Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Three teams of NSU undergraduate and graduate students participated in the finals of the "UBIO" case championship, organized by Siberian Federal University (SFU). "UBIO" is a competition in which teams, supported by mentors, solve real-world problems from leading Russian biotechnology companies and receive professional evaluation from candidates and doctors of science, as well as industry practitioners. A total of 18 teams from various Siberian cities, including Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, and others, competed in the finals.
NSU was represented in the final by three teams:
— "Sudden Gap": it included fourth-year undergraduate students Faculty of Natural Sciences (FNS) of NSU — Nail Bikeev, Ekaterina Akhramenko, Ulyana Borovikova, and Nikita Ivanov took first place in the Medical Biotechnology track.
— "Oligators": it included first-year master's students Advanced Engineering School (AES) of NSU — Klim Karavaev, Yulia Nesgovorova, Nikolai Novozhilov, and Nikita Shulyakovsky took third place in the Medical Biotechnology track.
— "Nif-nif, naf-naf, and PCR-PCR": first-year master's students from the NSU Natural Sciences Department, Elizaveta Samoilova, Polina Shangina, Sofya Dolina, and Yulia Zhakupova, took part in the "Food Biotechnology" track.
Egor Bazhenov, a first-year master's student at NSU, took third place in the "Pharmaceutical Biotechnology" track as part of the university team.
"Participating in the SFU YUBIO case championship was a wonderful experience. It's a truly fresh format for interaction between biology students and industrial partners, solving real-world, relevant production challenges. I'm thrilled that the project brings together science and business, helping students see how scientific knowledge is applied in practice. The format is dynamic and vibrant, and the idea itself is excellent. It's clear that the project is young, but has great potential, and we're confident it will only get better with each passing year!" shared Nikolai Novozhilov, a member of the "Oligators" team.
Speaking about what enabled them to win the case championship, Nail Bikeev, captain of the Sudden Gap team, noted:
"I think it helped that we were already in our fourth year, with lab experience and specialized subjects under our belt. We tried to approach the case as a practical task, not looking for a fancy solution, but one that would actually work. We also quickly assigned roles, as otherwise we couldn't have met the deadline. I think events like these are important for students because they provide valuable experience, and you already have a rough idea of what working in a biotech company would be like."
The "Sudden Gap" team thanks Sergey Evgenievich Sedykh, senior lecturer at the NSU Department of Natural Sciences and head of the "Advanced Engineering Solutions for Biotechnology and Medicine" master's program at the NSU PIS, for financial support of the team's participation through the "Alpha-Future | Grants for Teachers" grant. The "Oligators" team thanks My Genetics, LLC, for sponsorship.
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