Nikola’s story

ERA long-term fellowship programme is an excellent opportunity for young nephrologists to gain new knowledge and experience, improve different professional and personal skills, and network with the nephrology community across Europe and the world. The fellowship is very well designed and fully covered by ERA, with top nephrology centers participating in it. The mentors and supervisors who propose research projects are top experts in the field.

Absolutely! Participation in the ERA long-term fellowship has significantly enriched my professional CV and became an indispensable part of it.

During the ERA long-term research fellowship, I spent 12 months at the Reference Center for Hereditary Kidney Diseases (MARHEA) in Brest, France, and one month at the Bioscience Institute in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. First of all, this was an extraordinary professional experience during which I got closer contact with clinical genetics and hereditary kidney diseases, especially polycystic kidney disease (PKD). I had the opportunity to improve my knowledge in the field of nephrology with which I had the least contact during my nephrology training in my country. This was particularly useful after my return to Croatia, as I was able to start working in a new field of nephrology that had been neglected until then. Secondly, during and after the fellowship, I had the opportunity to collaborate with experts in the field from Europe and the United States, which resulted in several publications in high-impact nephrology journals.

During the ERA fellowship, I got the opportunity to work with the clinical and genetic data from the largest cohort of PKD patients in the world – the Genkyst cohort (France). I learned to use software for exome data analysis and how to interpret the results of such analysis in the context of the clinical and radiological presentation of PKD patients and their family history (participation in a multidisciplinary team for PKD). As a result of this work, several candidate genes for PKD have been identified, and the genetic landscape of PKD has been expanded. Thanks to collaboration with Newcastle University, I had access to the large genomic database Genomics England 100k Genome Project, which was useful in exploring PKD candidate genes. As part of the fellowship, I participated in two ERA Congresses, with abstracts ranked among the top 80 and presented as free communications. Additionally, I presented the results of my research at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Nephrology (Kidney Week) in the form of an oral presentation, and I participated in the Annual Meeting of ERKNet. Thanks to my supervisors, I improved my skills in preparing scientific manuscripts and was involved in the work of the Genes & Kidney WG of ERA on the preparation of a consensus statement on chronic kidney disease of unexplained cause. During the fellowship, I met many new people from the nephrology community, made new connections, and started new collaborations. No less importantly, the entire fellowship was a wonderful period for getting to know the culture and language of the host country, as well as people who will stay in my memory for a long time.