Yağmur Bozkurt received her BSc degree in Genetics and Bioengineering and her MSc in Bioengineering in Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul. Her research topic focuses on investigating glycosylation patterns in primary multiple sclerosis, how these patterns are related to the disease pathology and their potential use as therapeutic targets for the treatment. Within PMSMatTrain, she is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit at CÚRAM, National University Ireland Galway (NUIG), Ireland.
Mansoor Al-Waeel obtained his Doctor of Pharmacy (bachelor’s) from University of Peshawar, Pakistan. He received an Erasmus Mundus joint Master’s in Nanomedicine for drug delivery from the University of Paris Descartes, France in collaboration with the University of Pavia, Italy, University of Patras, Greece and University of Angers France. Mansoor spent some time working at Alfasigma S.p.A. pharmaceuticals, Italy. Within PMSMatTrain he is working under the supervision of Prof Abhay Pandit at CÚRAM, National University Ireland Galway (NUIG), Ireland.
Daniela Alexandra Dinis Costa graduated in Biochemistry and received an MSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Univ. of Coimbra, Portugal. Later, she engaged in a Michael J. Fox Foundation-funded project at the Univ. of Bordeaux. As part of the EU ITN PMSMatTrain consortium, she is currently testing a therapeutic agent delivery system for Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, focusing in the cerebral cortex. Daniela will be carrying out her research under the supervision of Dr Una Fitzgerald and co-supervision of Dr Jill McMahon at National University Ireland Galway (NUIG), Ireland.
Małgorzata Dąbrowska received her MSc in Neuroscience at Jagiellonian Univ. Cracow, Poland. During her thesis, she worked on the impact of a KCNQ1 channel mutation associated with the Brugada Syndrome at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Later, she worked at the Małopolskie Centre of Biotechnology in Cracow, Poland. Małgorzata has a deep passion for the neurodegenerative side of neuroscience, especially multiple sclerosis. She is working under supervision of Dr Una Fitzgerald at National University Ireland Galway (NUIG), Ireland in the PMSMatTrain project.
Jack Hampson obtained a BSc. Hons with Applied Mathematics at NUI Galway, and MSc. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Manchester. After university, he worked as a project engineer for a superconducting magnet manufacturer. However, after dissertations concerning ‘mechanics of growth’ and ‘aneurysm detection with ultrasound’, as well as working with MRI magnets, Jack chose to pursue a PhD through PMSMatTrain under Dr Nathan Quinlan. His research will be modelling a novel method of drug delivery targetting multiple sclerosis.
Julia Di Stefano obtained her BSc in Biology and MSc in Neurobiology at the University of Turin, Italy. She’s interested in neuroscience, neurodegenerative diseases and neuroinflammation. Her current research is focused on finding a suitable preclinical model to mimic Multiple Sclerosis. Within the PMSMatTrain project she’s under the supervision of Prof. Peter Ponsaerts at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Bhavya Ojha obtained her BSc in Neuroscience from Dalhousie University, Canada, and an MSc in Molecular bioscience (majors: Neuroscience) from Heidelberg University, Germany. Her MSc thesis focused on impact of chronic neuropathic on attention in mice. In the PMSMatTrain project, her research focuses on progressive multiple sclerosis and assessing potential therapy delivered via novel routes. She is working under the supervision of Dr Trevor Owens at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU).
Elif Nur Yilmaz obtained her BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Yildiz Technical University, Turkey and her MSc in Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics at Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey. Her research focus is to develop and validate the therapeutic efficacy of a novel device housing a multi-modal hydrogel using iPSC derived in vitro models of multiple sclerosis. Within PMSMatTrain she is working under the supervision of Prof. Tanja Kuhlmann at the Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital Münster, Germany (WWU).
Maurine Fucito is from Belgium, the country of the best beers and best chocolate. She holds a master’s degree in Chemistry and she will be performing proteomic analysis in the Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST) at the “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara. Maurine started in February 2020 and she is supervised by Dr Damiana Pieragostino.