Third year MSIH student, Elena Soukhov knows exactly where she wants to specialize when she graduates. The winner of the MSIH inaugural Research Awards, Elena is excited about her participation in IVF research at Soroka University Medical Center, the major teaching facility for MSIH students.

Elena joined the research team in her second year, under the supervision of Prof. Iris Har-Vardi. The study demonstrated that shorter time interval to starting blastocyst formation resulted with significantly higher blastocyst implantation potential. Elena collected and organized the data, worked with the clinic embryologists, performed a meta analysis of current research, and co-wrote the resulting paper:

“Combination of time of starting blastocyst cavity and KIDScore Day 3 predicts highest clinical pregnancy potential in in vitro fertilization.” Authors: Iris Har-Vardi, Ph.D., Elena Soukhov., et al. Submitted for review.

She is hoping to do a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and to continue her involvement with the group.

Not Alone

Elena is not alone in her desire to pursue medical research in spare time or in parallel with medical studies at MSIH. She was joined on the evening by two other MSIH students; Shayne Greenberg (Class of 2019) and Adam Urback  (Class of 2021).

Shayne presented his research which identified the phosphatase “INPP4B” as a marker of chemotherapy resistance and poor disease prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia.

Adam’s research focused on individuals with bipolar disorder and the effect of cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) in identifying risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Research at MSIH

The evening demonstrated MSIH students’ enthusiasm for research. Many have found ways to contribute meaningfully in an array of medical fields. Dr. Odeya Cohen from the Faculty of Health Sciences at BGU assists interested students to find research projects.