Slyvets Maria (BM-81m group), student of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Biotechniques won the student research contest in the Department of General Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. By the decision of the Presidium of the NASU she was awarded a diploma and a prize for her scientific work "Biotechnological plants of rape with the gene cyp11A1 cytochrome R450scc of animal origin under conditions of osmotic stress".
Mariya is a MA course student of the Department of Bioinformatics, her special subject is "Molecular Biology". Since 2011, under the guidance of the head of department Dr.Sci.Tech, Prof. S.V. Gorobets she has been doing the research work in the laboratory of genetic engineering in the Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering (ICBGE), National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Thanks to the collaboration with the scientists of ICBGE, including Candidate of Biological Sciences, the leading research fellow Lyudmyla Oleksandrivna Sahno who is the head of Mary in the Department of genetic engineering, the student has managed to achieve considerable success in scientific field.
The direction of scientific research of Mariya Slyvets is associated with genetic modification of important crop - an oil turnip, including the discovery of sustainability of modified plants to critical conditions of existence. The osmotic stress is a component of many adverse effects on plants, for example drought or change of temperature, that is why the work is extremely important, since all of us witness significant climate change on the planet. In the process of writing the work, it was investigated the sustainability of turnip plants received in the Department of plant genetic engineering, which carry in its nuclear genome the gene of animal origin, to osmotic stress under in vitro conditions and found the lines of transgenic plants that exceed the initial by resistance. Plants selected in vitro will be used in experiments to study the physiological and biochemical characteristics of drought effects (under conditions of the greenhouse) and elevated temperatures (in the climate chamber) to receive the most perspective transgenic turnip plants with increased tolerance to adverse changes during cultivation.
It is pleasant that hard work, thoughtfulness, initiativity and diligence of Mariya Slyvets embodied in her research work were appraised adequately not only in our university and in the Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering of NASU but also by the competition commission of the Department of general biology of NASU.
About herself the student talks casually: "If there is free time and good weather, I like to ride a bicycle around the city, to travel around the country, sometimes I manage to go abroad. Nevertheless, the most important thing for me is family. So far my family consists of my husband and a cat but I try to make our lives as varied, interesting and fun as possible. It is difficult for me to tell something exact about my plans for the future. In the distant future I see myself as a lecturer or a teacher but I do not know what I will do in a year. I like my work in ICBGE, I would like to continue to work and at the same time I would like to master, to learn, to know something new, to try myself not only in science, not only in biotechnology. Thanks to the knowledge gained in the "KPI"I received a huge baggage of knowledge and skills that came in handy in my life and work for that I am immensely grateful to the teachers and mentors. And I understand that I shouldn’t stop since this world is so big and there are so many unexplored."
So congratulations on Mariya’s victory and let's wish her further success in education and research!