Summer School 2010 - for increased cooperation across the Öresund

Over two days in early June students and supervisors from the Danish Research School on Molecular Mechanisms of Disease and the Lund Research School in Stem Cell Biology met in Lund. A group of Danes and Swedes worked together to plan the programme of lectures and activities.

Rebeqa Gunnarsson and Jenny Nelander from the Research School in Stem Cell Biology at Lund University were part of the group.

“The idea of meeting is of course to encourage cooperation but it's always nice to do something together and socialise. We often get new ideas when we meet”, says Rebeqa Gunnarsson.

The days were for PhD students and their supervisors, but it was the students who gave the presentations. In total around 100 people attended the conference.

“The main objective of the meeting was to encourage collaboration, but it also brought many other positive aspects. As a PhD student it is very important to get training in oral presentation and to practise presenting your data in an understandable way. Arranging a meeting where the students are in focus and hold the presentations allows for this”, says Jenny Nelander.

For doctoral students, one of the important parts of the work on a thesis in the medical field is getting their articles reviewed and approved. Often, this is a time-consuming process that can be difficult to predict and plan. To get a better understanding and greater knowledge of the process, Christina Karlsson Rosenthal, Senior Editor of the journal Nature Cell Biology, was invited to give a lecture.

“The technology is advancing so fast”, says Rebeqa Gunnarsson, “so when an article is reviewed, there are many suggestions for other options and opportunities to check the results. This process is called the review process and it can delay the entire publication for months. This often leads to stress when you are waiting for your articles to be reviewed”, says Rebeqa, who defended her thesis this spring.

Christina Karlsson Rosenthal received many questions about her job as Senior Editor of Nature Cell Biology, which is a scientific journal of high standing. The PhD students received answers to questions that otherwise may seem strange and an insight in the review process.

Later in the evening it was time for a ghost walk in Lund and dinner and a chance to mingle. Many of the participants were more than satisfied with the two-day Summer School event and wish it to become a permanent feature of the cooperation between the Danish Research School on Molecular Mechanisms of Disease and the Lund Research School in Stem Cell Biology.

You can read more about the Lund research School on Stem Cell Biology and The Danish Research School here:

• Lund research School on Stem Cell Biology

• Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (MoMeD)