YOU CAN DO IT Program for Education of Hemofarm Foundation proudly presents its new partner, Serbian Society for Molecular Biology, with which collaboration has been agreed in the field of molecular biology and pharmacy, through organising various lectures, workshops and events for scholarship holders of Hemofarm Foundation, as well as providing professional lecturers and mentors from Hemofarm A.D. company for lectures in the domain of pharmacy for students of molecular biology, including a visit to Hemofarm manufacturing plant in Vršac.

LECTURES BY NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS

This collaboration provided the scholarship holders of Hemofarm Foundation an opportunity to witness the Week with Nobel Prize Winners event and listen to the lectures of Dr William G. Kaelin, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019, and Professor Andrew Fire, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006, jointly with Craig C. Mello.

WHY IS SCIENCE LIKE FISHING AND WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE UP?

Lecturer Dr William G. Kaelin, who is running a laboratory at the Dana-Farber Institute, which is a cancer research centre at the Harvard University, presented his work, which focused on tumour suppressor proteins, including the retinoblastoma protein, von Hippel-Lindau protein (VHL protein) and p73 (p53 homolog) in his online lecture entitled: My Unlikely and Non-Linear Road to Stockholm (And Why Science is Like Fishing). Dr Kaelin shared his rich personal and professional experience with the students, encouraged them not to give up and explained why science is like fishing. He also spoke about his scientific and research work through which he figured out how cells sense the presence of oxygen in their environment – the discovery owing to which he was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019.

The scholarship holders of Hemofarm Foundation valued the lecture as extraordinary, inspirational, and motivating.



I CAN’T REMEMBER WHEN SOMETHING RIVETED MY ATTENTION LIKE THIS

‘I liked the fact that Dr Kaelin started with recollections from his childhood. I was able to relate to some of his accounts – it’s good to know that a Nobel Prize winner did not like to learn facts by heart. He presented himself as a completely average secondary school student who, by a quirk of fate, found what he was interested in and on that he later built his career. It was encouraging to hear some things from his early biography. He presented his entire life achievement through his mental process, from the idea he got when heard for the discovery of VHL, via numerous research studies, all to way to the medical products which are now used for treatment of VHL-associated tumours. There was also talk about science, and personal experience, and good career and worldly advice, which made the lecture everything but boring’, according to the impressions of Nebojša Brezić, 4th-year student of the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine, and a Hemofarm Foundation scholarship holder.

INTERESTING PRESENTATION FORM

Tatjana Gajdoš, 4th-year student of the Novi Sad University, Faculty of Technology, and a Hemofarm Foundation scholarship holder, also shared her impressions of the lecture: ‘I liked the presentation very much, most of all the presentation form. I learnt a lot about how to appear interesting and professional at the same time. Also, I could identify with Dr Kaelin because I like learning on my own and through programs, such as the Hemofarm Foundation Program for Education, while I find the structure at the Faculty somewhat restricting and reducing the desire for learning.’

BALANCE BETWEEN SELF-DOUBT AND SELF-CONFIDENCE

Marija Paunović, 5th-year student of the Belgrade University, Faculty of Pharmacy, and a Hemofarm Foundation scholarship holder, also liked the lecture very much, since ‘we rarely have an opportunity to hear something more about the overall life of a multiple award winning scientist, about this road to success having been anything but linear. I especially liked some pieces of his advice, to find pleasure in the smallest of achievements, that it is good to have a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence, since self-doubt makes us careful and cautious, while when you face a big question, self-confidence makes you dare think: why wouldn’t I find the answer.’

CHALLENGING AND STIMULATING ENVIRONMENT AS BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT

‘I enjoyed the lecture as well as the others did. I especially liked the way Dr Kaelin put his career route into a context of everyday living, which for him was a route of finding himself. With this lecture, he presented us his insights into the things that were of key importance on that route. He emphasised the importance of the influence of the people we surround ourselves with as one of the most important things, and how important it is to find an environment which is challenging and stimulating for us. I believe this lecture inspired and encouraged us to continue discovering and directing our interests.’ These were the impressions of Milica Diković, 4th-year student of the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, and a Hemofarm Foundation scholarship holder.

The second lecture was given by Dr Andrew Fire, a joint laureate with Craig C. Mello of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded for the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) – a process responsible for gene suppression by double-stranded RNA molecules.

DO NOT FORGET WHO YOU ARE, HOW MUCH YOU ARE WORTH, AND WHAT YOU CAN DO

Dr Fire is a professor of pathology and of genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His laboratory is focused on different natural mechanisms used by cells to adapt to genetic changes. This involves mechanisms that are activated in the course of a normal development of an organism and systems for detection and reaction to foreign nucleic acids. Students had an opportunity to informally discuss the RNA interference with professor Fire, his research interests, as well as his road to the Nobel Prize. During the lecture, Dr Fire conveyed a message to the students that was the guiding principle during his career: ‘There are times when things fail. Looking towards the future and knowing that your value is not in your last experiment, your value is in you and what you can do.’



UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR GAINING KNOWLEDGE

This unique opportunity to attend the lectures as part of the Week with Nobel Prize Winners event, was assessed as extraordinary by the students, since as they put it ‘both lectures helped them to get a picture of scientific and research work, attitude and approach that such work demands.’ ‘The lectures’, they added, ‘shed a light on the scientific disciplines of our age, metabolic, and genetic engineering’, and encouraged them to permanently remain in touch with the achievements in these fields.

TOGETHER WE CREATE A BETTER WORLD

The YOU CAN DO IT Program for Education is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ), Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development of Serbia and the faculties of medicine, pharmacy, technology and metallurgy, chemistry, and physical chemistry of the universities of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, and Niš. Parts of the Program are carried out in collaboration with the German Organisation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The Program is designed with the aim of providing support to young people who are ready to create a better world, using their knowledge and skills.