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The story of Oksana Tymoshchuk and the mysterious glymphatic system

Portrait of Oksana

Oksana Tymoshchuk, professor from Ukraine, came to Sweden in April 2022 when a full-scale war broke out in her country. A grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation brought Oksana and Iben Lundgaard together and today Oksana is working in the Lundgaard lab trying to find out more about the mysterious glymphatic system.

We are all well aware of the situation in Ukraine. Prof Oksana Tymoshchuk came to Sweden in April 2022 when a full-scale war broke out in her country. In this regard, she was forced to leave home and save the lives and health of her children. 

Before the war, Oksana Tymoshchuk used to work as a professor at the Department of Hygiene and Ecology at the Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University. Her research focus then was quality of life, psychophysiological and physical development, conditions of nutrition, bad habits, the level of morbidity and other issues related to preventive medicine and methods of preventing the development of diseases in adults and children. She has more than 65 printed works in scientific journals. Now, her dream is to find scientists who are interested in similar issues and in the future work on joint Ukrainian-Swedish projects.

Life turned out in such a way that Oksana started her career at Lund University under Angela Cenci Nilsson's guidance. She opened the doors to Lund University by offering a position in her research team. During this time, Oksana gain new knowledge and skills, met many wonderful people at the University and made many friends from different parts of the world.

Due to the difficult situation in Ukraine, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation decided in 2022 to announce support for the employment of Ukrainian researchers at Swedish universities. The support was a grant of SEK 1 million for a one-year employment at a university belonging to one of the centers with support from the Wallenberg Foundations. This opportunity brought Oksana Tymoshchuk and Iben Lundgaard together and currently, Oksana is working in the Lundgaard lab. 

"Very recently, I met a beautiful person, a wise leader and a successful scientist - Iben Lundgaard. I dream of working under her guidance and studying one of the most mysterious and unstudied systems of our body - the Glymphatic system. I hope that many new scientific discoveries await us. I hope that by studying and researching new methods of working with the Glymphatic system, we will find a cure for Parkinson's disease," says Oksana Tymoshchuk.

During her time in Sweden, Oksana has also managed to do a lot for Ukrainian medical students. The Faculty of Medicine of Lund University has established close cooperation with my native Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University. Students from Ukraine have been able to take advantage of the opportunity and study on exchange at the medical faculty of Lund University. In June a new "Summer School" project will start, which will make it possible for some of the students to spend a happy summer without war in Sweden.