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has come to appreciate more fully the importance of collaborative
research processes: ‘I now see that important discoveries are very often
a combined, sustained effort between different laboratories. I think that
close collaborations with other scientists and the constant growth of the
social scientific network are equally important to success as the hard work
in the lab. In NUIG we are working closely with other labs that are part
of Apoptosis Research Centre at NUIG, especially with the lab of Prof.
Afshin Samali who is co-supervising my project. But also we have
developed close collaborations with the lab of Prof. Peter Vandenabeele
from Ghent University in Belgium who is also investigating cell death
processes.’
Ms. Koryga’s work is on-going and she is optimistic for its future: ‘I have
not discovered anything surprising yet, but what I find very intriguing are
the recent discoveries from the cell death field that expose a close
signalling network between different cell death processes and the wellestablished
pro-survival process of autophagy. I am excited by the fact
that my project directly addresses this gap in our knowledge and I believe
that it has great potential. Elucidating the components of the Stressosome
protein complex and its signalling regulators will enable us to target them
therapeutically. This gives my project direct therapeutic relevance and I
am very excited to see how we can turn the discoveries we make in the
lab in to therapies in the clinic. My project has direct implications for
resistant cancers such as ovarian cancer, metastatic melanoma and
lymphomas where the normal cell death process is disrupted and cancer
cells continue to grow. Pushing cancer towards Stressosome formation is
another means that we have of combatting cancer.’
This is work which Ms. Koryga hopes to continue for the foreseeable
future: ‘I would like to continue working on cell death signalling after
obtaining a Ph.D degree. I think that this field has great potential for
further treatment of a range of diseases including cancer. I believe that
better understanding of the signalling pathways that govern cell death
processes will enable us to create more tailored therapies for treating
cancer and degenerative diseases.’
‘I am excited by the fact that my project
directly addresses this gap in our
knowledge and I believe that it has great
potential.’
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