EFLM LabX report

By Berrak Guven, Turkey

There have been many things I wanted to do throughout my career. But what I would most was an opportunity for international cooperation. Unfortunately, although I am a scientist who writes international articles, I have never had the opportunity to communicate internationally in my professional life.  Moreover, I was over the age of 40, when all scholarship opportunities were over. When I thought that was not possible anymore, I discovered the EFLM-Labx service and applied. And, I was accepted University Clinical Center Maribor in Slovenia for Laboratory diagnostics of autoimmune diseases with EFLMLabx scholarship.

I am no stranger to autoimmune diseases because I have medical education. But, laboratory diagnosis of autoimmune diseases was not in my field during my clinical chemistry training, despite there is a significant overlap between Clinical Chemistry and Immunology. Therefore, training in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases with an EFLMLabX Scholarship has been a great opportunity for me. This experience taught me, above all, how to manage tests used in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases in the organizational structure of clinical laboratories. Dr. Evgenija Homsak, who accepted me for the training, was with me at every stage of this training and enlightened me. I am grateful that she shared with me knowledge, experience, and best practice in autoimmune disease diagnostic tests. In addition to detailed observations and applications related to autoimmune tests, I had the opportunity to observe the work in all laboratory departments. For this, I am very thankful to the valuable laboratory staff of the UKC-Maribor Laboratory Diagnostics Department. They were very kind and helpful. Hopefully, this good communication will lead to potential collaborations for research in the future.

As a result, I had a great time. Many thanks to the EFLMLabX program, which allowed me to have this unique experience.

There have been many things I wanted to do throughout my career. But what I would most was an opportunity for international cooperation. Unfortunately, although I am a scientist who writes international articles, I have never had the opportunity to communicate internationally in my professional life.  Moreover, I was over the age of 40, when all scholarship opportunities were over. When I thought that was not possible anymore, I discovered the EFLM-Labx service and applied. And, I was accepted University Clinical Center Maribor in Slovenia for Laboratory diagnostics of autoimmune diseases with EFLMLabx scholarship.