IIMCB continues its doctoral program in partnership with other research and educational institutes of the Ochota Campus (40 students). The international PhD program run in collaboration with Utrecht University has entered the last phase: currently, four students are still enrolled in this program - see bellow. Additionally, the doctoral program of the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, the Nencki Institute, the Postgraduate School of Molecular Medicine (bellow) and of the Foundation for Polish Science continues.
The Utrecht University international doctoral program is based on an agreement between the Polish Network for Cell and Molecular Biology UNESCO/PAN and the Utrecht University (The Netherlands). This is a part of the research collaboration program initiated by Prof. Willem Gispen, former Rector of the Utrecht University, to facilitate the exchange of scientific information and ideas among Polish and Dutch scientists and graduate students and to allow for short term research visits of the staff members and their students from Poland to Utrecht and vice versa. The doctoral thesis are being defended in Utrecht in front of the dissertation committee of the Utrecht Medical Center. As a result till now three students M. Bućko-Justyna (M. Żylicz lab, IIMCB) in 2005, K. Starowicz (R. Przewłocki lab, Institute of Pharmacology PAN, Kraków) in 2006 and M. Olszewski (former Dastych’s lab, IIMCB) defended their theses in a due course; the latter was defended in December 2007 on „Regulation of cytokine expression in mast cells: pro- and antiinflammatory potential”, with J. Dastych and E. Knol as co-promoters. Currently four students are still enrolled in the program: M. Geremek (M. Witt lab, IIMCB and Institute of Human Genetics PAN, Poznań: Genetic analysis of primary ciliary dyskinesia/Kartagener Syndrome [PCD/KS]), M. Łukowiak (A. Lipkowski lab, Center for Experimental and Clinical Medicine PAN, Warsaw: Pharmacology of opioid peptides. The application of polymers as carriers of the opioid peptides), P. Michaluk (L. Kaczmarek lab, Nencki Institute PAN, Warsaw: Role of MMP-9 in neuronal plasticity), Jakub Urbański (M. Żylicz lab, IIMCB: Molecular chaperones in tumor invasiveness). IIMCB is a general coordinator of the entire program on the Polish site.
Medical Universities in Warsaw, Poznań, Szczecin, Gdańsk, Wroclaw, Lodz, as well as the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, the Nencki Institute and the Foundation for Experimental and Clinical Oncology have jointly founded the Postgraduate School of Molecular Medicine. The main goal of the School is to offer a new postgraduate PhD program in the field of molecular medicine, which is addressed to medical, biology and pharmacology postgraduate students in Poland. Since 2002, SMM has been opened to foreign students. SMM is formally affiliated with the Medical University of Warsaw, which is responsible for the administration of the school. According to its by-laws, the School is managed by the Director and the Scientific Council elected by the founding institutions. SMM admits students (up to twelve per year) for the four-year doctoral program. The candidates are requested to present a scientific program of their doctoral research, the scientific merit of which is carefully evaluated by the Recruitment Committee of SMM, as well as independent reviewers in Poland and from abroad. Ten groups of students were accepted during the period of 1998-2008, including seven foreign individuals. Successful candidates accomplish their scientific program, under the supervision of their tutors, in home laboratories throughout Poland. The members of the SMM Scientific Council evaluate student progress annually. The tutorial program offered to the students includes theoretical (lectures and seminars) and practical courses (laboratory sessions) on selected topics of modern molecular biology and medicine. Furthermore, SMM helps students to participate in short-term scientific training in leading Polish and foreign laboratories. In parallel to funds generated by founding institutions, SMM activities were supported so far by subsidies from the Polish Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Kronenberg Foundation, UNESCO-ROSTE, the European Commission and The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France. Additional financial support came from the French government supporting the costs of participation of outstanding French scientists in tutorial and organizational activities of SMM, as well as short-term scholarships for the training of SMM students in laboratories in France.
In 2008 SMM experienced a very sad and severe loss: Prof. Liliana Konarska, Director of SMM, died in August. Her successor became Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek. Currently SMM is in the process of general changes in its organizational status (new agreements between founding
institutions).
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