Professor Monika Ołdak, head of the Genetics Department at the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, is among 3 Polish researchers who received Fulbright STEM Impact Award scholarship.

Fulbright Foundation’s STEM Impact Award program is directed at active male and female researchers representing STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), employed in Polish academic and research institutions. The scholarship allows the recipient to carry out a short-term project and expand knowledge on science commercialization and effective writing of grant applications in US institutions. Every year, the scholarship is awarded to five candidates whose scientific achievements are outstanding, and the submitted projects’ level corresponds with the aims of the host institution.

Prof. Monika Ołdak will spend 6 weeks in Dr David W. Raible’s laboratory at the Department of Structural Biology of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, US. She will carry out research verifying the participation of genes in hearing loss development using an animal model of zebrafish.

The planned research is both a result and continuation of Prof. Monika Ołdak’s SONATA BIS 6 project financed from the National Science Center’s funds, which has been carried out at the Genetics Department of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing since 2017.