Jan Blaha

I have grown up in a small city named Přelouč located in the Pardubice region, where I have also spent a substantial part of mine life studying local grammar school. In the 8th grade, I joined a program of the Faculty of Science of the Charles Universty Prague – Přírodovědci („Natural Scientists“) for kids interested in Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Geography. From 2013, I have had participated in the Dětská vědecká konference („Children's Science Conference“), which is annually organised by Přírodovědci. In 2014 at this conference I received an award from the Neuron Fund, a foundation supporting the Czech scientific community, for my school lab project concerned with how consumption of sucrose solutions changes saliva pH. The award made my dreams come true. I spent three weeks as an intern at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences studying carbonic anhydrase of the pathogenic yeast Candida parapsilosis, trying to find new targets for treatment of dangerous infections caused by these fungi. My involvement with the Institute extended beyond my internship, as I continue to work in the lab since today. Drawing on my work at the Institute, I took part in numerous national and international student fairs. I won two nationwide student contests, the Česká Hlavička 2017 („Czech Little Head“) award and Expo Science Amavet. At the international level, I achieved third and fourth place, respectively, at the International Sustainable World Project Olympiad 2016 and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2017. My enthusiasm for Molecular Biology and related sciences sparked during my up to now short career grows stronger and stronger. Therefore I decided to study it. University College London will help me to gain essential knowledge and skills to become a successful scientist, so I could participate in solving pressing problems of the present and the future and contribute to building a peaceful and well-developed society.