Priman Alfred Fau, a graduate of IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia, and Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland joins prof. Carsten Carlberg’s WELCOME2 team to explore the effect of vitamin D on the human immune system.
What is the focus of your research?
I am curious about the regulation of gene expression, and during my Master’s thesis I focused on investigating changes in the epigenetic landscape during epidermal differentiation in mouse embryos. This brings me perfectly to Carsten’s project on epigenetic effects on gene regulation, plus the research is on the effect of vitamin D on the human immune system, which makes me even more excited to be working on an intervention study of this supplement.
What organizations/institutions have you studied or worked in?
I studied Biotechnology at Adam Mickiewicz University, then I broadened my horizon and skills in the field by participating in an internship at the ICHB PAN (Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences) and a workshop on Bioinformatics at the Stefan cel Mare University, Romania. I was also employed under the NCN OPUS grant as a research assistant in the Wielkopolska Centre for Advanced Technologies for production protein and analysis data.
What do you consider the greatest achievement in your career so far?
I think staying in academia was my biggest achievement so far, I have a dream to have my own lab in the future, and to persevere in this field in my opinion is not easy, and yet I am here now to do my PhD under well-known researcher Prof. Carsten, it is such an honor for me.
What was your motivation to join the WELCOME2 team?
The project excites me mainly because of the intervention study, and working with human datasets is something I wanted to work with. However, Prof. Carsten offering me a full time position as a bioinformatician was a great opportunity for me to hone my skills in this area, combining my theoretical background in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics will be a skill set that I want to train on.
What are your research goals to pursue in the near future?
So far, I am only focusing on my development to become a better and independent researcher and I want to acquire these elements during my journey. I believe it would take me further in my career goals to become a great researcher and achieve my dream in this field.
What are your outside of work interests?
I love outdoor activities, I love jogging and maybe in the future I will be able to run my first marathon. I also like hiking and some of the mountains here in Poland are suitable for me as a beginner.
