Hana Bernhardová

I am originally from Valašské Meziříčí, and after graduating from the local high school, I completed a Master's degree in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Oxford with First Class Honours, thanks to the support of the Bakala Foundation and other scholarships.

From a young age, I was fascinated by the natural sciences, and in high school, I actively participated in various competitions such as the Biology Olympiad and correspondence biology seminars. By participating in these competitions, I discovered that even high school students can work on their own research projects in a laboratory, so I decided to give it a try. Ultimately, I completed internships in three different laboratories (Laboratory of Growth Regulators at Palacký University in Olomouc, Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, and Loschmidt Laboratories in Brno). I wrote three Students' Professional Activities (SPA) research project theses, and received numerous awards (e.g., nominations for the ISEF competition in California and EUCYS in Spain, the Learned Society Award, České hlavičky, the Jaroslav Heyrovský Foundation Prize, among others).

Studying at Oxford provided me not only with an amazing education but also with many great opportunities. I was able to engage in research, both directly at Oxford as part of my master thesis and during various summer internships abroad. I attended numerous fascinating scientific conferences and lectures. However, the greatest benefit of Oxford was undoubtedly the incredibly inspiring people I had the chance to meet, many of whom have become my friends. I sincerely hope that one day my research will contribute at least a little bit to improving the prognosis for children with cancer.

During my time at Oxford, I clarified which area of biology I wanted to pursue. I am currently continuing my scientific career as a PhD student at the Medical University of Vienna, where I conduct research on pediatric bone cancers at the Children's Cancer Research Institute.