He is always active and cooperative in meetings, and dedicated to his student. Their research focuses on microRNA and preeclampsia, and their manuscript is almost ready. In April, Sándor Valent was named Supervisor of the Month (Year-1) at the Centre for Translational Medicine.
Dr Valent joined CTM's training as a supervisor three years ago. His first student was Dr. Ádám Csirzó, who defended his Ph.D. thesis in April this year, while his second student is now in his first year. In his first project, Dr. Dávid Márai is investigating the predictive value of microRNA-210 on the severity of preeclampsia in pregnant women. „There's a lot of research on microRNAs these days, for example, in oncology and cardiology. We were wondering whether they could have a role in predicting preeclampsia. Our meta-analysis shows that there is not only a correlation between microRNA-210 levels and the development of preeclampsia, but it is also a good predictor of its severity. We are confident that we will be able to publish our research in a prestigious journal and bring this new finding to a wide range of professionals. We hope that our work will lead to further studies.”
There are currently methods that might predict preeclampsia in pregnant women, but their specificity needs to be improved. This could be helped by determining microRNA-210 levels. Determining microRNA-210 levels in the first trimester of pregnancy by blood sampling may also help the better understanding of the pathomechanism of preeclampsia. „If we are able to predict preeclampsia, it can be possible to prevent it. In this case, pregnant women at high risk should receive 150 mg of aspirin daily. According to literature, this helps preventing or reducing the severity of preeclampsia in 80-90% of cases.”
Dr. Valent not only participates in CTM's group meetings with his students, but also has weekly discussions with a working group at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. „This group also includes several TDK students and Ph.D. students who report on how their research is progressing. We give them advice and help them with their work. In addition to our departmental colleagues, the students are assisted by Dr. Zoltán Kukor from the Department of Molecular Biology and Dr. Tamás Marton from the Department of Pathology and Experimental Cancer Research.”
As soon as Dr. Márai completes his Ph.D training, Dr. Valent will be happy to take on a new Ph.D. student at CTM. Before that, he would not like to have another student as he believes that a supervisor has a great responsibility to ensure that his student is progressing well with their research. „I appreciate the training structure of CTM, as well as the learning material used to introduce students to the theory of scientific work and then to the practical application of it. This is a huge advantage of this training.”
(Szabó Emese)