Nina Pučeková​

Nina joined the Earnshaw lab in May 2021 as a summer intern whilst in the third year of her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Supervised by Dr Fernanda Cisneros-Soberanis, she spent this time becoming familiar with Amira software – working on 3D segmentation of mitotic RPE1 chromosomes. In her Honours year, Nina continued to work with Fernanda as a Research Data Analyst where she began investigating the role of condensin and cohesin complexes in mitotic chromosome condensation in mutant DT40 cells – again using 3D chromosome segmentation. Alongside this, she completed her undergraduate research project in Professor Adèle Marston’s lab investigating the recruitment of the budding yeast Aurora B homologue Ipl1 to kinetochores in meiosis I. She graduated with First-Class Honours in summer 2022. In September 2022, Nina returned to the Earnshaw lab as a full-time research technician. She is mostly assisting Fernanda, studying chromosome periphery proteins and their role in mitotic chromosome condensation – and gaining experience in human cell culture, molecular biology techniques and fluorescence microscopy. Nina hopes to secure a Ph.D. position in the next year.