The UiO:Life Science Internationalisation grant supports early career researchers in building collaborations and gaining hands-on experience across research environments. We spoke with PhD student Iga Niemiec and postdoctoral fellow Ladislav Hovan, who both benefited from the grant through exchanges between the Norwegian Centre for Molecular Biosciences and Medicine (NCMBM) in Oslo and the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), part of the Nordic EMBL Partnership.

In this side-by-side Q&A, Iga and Ladislav share what they learned, how their exchanges shaped their science, and what small but memorable things they’d love to bring back from their host labs.

What were you hoping to learn or achieve through your stay?

Ladislav Hovan (LH):
Our collaboration focuses on applying Marieke Kuijjer’s network-building techniques to the data generated by Anniina Färkkilä’s lab. While we have successfully used LIONESS to study many cancer types, I am by no means an expert on ovarian cancer, so this was a great opportunity to learn more. I was also keen to understand new experimental approaches like GeoMx and tCycIF, and to explore how these data types could be integrated with our analytical tools.

Iga Niemiec (IN):
My goal was to familiarize myself with the unknown land of Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) analysis, taking advantage of the Marieke lab’s amazing expertise. I wanted to learn how to correctly build, analyze, and interpret GRNs based on my own GeoMx spatial transcriptomics data. This is something that hadn’t been done before for this type of dataset.

How did working in your host lab complement your own research?

LH:
Exploring the data first-hand and facing the analytical challenges that come with it made us better equipped to handle similar data types in the future. I also discovered a new lab culture; one that values collaboration and open knowledge sharing. The collaboration continues beyond my stay, so I’m sure there’s still plenty more to learn!

IN:
Working with Marieke’s group helped me gain a new, transcription factor–based perspective on analyzing transcriptomics data. I also discovered a new lab culture; one that values collaboration and open knowledge sharing. 

You’ve now experienced both NCMBM and FIMM, from the Nordic EMBL Partnership. What stood out about each place?

LH:
Anniina’s lab is quite large and managing it must be a challenge! But there are clear systems in place from active Slack channels, shared Drive folders full of useful information, and new initiatives to improve data storage routines. We’ve started implementing similar set ups in Marieke’s lab, but I can see that Anniina’s group has a head start. Scientifically, I found it fascinating how one research group can maintain such a broad scope of experimental approaches under one roof.

IN:
While both labs share a warm, encouraging and curious atmosphere, they are very different from each other. My lab in FIMM is very big and consists of people with various backgrounds and expertise (wet lab, dry lab, clinical). At NCMBM, I experienced a smaller, tightly focused research environment. While this helps us to perform more comprehensive and multidimensional studies, effective collaboration, skill sharing and giving technical in-depth feedback is much more challenging. Experiencing such different working environments gave me a new perspective on possible ways of working and ideas how to blend different strategies to perform effective research.

And finally, something fun: if you could bring one thing from your host lab back home, what would it be? 😄

LH:
Anniina’s lab has a snack stash in the office (cookies, sweets, and other snacks). Part of me would love that in Oslo, but maybe it’s better for my health if we don’t copy that idea! 😊 I’d definitely bring their coffee machine though. ☕ Scientifically, I really liked the way people share conference reports, so everyone benefits from what others have learned while away.

IN:
During the NCMBM retreat, I saw people of all ages enthusiastically playing dodgeball together. It reminded me how great physical activity can be for team building; I’d definitely bring that spirit back to FIMM! 💪😄

Building Bridges Through Science

Both Iga and Ladislav’s experiences show how international exchanges strengthen not just research skills, but also community and collaboration within the Nordic EMBL Partnership. By connecting labs, techniques, and people, the UiO:Life Science Internationalisation grant helps young scientists grow, and keeps the Nordic life science network vibrant and interconnected.