PhD student Klaudia Majszczyk receives competitive fellowship

PhD student Klaudia Majszczyk has been awarded a 2-year PhD Fellowship by the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds for her chromosome research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. This competitive fellowship supports outstanding junior scientists pursuing high-quality research in internationally leading laboratories.

With this opportunity, Klaudia will become part of a lively network of curious and ambitious scientists and will be offered personal support and participation in courses and conferences. Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds has the reputation of worldwide excellence due to the strict selection process with fewer than 10% applicants receiving the stipend.

The basis of all existence

"Without cell division, there wouldn't be life," Klaudia starts when explaining her research topic. "This process lies at the basis of all existence, that's why I find it so fascinating. During each cell division, our long thread-like DNA is transformed into compacted chromosomes, which allows for their accurate distribution over the daughter cells. This compaction is achieved by a protein complex called condensin."

Intriguing questions

"As you can imagine, a complex with such an important function must be kept in check. How is condensin recruited to the DNA in the first place? How does it know what to do, and when? Is there something that tells condensin to stop when the chromosomes are properly formed? My project is called Tuning Chromosome Condensation. I hope that my research will allow us to answer some of these intriguing questions!"

"I couldn't be happier to have been awarded the fellowship for studying this topic that I am so passionate about," Klaudia adds. She will pursue her project in the lab of Benjamin Rowland. This is not the first time a PhD student in the Rowland lab has been granted this fellowship: former PhD students Marjon van Ruiten and Claire Hoencamp are alumni of the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds.

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