Our PhDs on the road

Our PhD student Jiahui Huang (Pharmaceutical Sciences) had an amazing opportunity to spend a part of her summer semester as a guest researcher at the National Institutes of Health in the United States of America.

Report

I am very grateful for the opportunity provided by the mobility grant of the Vienna Doctoral School of Pharmaceutical, Nutritional, and Sport Sciences (VDS PhaNuSpo), which allowed me to work as a guest researcher at the Computational Structural Biology (CSB) Section of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Under the mentorship of Dr. Lucy Forrest and Dr. Eva Hellsberg, I worked on the extension of my PhD project on structural landscape analysis and functional mapping of disease-relevant mutations in SLC transporters. A key aspect of my research at the NIH was the integration of structural biology with computational methods, where I explored molecular dynamics simulations of mutant structures, contributing to a deeper understanding of transporter function and its links to disease mechanisms.

During my stay, I had the privilege of participating in various research discussions, seminars, and internal NIH conferences, all of which broadened my knowledge in the field of medicinal biology. These interactions greatly enriched my understanding of the application of computational approaches to real-world biomedical challenges.

To conclude, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Gerhard F. Ecker, for his unwavering support throughout this internship programme. Without the VDS PhaNuSpo mobility grant, this experience would not have been possible. Additionally, I am deeply thankful to Susanne from the MolTag management team, whose expertise in handling visa issues was invaluable. As I am in transition from my PhD to the next stage of my career, this experience has greatly enhanced my skills and prepared me for future academic endeavours.

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