The 1st NIBB-EMBL PhD Mini-Symposium and 11th International EMBL PhD Student Symposium

The first NIBB-EMBL PhD Mini-Symposium was held at EMBL, Heidelberg on 28 October. Seven PhD students from NIBB and three from Nagoya University got together with EMBL pre-docs to exchange and discuss their recent results. This symposium and subsequent “lab tour”also connected our students with EMBL PIs who are in the field of their respective interests. On 29-31 October the 11th International EMBL PhD Students Symposium “Puzzles in Biology; Putting the Pieces Together”was held at EMBL. The program contained three sessions; the first aimed to shed light on the latest technical innovations in the field of biology, the second session focused on complex puzzles which had been resolved by integrating data from different scientific fields, and the final session covered several issues which illustrated beneficial relationships between basic biology and applied studies to understand the mechanisms causing human diseases. Our PhD students presented their research work during the poster and the short-talk session. It was a great opportunity for our PhD students to meet students from a variety of European countries and hear about their interesting work. Moreover, they were very much impressed by the scientific atmosphere and cutting-edge researches at EMBL. We hope to continue this collaboration in the future.

Participating students from Japan

Hara, Yusuke; Morita, Hitoshi; Okamoto, Haruko; Goto, Shino; Tameshige, Toshiaki; Sugimoto, Ryo; Takahashi, Hiroyuki (NIBB); Yamamoto, Haruki; Mollah, Md.Bazlur Rahman; Tanimoto, Masashi (Nagoya Univ.)

Comments from students (excerpts)

　Takahashi, Hiroyuki

This was my first experience of an English oral presentation in a foreign country and its preparation was a tough job for me. This opportunity of an oral presentation was, however, a precious one and gave me experience in discussing my research with EMBL people. A student of EMBL was assigned as a guide for each student from Japan, which made it easier to communicate with EMBL students and to have a glimpse of the students’life at EMBL and their view of research. I found students at EMBL are much more aggressive and positive in their research than I had expected, which I think we should follow.

  Tameshige, Toshiaki

At the 11th International EMBL PhD Student Symposium, there were a lot of interesting presentations by researchers from various fields, but the most surprising thing was that the whole symposium was organized by the EMBL students. From the invited speakers, I can easily imagine how widely the EMBL students’knowledge and interest range. And I thought it was a fruitful experience for them to organize such a big symposium while still learning as students.

  Haruko, Okamoto

The best thing I obtained at this Ph.D symposium was that I had an opportunity to communicate with students of similar ages from various countries. I spoke with students from countries unfamiliar to me, such as Israel and Nigeria. I experienced the everyday life of students in Europe, such as dance parties and talks over drinks. I found, contrary to my expectation, we have much in common.