The day of 10th November 2021 we will all remember as the date of Anna Salerno-Kochan’s PhD defence: the first one in our group.
Ania started her studies at WBBiB Jagiellonian University in 2011 where she obtained her bachelor degree in Biochemistry and then her MSc degree that was done in collaboration with the laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Science. Ania joined Max Planck Group in 2016 and started her PhD project entitled “Structural characterization of Mei-P26 protein – a central regulator of RNA biosynthesis during cell fate decision” as a part of dr. Monika Gaik POLONEZ grant. The project was conducted in collaboration with the University of Regensburg (Germany) and Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (Poland).
The defence started with a short presentation of a PhD student by dr. Sebastian Glatt. He emphasised that Ania was not only a very helpful colleague but also a very productive PhD student: in addition to her main work that was recently published in Life Science Alliance, she was very much involved in two other projects published in Nature Communications. Ania was also a very good organizer, she had organized the Max Planck Retreat and also the first Elongator Meeting in Krakow. Apart from wet-lab work, Ania was also involved in communicating the science to laypeople, especially to children via workshops she executed at the Children’s University in Krakow, where she was awarded for “The Best Workshop in 2017/2018”. Ania attended many workshops, including international ones, and presented her work at many scientific conferences. Last but not least, during her PhD studies, Ania was awarded an ETIUDA grant that allowed her to conduct an internship in prof. Conti Department in Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich (Germany).
The defence went smoothly. Firstly, Ania very clearly presented her research task, aims and results. Then reviewers dr. hab. Agata Starosta and prof. dr. hab. Gracjan Michlewski read their reviews. Both of them emphasized the high quality of the presented thesis and Prof. Michlewski proposed to award the thesis a distinction. Then Ania answered all reviewers’ questions and comments and the following discussion proved how well she knew her project and this field. Both reviewers and other participants appreciated the high quality of the presented work and of the defence itself. The Committee unanimously adopted a resolution on accepting Ania’s defence of the doctoral dissertation and on granting her a PhD degree in the field of exact and natural sciences in the discipline of Biological Sciences. Moreover, the Doctoral Committee unanimously decided to apply to the Biological Sciences Discipline Council with a request for the dissertation to be distinguished.
Recently, Ania started her postdoctoral fellowship in prof. Conti Laboratory at Max Planck Institute in Munich. In this leading unit for RNA biology, she investigates the structure and function of human protein complexes involved in RNA degradation in the cell nucleus.
It was a great pleasure to work with you Ania! Good luck!
