Getting a foot in the door with leading research groups
PhD student Thomas Bouet Guldbæk Poulsen plans to collaborate with leading Chinese research groups in Beijing for his PhD on autoimmune diseases.
Thomas Bouet Guldbæk Poulsen has just returned to Aalborg after having been on a two-week trip to Beijing. There he met with leading research groups within proteomics, one of which he hopes to work with for his PhD thesis.
“Working with one of the Chinese research groups would be very positive, because there are some exceptional researchers within my field that I can discuss with and learn from. Many of them have worked around the world in some of the best research groups in our field and have since returned to China to start up groups of their own,” explains Thomas.
“Besides that, the Chinese laboratories are very well funded, so working in one of them would give me an incredible opportunity to work even more with the newest equipment available, allowing me to spend more time hands-on and run tests even when staying abroad.”
While Thomas Bouet Guldbæk Poulsen was in Beijing, he and his colleagues from Aalborg University taught the class “Central Techniques in Omics” on the Master's programme in Omics. From the left: Professor Svend Birkelund, PhD student Thomas Bouet Poulsen and Associate Professor Allan Stensballe, who is also Thomas' Danish supervisor.
Providing a piece of the puzzle
“I think autoimmune diseases are interesting. There is something odd about the human body choosing to attack itself, and worldwide the number of people who are affected by this in different ways is massive. So, providing just a tiny piece of the puzzle to solving some of the issues would be incredible,” says Thomas.
Currently Thomas’ focus is on arthritis and he dreams of contributing to finding out why it occurs, coming up with a method of treatment or ways to stop the progression of the disease. So, he could not bypass the opportunity to go to China and work in an advanced research environment and with researchers that are experts in operating state-of-the-art equipment like mass spectrometry.
Going forward
Until Thomas has found the right co-supervisor and research group in Beijing, he will be running tests on large batches of protein samples in Aalborg in order to find a correlation between arthritis and the characteristics of the proteins.
The time frame for Thomas’ next trip to Beijing is not set yet, but during the course of his PhD, he will spend at least nine months in China, researching and contributing to teaching on the Master’s programme in Omics at SDC.
Facts:
Thomas has a Bachelor degree in Medicine with Industrial Specialisation and a Master’s degree in Biomedicine. Both from Aalborg University.
While Thomas Bouet Guldbæk Poulsen was in Beijing, he and his colleagues from Aalborg University taught the class “Central Techniques in Omics” on the Master's programme in Omics. From the left: Professor Svend Birkelund, PhD student Thomas Bouet Poulsen and Associate Professor Allan Stensballe, who is also Thomas' Danish supervisor.