The figure of Tiara Putri, a doctoral student at UGM who won a double degree scholarship in Germany

TIME.CO, Jakarta – Doctoral students at the Faculty of Biology, Gadjah Mada University or UGM Tiara Putri won her second scholarship in Germany. The scholarship she received this time was part of the program Double degree with the Universität Greifswald, Germany.

Scholarship State ordinance on graduate funding, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (LGFVO MV) is awarded by the Universität Greifswald every semester to young academics who are pursuing doctoral studies and have outstanding academic achievements and background.

Tiara admitted that she was proud and happy to have received this scholarship. “I am quite happy and proud to be able to get this LGFVO MV scholarship,” she said, quoted by the UGM website, Thursday, September 14, 2023.

The LGFVO MV scholarship is known to have a very strict level of selection and acceptance opportunities. Because every semester only 7 doctoral students from the Universität Greifswald have the opportunity to obtain this scholarship.

The selection criteria for obtaining this scholarship require, in addition to the academic results obtained during undergraduate and master’s studies, previous research experience, the quality of the doctoral research project to be carried out and a letter of recommendation from a professor in a related research field.

In 2022, Tiara also received an award Bayer Foundation Fellowship in Drug Discovery (German). As a recipient of both scholarships, Tiara is currently studying Double degree doctoral level a Department of Molecular Genetics and Infection Biology, Universität Greifswald under the guidance of Prof. Dr. rer. Nat Sven Hammerschmidt and Prof. Budi Setiadi Daryono, Dean of the Faculty of Biology UGM.

The research project he is currently conducting is collaborating with the Eijkman Molecular Biology Research Center, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) acting as co-promoter with Dodi Safari, Head of the Laboratory Molecular bacteriology. The research carried out brings the topic forward Viral-bacterial coinfection of Streptococcus pneumoniae and influenza A virus in the upper respiratory tract.

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Regarding this research project, Tiara explained that, based on previous research, more than 95% of the morbidity and mortality due to influenza pandemics that have occurred around the world are caused by coinfection with bacteria. Streptococcus pneumoniae it is the most frequently isolated bacterial pathogen in the influenza pandemic. The World Health Organization or WHO reports that this bacterium causes up to one million child deaths per year, so it is a special problem in the global health system.

In her research, Tiara used pieces of rat lung tissue as a substitute for rat test animals. According to him, this method is an alternative to meet the need for testing animal models in laboratories and clinics.

“The benefits are very great in meeting the 3R principles (Replacement, reduction and refinement) to reduce the number of animals used in the experiments alive,” Tiara said.

The 3R concept is important to implement point number 12 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): “guarantee sustainable consumption and production models”, because this concept gives priority to the conservation of energy and resources.

These lung tissue slices can preserve the cellular complexity and architecture of the lungs, thus providing a platform that almost resembles the original conditions for studying bacterial and viral pathogens in the respiratory tract of living creatures. “Therefore, it is very beneficial to reduce the use of test animals in the research and clinical world,” Tiara said.

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