Last year marked 200 years since Gregor Johann Mendel's birth, and the #brnoregion team seized this opportunity through the Mendel Quiz initiative to draw attention to Brno and raise awareness of our region, particularly among young people in the field of life sciences, not only domestically, but also internationally. https://www.mendelquiz.com/
The aim was to bring one of the young scientists to Brno and provide them with direct exposure to the local environment. The Veterinary Research Institute participated in this event and became the designated destination for the winner, Dr. Emanuele Gustani Buss, a Ph.D. holder in Evolutionary Genetics and Molecular Biology. Dr. Buss, currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Leuven in Belgium, expressed her interest in visiting our Institute.
Upon arrival at the VRI, Dr. Gustani Buss received a warm welcome from colleagues working at the Department of Genetics and Reproductive Biotechnology. Prof. MVDr. Jiří Rubeš, CSc. provided her with the information about the Institute's history, its current activities and some projects aligned with her research focus. RNDr. Petra Musilová Ph.D., Mgr. Miluše Vozdová, Ph.D., RNDr. Svatava Kubíčková, and Mgr. Halina Černohorská warmly greeted Dr. Gustani Buss at the department. Among other things, they shared information about their research collaboration with Brazilian partners, specifically focusing on chromosomal identification of the Brazilian red deer (Mazama americana), by which she was pleasantly surprised. Considering the focus of her postdoctoral studies, the staff of the department further introduced her to the procedures of cytogenetic testing in mammals and, for example, the use of chromosome studies to identify disorders of chromosomal evolution.
We would like to express our gratitude to the organizers and the #brnoregion team for granting us the opportunity to take part in this international campaign. Through this, we were able to show our research results in the context of the South Moravian Region.
