RUDN University medical students became participants and prize-winners of the Medscan Community of Young Scientists project

RUDN University was represented by:

• Polina Smolyankina (“Medical science”, 4^th year) — second place in the competition of scientific projects;
• Vepa Atakhanov (“Medical business”, 4^th year);
• Irina Moskvitina (“Medical business”, 5^th year);
• Anna Melnikova (“Medical business”, 6^th year).

During the educational program, students developed scientific papers in various fields of medicine. The winners and prize-winners of the competition had the opportunity to complete a two-week internship at the clinic.

At the beginning of the program, the Skolkovo organizers offered us several research areas to work in. We wrote motivational letters reflecting our achievements, interests, and professional aspirations. Then the scientific supervisors selected participants whose interests coincided with their specialization. Of the 18 selected students, four were from RUDN University, so I always felt the support of my alma mater.

The organizers formed small inter-university teams of 2-4 people. This approach not only opened up scientific perspectives, but also expanded the circle of professional acquaintances. I worked together with a sixth-year student at Moscow State University, and our cooperation turned out to be very fruitful.

I was lucky enough to join the team of Igor Utyashev, PhD, oncologist, Director of the Clinical Research Department, head of the melanoma, skin Tumors and Sarcoma group at the Hadassah Institute of Oncology Moscow. As one of the creators of the program, he perfectly understood our goals and helped us acquire the necessary professional skills.

The main focus of the work was on mutual assistance and interdisciplinary interaction, combining knowledge from different fields of medicine and the importance of collaboration in clinical research. Fighting for the patient’s life and making progress is impossible alone, it is critically important to look at things from different angles, on behalf of different specialists.

Our research work was at the intersection of oncology and endocrinology and was called “The effect of metabolic disorders on the effectiveness of antitumor immunotherapy.” We studied the relationship between the metabolic parameters of the clinic’s patients and the results of treatment for melanoma and lung cancer. We managed to obtain statistically significant results that confirmed our hypothesis.

It was a serious research effort that required considerable effort. We are glad that the jury highly appreciated our work — the team took the 2nd place. A particularly pleasant bonus was the opportunity to complete an internship, which will allow you to continue your scientific work and immerse yourself deeper into the world of modern medicine, — Polina Smolyankina (“General Medicine”, IV course).

Students of RUDN University Medical Institute, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Sechenov University and the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine of Moscow State University took part in the project.

The project organizer: Hadassah Medical Moscow Clinic.