Category: PhD Students

Bartłomiej Bałamut, MSc

University Degree:

Master of Science in Biotechnology, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland

Position at ICTER:

PhD Student

Research Areas:

Molecular Biology and Genetics

PhD student, his main responsibility is research with the use of in vitro electrophysiological recordings. He also performs experiments in the area of molecular biology and genetics.

Anna Galińska, MSc

University Degree:

MSc in Experimental Biology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw,

MSc in of Chemical Biotechnology, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw,

 

Position at ICTER:

PhD Student

Research Areas:

Molecular Biology and Genetics

PhD Student, performs research in the area of molecular biology and genetics

Luca Gessa, MSc

University Degree:

University of Sassari in Biological Sciences, Italy; University of Oslo, Norway

Position at ICTER:

PhD Student

Research Areas:

Proteins Involved in the Visual Cycle

Luca Gessa completed the bachelor degree at the University of Sassari in Biological Sciences in Italy. Then he completed the master degree in Molecular Biosciences at the University of Oslo, Norway, with the thesis: Characterization of an evolutionary conserved human methyltransferase. The result obtained during the master thesis are included in a manuscript published in 2021 (doi: 10.1093/nar/gkab088).

He has joined the Integrated Structural Biology lab at ICTER in March 2021. His research will focus on the structure and the functions the proteins involved in the visual cycle.

Oliwia Kaczkoś, MSc

Position at ICTER:

PhD Student

Research Areas:

visual psychophysics, two-photon vision, optometry, vision sciences

E-mail: okaczkos@ichf.edu.pl
Researcher's ORCID Id: 0000-0001-9819-332X

In 2022, she graduated with a master’s degree in Optometry from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw. As of October 2022, she has started her doctoral studies at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School, during which she plans to focus on studying the phenomenon of two-photon vision. On a day-to-day basis, she also works as an optometrist, where she studies, among other things, refraction and the parameters of patients’ binocular vision.

Wiktor Kulesza, MSc

University Degree:

Faculty of Mechatronics at Warsaw University of Technology

Position at ICTER:

PhD student

Research Areas:

Imaging Systems

Wiktor Kulesza owns an MSc degree in Photonics Engineering from the Faculty of Mechatronics at Warsaw University of Technology. His Master’s thesis realized at the IDoc group focused on the fundus imaging system to aid small animal alignment in a preclinical optoretinographer prototype. He is currently a PhD student at ICTER.

Nelam Kumar, MS Pharm

University Degree:

MS Pharm

Position at ICTER:

PhD Student

Research Areas:

Protein purification, retinal guanylyl cyclases and their modulators

He has done a M.S. (Pharm.) in Biotechnology from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), India. During his master’s thesis, he worked on host pathogen (M.tb) interactions. Later he has joined Dr. R. Ravishankar’s group in CSIR-CDRI, India where he was first introduced to structural biology. The structure biology completely turned his research fascination into passion. Now he is pursuing a PhD in ICTER. He will elucidate the structural complexity of retinal guanylyl cyclases and their modulators for better understanding of eye diseases during his doctoral studies.

Milena Gumkowska (Mućka), MSc Eng.

Position at ICTER:

PhD student

Research Areas:

Molecular Biology and Genetics

PhD student, performs research in the area of molecular biology and genetics.

Klaudia Nowacka, MEng

University Degree:

Master of Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

Position at ICTER:

PhD student

Research Areas:

piNIRS, blood flow sensing, near-infrared spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, dynamic light scattering, optical singularities

E-mail: knowacka@ichf.edu.pl
Researcher's ORCID Id: 0000-0002-7591-470X

Klaudia Nowacka is a PhD student at ICTER. She holds an MEng degree in Optical Engineering and Photonics from Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, where her thesis on composite vortex pattern generation through spatial light modulators demonstrated her expertise in the field.

Klaudia joined the Singular Optics Group under the supervision of Prof. Jan Masajada, where she was able to advance her knowledge and skills in optical setup designing. Her work with Prof. Ireneusz Grulkowski during an internship at Nicolaus Copernicus University has further enhanced her proficiency in structured light and wavefront correction. This expertise is evident in her development of switchable optical vector beam microscopy for high-resolution biomedical imaging.

At ICTER, Klaudia is committed to improving OCT imaging resolution through dynamic light scatterers. She is also a member of the pi-NIRS project, aimed at understanding the optical and dynamical properties of the brain tissue and neurovascular coupling, under the supervision of Dr. Dawid Borycki.

In her spare time, Klaudia embraces a well-rounded lifestyle that encompasses her passions for knowledge, personal growth, and physical activity. She is an avid reader and enthusiast of psychology, neuroscience, and self-development. Her love for the outdoors is reflected in her enjoyment of hiking and traveling.