Luiza-Simona Damoc was awarded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) summer scholarship in 2024. Luiza-Simona Damoc (left) with her supervisor Prof. Adriana Tavares BackgroundLuiza-Simona Damoc graduated in Neuroscience BSc from King’s College London (KCL).Since 2021 she has been working as a Research Assistant at the BRAIN centre (Biomarker Research and Imaging in Neuroscience), a preclinical facility of the Neuroimaging department at KCL. She has contributed to various projects such as focusing on metabolic changes in Alzheimer's disease and explored the potential therapeutic impact of astrocytes; autism and synaptic markers; genetic risks of schizophrenia. Her experience encompasses both theoretical and practical aspects of interdisciplinary research, particularly in the fields of neuroimaging and computational biology. Furthermore, her dedication to research was recognized through the King's Undergraduate Research Fellowship and the King's Research Experience Award for her contributions to Proton Resonance Frequency (PRF) research on 7T MRI.These early experiences ignited a burning desire to contribute meaningfully to neuroimaging field and willing to gain experience in the PET imaging research. GoalsLuiza applied for CZI-PiW summer scholarship to complement her theoretical knowledge in the PET imaging, which would be very beneficial for her future career research plans. She would like to pursue a PhD career in neuroimaging, in the research of biomarkers, especially in neuropsychiatry and neuroinflammation.We asked Luiza about her experience.“I wanted to gain experience in imaging data analysis, and was so excited when I received the confirmation of the CZI-PiW scholarship award.I performed my work in the Imaging Analysis lab, at the Queen’s Medical Research Institute (QMRI), Edinburgh. I was so motivated that I finished the initial plan of my project much earlier than expected. It gave me some advantageous time on learning more, being able to troubleshoot, to play with graphs and statistics and to perform further analysis that deepened my understanding of PET research.Added to this, I had the great opportunity to meet wonderful researchers and to learn from their day to day work in the PET lab and chemistry lab.This summer scholarship brought me extensive experience as well as new skills in PET imaging acquisition and analysis. I have also expanded my knowledge in neuroinflammation, which feed my passion for the research of biomarkers and eagers me to continue my path in the academic adventure.It is also a chance to open the door to establish future collaborations for future research projects. I would like to add that I am extremely grateful with Prof. Adriana Tavares. Thank you very much for all her dedicated time, training, patience and kindness. And thank you to PiW team who supported me and shared with me their knowledge." Keywords:Adriana TavaresChan-Zuckerberg Initiative This article was published on 2024-11-13
