Recruitment of eligible candidates was held within a broad, internationally promoted competition based on open, transparent and impartial basis, which resulted in 181 candidates who had registered in the system. The target group of the programme were young aspiring scientists of any nationality, coming from any country in the world. Preference was given to graduates of biology, biotechnology, laboratory medicine, pharmacy, and medicine. Finally, out of 131 candidates, 15 best Early Stage Researchers were accepted and 15 ambitious and promising researchers were placed on the reserve list. In October 2018 MUB has launched 4-year International Interdisciplinary PhD studies in Biomedical Research and Biostatistics leading to a doctoral degree.
Education of the PhD students was focused on technology and biomedical knowledge necessary for research on biomarkers, including the basics of biostatistics and bioinformatics. PhD students have been participating in courses, visiting professors’ lectures and workshops on e.g. metabolomics, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, biostatistics and bioinformatics. ImPRESS PhD supervisors were outstanding scientists with a profound expertise and experience in the thematic areas of the PhD studies (Cancer/Mutagenesis, Cardiovascular diseases, Diabetes/Obesity, Metabolic diseases, Neurodegenerative diseases, Regenerative medicine in civilization diseases, Molecular Biology, Genomics, Protein Analysis and Proteomics, Metabolomics/Lipidomics, Immunology).
The development of the PhD students’ research potential was based on conducting their own research projects, going for internships, short research visits, conferences, and trainings, not only to the partner institutions, but also to other best research centers in the world. Young scientists have had an opportunity to practice in domestic and foreign academic centers specializing in oncology, cardiology, metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, molecular biology, genetics and proteomics.
Finally, MSCA ImPRESS PhD Fellows published 90 scientific articles in renowned journals (total IF 607,157 points) and still more papers are submitted for publication. They presented their research results at 31 prestigious scientific conferences all over the world, they concluded 12 research stays, 58 trainings and 6 other events. 2 MSC Fellows are among the authors of a patent (PL241607) and of a patent application (43596720).
