Little did she know, however, that two months at Masaryk University would completely upend her perspective on scientific research, medicinal cannabis and what she herself could do.
Sabrina doesn’t find it easy to answer the question, ‘Where are you from?’. She was born in Belarus but grew up in Poland. In the UK she spent a year studying English and then two years in secondary school and ended up going to university there. “I guess I spent a third of my life in Belorus, a third in Poland and another third in the UK,” she says with a laugh.
At Nottingham Trent University she is studying for and MSc in Forensic Science. However, she was lacking practical training. “I wanted to do a long internship because I have a lot of theoretical background, mostly in analytical chemistry, but little practical experience. If I can't repeat something or practice it, I tend to forget it.” However, getting an internship in the UK is not so simple. Competition is high and the application process can take up to four months. “Without previous experience, your chances are minimal.”
At that time, she had no experience, so she decided to break the vicious circle of UK internships by going abroad. Masaryk University offered her exactly what she was looking for. “It was the only internship in my field in Central and Eastern Europe lasting more than three weeks.”
Sabrina found that submitting an application to MU worked like a charm. “I found the Masaryk University website, uploaded my CV, cover letter and other documents, and sent in my application. In two weeks they sent me confirmation that I’d been accepted.” Thus, she came to MU for two months to learn how to grow medicinal marijuana in a lab environment.
“Medicinal cannabis is legally cultivated in the Czech Republic for patients and is also exported abroad. Its production occurs under controlled conditions, requiring strict adherence to hygiene and safety standards. However, many aspects of production still require further exploration and explanation. A particularly innovative area of production is the propagation of plants in laboratory conditions using the tissue culture method,” is how it is presented in the Summer Research Internship Project Proposal.
She came to the university with concerns, not about the internship, but about herself. “I didn't feel confident in chemistry or in my lab work. I was afraid they'd expect me to know everything.” However, the team led by doctor Václav Trojan pleasantly surprised her. “They explained everything nicely. Even things which should be obvious but which you forget in the stress of the moment. It will be difficult when comparing future internships or jobs with my experience from Masaryk University.”
Lab practice
The internship brings together several fields. “It combines microbiology, organic chemistry and botany,” explains Sabrina.
Thus, it also involves close cooperation with the pharmaceutical lab. In addition to all stages of the production and cultivation of plants and several types of extraction, they are also investigating ways of growing medicinal cannabis in vitro using a variety of media. These nutrient media are prepared from three types of substances to which they add agar and sucrose. They then insert small cuttings from the mother plants. But each type of cannabis requires slightly different conditions and responds differently to a particular medium.
The internship also improved Sabrina's laboratory skills. She had to use tweezers to put the plants into the medium. “But these plants are so tiny, they’re really minute. And you mustn’t touch them with your hands at all, not even when wearing gloves”. The medium has a pudding-like consistency; so, inserting a piece of plant into it and holding it in the correct position without it falling requires incredibly delicate handling.
Then they check for contamination. “If that happens, we have to transplant the plants again and adjust the conditions to see that it doesn’t happen again. Otherwise, we can gradually find out which media plants thrive best in.
“It surprised me how many ways contamination can happen. In theory, I knew, but when you do it in practice, it’s both fascinating and quite frustrating.” Sabrina also tried PCR analysis to see if the plants were contaminated with a virus, learned how to work with the laminar box that protects plants from contamination, and about distribution methods.
Painstaking research into the cultivation of medicinal cannabis is essential for pharmaceutical production. It's the only way to control the levels of substances like CBD and THC with precision. “The values must be the same, without fluctuations. And this depends on the light, the humidity, and the growth rate. Everything must be under really tight control”.
Sabrina already knows that the knowledge and skills she has gained will help her in her studies and in her career. “I feel much surer of myself working in the lab. I’ve gotten a lot better at solving problems, too. I know how to handle things when they don’t work out. I feel like I'm getting pretty good at this”.
Responsibility and the ability to work with information with an emphasis on detail are essential skills for the forensic science and crime analysis profession. “I think my work on this project has given me ‘added points’.”
New friendship
This internship has also forged for her a firm friendship with her laboratory colleague. “We spent a lot of time together in and out of the lab. We even lived next door to each other. She’s from Colombia and I’m from Belarus. Completely different cultures, but on the same wavelength.”
Her internship at Masaryk University changed Sabrina’s view of the plant itself. Like many other people, she associated cannabis mainly with recreational use. Through her laboratory work, she discovered that medicinal cannabis has a whole range of legitimate uses, from cosmetics to pharmaceuticals. Gradually, she developed a new perspective on a subject still surrounded by prejudice. She considers it crucial to separate the potential of medicinal cannabis from the continuing stereotypical views. “The problem is not cannabis itself, but how some people have decided to misuse it.”
During her two months in the Czech Republic, she also visited many interesting places, such as, for example, the Punkva Caves. “The tour was in Czech, so I understood virtually none of it, but it was an experience,” she says with a laugh.
Thanks to the leisure and weekend activities organised for international students by the Centre for International Cooperation (CZS), she also visited Prague, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. In addition, the CZS has a team students can turn to for help at any time. “For example, I needed advice on how to make a doctor’s appointment. They sent me all the information right away. They even offered to send someone with me as an interpreter. It's great to know that such support exists.” She is even considering returning to Brno.
And what would she say to those who are considering an internship abroad but are still hesitating? “Self-confidence. That's the most valuable thing you can get out of an experience like this. Knowledge and skills are learned. But the only way to gain courage and confidence is to really try something like going abroad.”