The BioLAB program is intended for master’s students and doctoral students pursuing studies in the fields of biology, chemistry, biophysics, and medicine.

Michał Toczłowski is a second-year master’s student in Medical Biotechnology. “My main areas of interest are cell biology and the application of computational tools in biology”, says Michał.

Recently, Michał participated in scientific exchange combined with an internship in a research laboratory in Japan. “There, I conducted research on claudin proteins in epithelial tight junctions. During my internship at the University of Virginia, I will continue working on epithelial cells. My research will focus on the role of septin filaments in epithelial architecture”.

Outside biology, he enjoys sport, he has trained in Taekwondo for many years, as well as reading fiction.

Sara Wróbel is a master’s student in Biotechnology with a specialisation in medical biotechnology. “My scientific interests focus on molecular biology and microbiology, particularly the mechanisms regulating bacterial life processes and the influence of genetic mutations on the activity and functions of bacterial proteins. What I enjoy most is experimental laboratory work and searching for answers to specific scientific questions.

As part of the BioLAB project, she is developing methods for detecting secretion system proteins in Group B Streptococcus (GBS), a bacterium responsible, among other things, for meningitis in newborns. “The aim of my research is to better understand the factors facilitating colonisation and systematic infection”. After completing the BioLAB program, she would like to continue developing her career in laboratory environment and is considering doctoral studies.

“I believe this internship will help me develop key skills and allow me to make a more informed decision about my future career path”.

And what does she do outside the laboratory?

“In my free time, I enjoy painting, reading a good book, or listening to true crime podcasts. However, traveling is my greatest passion. I love trying local cuisines and discovering different cultures. I always count down the days until my next trip”.

But that is not all. We have also learned the results of the Fullbright Slavic Award 2026-2027 competition.

The Fulbright Slavic Award (renamed this year as the Fulbright Polish Studies Award) is a four-month scholarship program enabling staff employed at Polish academic institutions whose research interests concern Polish and Central and Eastern European culture (including literature, media, and art), history, politics, ore economic to teach American students at one of the two universities cooperating with the Polish-American Fullbright Commission: the University of Illinois Chicago or The Ohio State University in Columbus.

The scholarship was awarded to dr Marta Koronkiewicz-Kaczmarska from the Institute of Polish Studies at the University of Wrocław. She will complete her fellowship at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Marta Koronkiewicz-Kaczmarska is a literary scholar, literary critic, and translator. She is an assistant professor in The Department of Research on Literary Criticism at the Institute of Polish Philology and head of the newly established Laboratory of Intentionalist Criticism.

As a Fulbright scholarship recipient, she will carry out a research project at the University of Illinois Chicago devoted to transformations in the understanding of the role of literature and ideas concerning its desired from during periods of political transition.

“I am particularly interested in comparing two periods of Intensive transformations in Poland: the first years after the Second World War and the period following 1989. In both cases, literature became a space for negotiating new values, ne languages for describing reality, and new models of participation in social life”, says the researcher.

Her research examines how expectations towards writers and literature changed, what functions were attributed to literary works, and how critical and institutional debates influenced the definition of what literature should be in times of political transformation.

“I am especially interested in changing understandings of literary autonomy and how writers and critics perceived their own agency”, she adds.

The project will be carried out in the form of course taught to students of the Department of Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian Studies, alongside research conducted in cooperation with Polish studies and Slavic studies scholars at UIC (prof. Michał Paweł Markowski and prof. Karen Underhill), as well as with Department of English (prof. Nicholas Brown).

“As such, the project extends the research I have been conducting since 2023 as part of a grant-funded project. And, of course, it will also be an opportunity to spend time in Chicago, which is an impressively beautiful city”, the research adds.

Congratulations to all recipients!

More information is available on the website below!

Edit. Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz

Translated by Dominika Łuczak (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.

Date of publication: 6.05.2026

Added by: MJ