From Poland to Imperial: Marta and Lena's Summer Research Visit

We were delighted to welcome two high school students from Gliwice, Poland, Marta Stangel from Andrzej Strug V Secondary School with Bilingual Education and Lena Bielińska from E. Dembowski I Secondary School with Bilingual Education, for a one-week educational work experience visit to our lab in August.

During their week with us, Marta and Lena got a glimpse of what life as a researcher looks like, combining educational sessions on electron microscopy image processing and analysis with visits to the laboratories and facilities, including LonCEM at the Francis Crick Institute. They shadowed members of the lab during cryo-EM sample preparation and data acquisition, had the opportunity to observe mouse brain dissection, while also spending time on the South Kensington campus (+ in local museums) and experiencing a little of what student life at Imperial is like.

Both asked thoughtful questions about the research, but their individual interests gave the visit slightly different flavours. Marta is interested in studying Medicine, with a potential future specialisation in neurosurgery, and her questions naturally reflected an interest in the brain and neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. She also particularly enjoyed the mouse brain dissection performed by Tom. Lena, on the other hand, is particularly interested in chemistry and biochemistry at a more fundamental level, and she was drawn to the molecular questions underlying the biological phenomena we study. It was lovely to see these differences reflected in the aspects of research that caught their attention.

During their stay, we all enjoyed live music on campus and even witnessed a solar eclipse - certainly not an everyday addition to a week of scientific exploration!

Special thanks to Tom, Debu, and the Imperial 2026 iGEM team (especially Katie Wei), for welcoming Marta and Lena into the lab and sharing their research. Also, huge thanks to Paul Simpson (EM Facility Manager at Imperial) and Nora Cronin (LonCEM Krios Facility Manager at the Francis Crick Institute) for their demonstrations and for giving the students a glimpse into the world of advanced electron microscopy.

We hope that their week with us gave Marta and Lena a glimpse not only of cutting-edge research, but also of the excitement, curiosity and creativity that come with pursuing science.

We wish them both the very best with their matriculation exams in Poland this year, and every success in their future degrees and scientific adventures.

It was a pleasure to have you both with us and we hope to see where your curiosity takes you next!