A portrait of our newly minted IMCBio PhD researchers
After two stimulating rounds of PhD applicant interviews in the late Spring – early Summer, we are welcoming in Strasbourg the new IMCBio PhD students. Eleven young researchers from 5 different countries and 3 different continents are starting their PhD within the IMCBio program this Fall.
Each week we will present in this section two brief biographies of these new IMCBio colleagues, in order to introduce them to the IMCBio community. Make sure to keep an eye on our news posts!
Rishabh Kapoor – Gérard Gradwohl’s team, IGBMC
Rishabh Kapoor is a student from New Delhi, India. He completed his master’s in Biotechnology and further on joined National Brain Research Centre to work on Neurotropic Viruses and Primary human Neural Stem cells. After getting a second authorship in a recently published research article, his keen interest in Stem cell biology inspired him to apply for the opportunity offered by the IMCBio Programme and work in the field of developmental biology.
He joined Dr Gérard Gradwohl’s team as a PhD student to work on deciphering new transcription factors involved in the development of mature and functional iPSC-derived pancreatic beta cells and determining their role. His work will take place in the framework of the “Integrative biology: Nuclear dynamics, Regenerative and Translational medicine” (INRT) Research Cluster.
Football has always been a keen interest of Rishabh, together with cooking and E-sports. Rishabh chose to join IGBMC and IMCBio program due to its attractiveness and ease of accommodating and integrating international students. Multi-disciplinary teams and various technological platforms made IGBMC an attractive choice for a young budding researcher. The Red-Carpet package also facilitated his travel and installation in Strasbourg, which is an important aspect for an international student.
Grégory Renard – Anne-Marie Duchêne’s and Laurence Drouard’s Team, IBMP
Grégory Renard joined the University of Strasbourg in 2018 to take a bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology, and then a master’s degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology in the framework of the IMCBio Program at the Master level. The program allowed him to perform 3 different internships during his 2-year Master degree and to decide to pursue his career in a PhD program. His interest in the world of scientific research, and mainly in molecular biology studies conducted in Strasbourg, encouraged him to join the IMCBio PhD program to have the opportunity to work in this field.
He joined the team of Pr. Anne-Marie Duchêne and Pr. Laurence Drouard (Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes, IBMP) in 2022 as a PhD student and will work on the mechanisms behind mitophagy in plant cells and the protein network involved in this pathway. At IBMP, Grégory will benefit from high-end expertise in molecular biology to uncover all the secrets of this incompletely understood, yet essential mechanism of plant cells. His work is placed in the framework of the “Crosstalk of mitochondria and the rest of the cell, mitochondrial functions & dysfunctions” (MitoCross) Research Cluster.
His choice of the IMCBio PhD program was mostly based on his experience with the research teams based in Strasbourg during his studies. This program will allow him to have complete and transdisciplinary training in different scientific fields to prepare himself to take part in the scientific research of tomorrow.
