#WomenInScience: Successful despite the pandemic
The International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which falls on 11 February each year, aims to celebrate the achievements of women scientists in 2020. This international day was declared by the UN General Assembly at the end of 2015. It aims to recall the crucial role of women and girls in science and encourage their involvement in research. The fact that women do not play the “second fiddle” in the scientific field is also evidenced by their representation in the International Clinical Research Center of St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno (FNUSA-ICRC). Of the total number of employees in research and development, women represent approximately 57 percent.
We would like to introduce at least a few of our colleagues and their work.
MUDr. Lucia Masárová is a doctor at the 1st Internal Cardioangiology Clinic of St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno. She successfully deals with science at the FNUSA-ICRC in the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Research Team, and this issue is also the topic of her PhD. studies at LF MU. Last year, she was able to publish her work on the use of advanced cardiac imaging in patients who carry the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology. She also took third place with her in the Competition of Young Cardiologists of the Czech Society of Cardiology. Congratulations!
Mgr. Iuliia Pavlovska is a PhD student at Masaryk University and combines her studies with work in the Kardiovize team. In July last year, she published the first expert article focused on triglycerides in connection with cardiovascular health (“Associations between high triglycerides and arterial stiffness in a population-based sample: Kardiovize Brno 2030 study”) and is currently awaiting the publication of another focused on relationships among new models of diagnosis and stratification of overweight and changes in glucose metabolism. Together with colleagues, she is intensively involved in adapting diabetes prevention programs II. type to the specifics of the Czech population. This year, it is planned to proceed with its implementation, and thus contribute to spreading awareness of the risks of diabetes, prediabetes, and to increase the health literacy of the population. Fingers crossed!
Mgr. Marcela Hortova Kohoutkova, Ph.D. is a member of the Cellular and Molecular Immunoregulation (CMI) research team of the Center for Translational Medicine (CTM). Last year, she participated in the preparation of six professional publications, three of which she is the first author of. It deals with molecular mechanisms that regulate the metabolic profile of immune cells and thus their proper function. The immunometabolic profile is, for example, involved in the processes of pathogen uptake and subsequent elimination. It even plays an important role in some life-threatening conditions – such as septic shock, where the immunometabolic profile associated with impaired immune cell function changes. The possibilities of modulating immunometabolism therefore appear to be a promising tool that could accelerate the recovery of a patient with an impaired immune response and effectively restore these key functions.
