dr Ranadive established the Indian Women Scientists' Association. IWSA supports the engagement of women with science by providing scholarships and childcare help.
Have you been inspired/impressed by other powerful women? We are more than curious to learn their story, please feel free to share it!
Sources:Google Doodles - https://www.google.com/doodles/dr-kamal-ranadives-104th-birthdayWikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_Ranadive
Laidlaw Requirements - Live Meeting Notes
Hi all!
On July 31st there was a meeting, where we discussed the Laidlw Requirements and how the Laidlaw Network can support scholars complete them. For those of you who have missed the call, here I am sharing some summary notes:
Idea
Design a webinar/blog posts/feedback platform to help students complete the requirements of the Laidlaw Scholarship.
Aim of the meeting
Find out what resources would be actually useful for scholars.
Introduction
The requirements of Laidlaw vary across universities but in the most common situation the scholars are required to submit a reflective report/essay as well as give an oral presentation and/or a poster. The deadline for the requirements is also different, e.g. September after the first summer or at the end of the second summer.
Your Voice
The following questions (can find them in the form) were also discussed at the meeting:
1. What type of support works best for you? - Articles and posts in the Laidlaw Network might be better than live sessions, because it is hard to choose a time which suits everyone; suggestion to raise questions about the requirements in the WhatsApp chat (more relaxed environment); peer feedback also might be very useful. 2. Most Preferred Content. 3. Writing – hardest part: Make concise and present the data (for STEM research especially hard, because need to explain a lot of things as well as fit graphs and other results on the poster); adapt to general audience - very hard, have to work on this; how to make it interesting? 4. Stake holders.
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It would be lovely if you find time to fill the form (takes 2-3 minutes)! And, please, feel free to reach me with any questions.
Thank you!
Recent Comments
That is incredibly interesting! Thank you for sharing this :)
Thousand thanks Natalja! This means a lot! I'm more than excited to continue my research. Wish you all the best with your project and looking forward to you sharing more about it!