Alejandra Nunez Torres from Ecuador will work in Professor Ina Bergeim's research group at the University of Vienna, Austria on the project "Intestinal barrier function in age-dependent gut-brain interaction: pharmacological interventions with metformin". Alejandra completed her Bachelor of Science with the focus on Biology on Health Science at the Missouri Western State University. To pursue her master thesis, Alejandra joined the University of Glasgow. Here she worked on two research projects: Under the supervision of Dr. Tomoko Iwata, she completed a first research dissertation on the topic "Primary antibody optimization as the first step for the characterization of the tumour microenvironment in bladder cancer with novel 7-colour multiplex immunohistochemistry" and under the supervision of Dr. Ian Salt she completed a second research dissertation on "Effect of 2-Bromopalmitate on the insulin signalling pathway in adipocytes". In 2018 she completed her master’s degree in Biomedical Research with a specialization in Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Alejandra has co-authored two journal publications, has previous teaching experience and has worked in the non-academic sector. She was involved in several community service projects. Personally, she likes Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, hiking and camping.
Stefano Flor from Italy will work in Professor Christoph Kaletas research group at the Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Germany on the project "Elucidation of transcriptomic signatures in preserving cognition in old age". Stefano hold a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, that he achieved in 2016 at the Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy. His strong interest towards biology brought him to enroll to the Master of Science in Quantitative and Computational Biology at the same university, where he graduated in 2020. In addition to his academic qualifications, Stefano has already gained professional experience as software developer on several projects and at the R&D department of the company Explora Biotech. Personally, he likes rock and metal music, practicing martial arts and doing outdoor physical activities such as mountain bike, trekking and skiing.