MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Theerarat Kochakarn, Fai

Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Theerarat Kochakarn. Picture credits go to Theerarat Kochakarn or stated otherwise.

In this MIMS Spotlight Series interview, I chatted with Theerarat or Fai, as we know her. She left Thailand behind to join MIMS in March 2021 and do the job she truly enjoys. 

 Can you tell us about your role at MIMS, what are you working on now? 

I am a postdoc in Oliver Billker’s group. I am a bioinformatician and I am analyzing the single-cell and epigenetic data, coming from the malaria research group.

 Portrait picture of Theerarat Kochakarn, Fai. Credit: Thomas Farnetti.

Read more: MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Theerarat Kochakarn, Fai

The Cryo-EM platform receives grant from the Swedish Research Council

Original article was published by SciLifeLab, available here: https://www.scilifelab.se/news/151-million-grants-improves-scilifelab-services?utm_campaign=nyhetsbrev&utm_medium=email&utm_source=apsis

151 million SEK grants will vastly improve SciLifeLab platform services

New grants from the The Swedish Research Council will allow SciLifeLab platforms and units to double screening capacity, acquire high-end instruments and conduct large scale clinical trials. In this Q&A we check in with platform directors to get an idea of what is coming.

SciLifeLab platforms and units have as part of the call Grant for investment in existing research infrastructure received 151 million SEK from The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) – Sweden’s largest governmental research funding body, that “supports research of the highest quality within all scientific fields”. As a comparison, the core funding of SciLifeLab’s entire national research infrastructure was 217 million SEK in 2021. So, how will the platforms and units use this, quite substantial, sum of money? We asked the three SciLifeLab-related applicants that received the highest grants to tell us about their hopes and aims with the new funding.

Linda Sandblad, Platform Scientific Director at the Umeå node of the Cryo-EM SciLifeLab Infrastructure Unit, MIMS Team Leader, applied for the grant to expand the screening resources, and will receive 22,5 million SEK.

Read more: The Cryo-EM platform receives grant from the Swedish Research Council

MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Thanat Chookajorn

Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Thanat Chookajorn. Pictures owned by Thanat Chookajorn and Mahidol University, Thailand.

I interviewed Thanat Chookajorn, who joined the Billker lab at MIMS in March 2021. Thanat shares his life with his partner and their two dogs. Before this phase in his career, he studied or worked in several countries around the world: Thailand, his homecountry, the US, the UK, Spain, Israel (which he is very fond of), Russia and Cambodia.

Picture: Thanat Chookajorn. Credit: Mahidol University, Thailand. 

Read more: MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Thanat Chookajorn

MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Lana Jachmann

Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Lana Jachmann. Pictures owned by Lana Jachmann.

In the frame of this MIMS Spotlight Series, I interviewed Lana Jachmann who joined the Sixt lab in June 2021. She moved to Umeå from Germany to start the next phase of her scientific carreer. 

Can you tell us about your role at MIMS, what are you working on now? 

I joined Barbara Sixt’s lab as a research assistant, with the goal to stay long term as a PhD student. I am studying a bacterial pathogen, called Chlamydia. More specifically, I aim to determine the role of the Chlamydia-containing vacuole in counteracting the intrinsic defense responses of infected host cells. To do so, I am using a lot of microscopic and molecular biology techniques.

Picture: Lana Jachmann.

Read more: MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Lana Jachmann

Welcome to the 9th National Infection Biology / Swedish Microbiology Meeting

The 9th National Infection Biology/Swedish Microbiology Meeting, 16-18 November 2021, will be a virtual meeting that aims to provide a broad vision on current state-of-the-art microbiology techniques and research in Sweden. Keynote speakers are Swedish researchers working within the sub-disciplines of bacteriology, virology, parasitology, host response, clinical infection biology, environmental microbiology, zoonotics, and new methods. To involve junior researchers, additional talks will be selected from the submitted poster abstracts. Poster presentations will be organized as digital poster walks that allow participants to present and discuss their work with other participants.

Click on Read more to find out where can you find more information about the programme and registration. 

Read more: Welcome to the 9th National Infection Biology / Swedish Microbiology Meeting