
Oliwia Mruk, now a PhD student in the Madsen Lab (MRC PPU), has received a Highly Commended Award in the Life Science category of the Global Undergraduate Awards’ 2024 Programme for her honours project “Single-cell analyses of dynamic signal encoding within the PI3K signalling network”. Oliwia conducted her honours studies in the Madsen Lab, where she developed sophisticated computational pipelines to extract previously inaccessible information about cell signalling from experiments that she also helped to execute. The PI3K signalling network is amongst the most frequently dysregulated in major human disorders, most notably cancer. Oliwia’s research, which is also part of a publicly available preprint publication, has contributed to a better understanding of how information transfer is corrupted in cells with cancer-associated mutations in the PI3K signalling network. This now allows the Team to focus on novel approaches to correct this defect, aided by computational approaches that also capture the complexity of the wider cellular context.
As a Bioinformatics undergraduate student at the University of Dundee, Oliwia had not initially envisaged herself as an experimental scientist. However, the combination of computational and experimental science conducted in the Madsen Lab inspired her to become an interdisciplinary researcher, with a newly discovered love for microscopy. Oliwia says:
“I am really thankful and happy to see my work being recognised. My time in the Madsen Lab made me discover my true passion for interdisciplinary approaches and a systems understanding of cell signalling. I'm looking forward to continuing on this path with my future work!”
Just last week, Oliwia officially started her PhD in the Madsen Lab, funded by the Medical Research Council. When asked about Oliwia and her successes so far, Dr Madsen says: “This is nothing compared to what I know she will be able to achieve in the years to come! This is so well-deserved, and I am excited and honoured to be part of Oliwia’s PhD journey. Well done, Oliwia!”.