NGSchool

A new post from our series "NGSchool: Where Research Meets Community" where we share the stories of our participants 🫂💕

Today, let's hear from Kateřina Večerková, a PhD student in Bioinformatics at the Institute of Molecular Genetics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague.

NGSchool came at exactly the right moment for me. I was in my second year of my PhD, deep in a single-cell RNA-seq analysis of hematopoietic stem cells, and completely stuck. The cells refused to cluster meaningfully and I had been struggling for weeks.
Then during Diana's session on single-cell analysis, she mentioned checking whether the cells cluster on cell-cycle effect. I checked my own data right there in the classroom, and of course that was exactly what was happening. That one insight unblocked months of work. Once I removed the cell cycle effect, the analysis came together, and I could present the project at several conferences. It’s not an exaggeration to say NGSchool changed the trajectory of that project.
What drew me to apply was the programme. My background is entirely in bioinformatics, so I wasn’t expecting to learn fundamentals. But honestly, the range of methods covered was genuinely impressive: Hi-C, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, long-read sequencing, clonal repertoir analysis in immunology, and more, all taught by people who actively work on these methods. The format made all the difference too. Every session was hands-on with real data, which gives you a completely different level of understanding than sitting through a lecture.
The skills I’ve put to use most directly came from the single-cell and spatial transcriptomics sessions. Since NGSchool, I’ve also written a long-read sequencing article for Vesmír, a Czech popular science journal and I’m planning an international internship where I’ll be working on long-read single-cell data and applying machine learning methods I got exposure to at the school.

The project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

Kickstarting a new series "NGSchool: Where Research Meets Community" to share real stories and experiences of our participants 🫂💕

Meet Kateryna, a PhD student at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of CAS, Czechia.

Kateryna's story: NGSchool was a fantastic experience. I wasn't sure what to expect from a bioinformatics school that was offline and involved living at the venue where workshops and lectures were taking place. Before, I had only participated in online courses or worked through published tutorials. Now, I truly believe that this was the best setup possible.
The topics covered during the school were extremely useful and helped me with my project, but the most valuable part was the networking. The school is full of enthusiastic people who are passionate about bioinformatics and genuinely willing to talk and share their experience.
At that time, I had just been accepted as a PhD student with a bioinformatics project. During the school, I mentioned that I would love to get advice on my project on WGD detection in highly repetitive genomes. Speaker Victor Flores immediately offered his help. During our free time, we sat together and managed to work the errors out!
I also learned about the Nextflow pipeline manager with Maja Kuzman. That knowledge grew when I joined her group project, which focused on modifying nf-core pipelines. It was then when we got an idea of developing a pipeline for identifying transposable elements in syntenic regions across genomes- a project we are working on together with Maja. After the school, we stayed in touch, and she invited me to her company for an internship to continue working on the pipeline. This resulted in a draft which we hope to publish soon.
Needless to say, I met many fantastic people there.
The most important thing is that I went there as a participant- and left with a collaboration, an internship, and a completely new level of confidence in bioinformatics.

The project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

This year, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of International Visegrad Fund! 👏

We are grateful for your hard work and dedication in promoting education, innovation, and development across Central Europe 🇪🇺🧬

With the 10th anniversary of NGSchool approaching next year, we thank International Visegrad Fund - our main partner and sponsor - for their continuous support of NGSchool! We couldn't have done it without you ❤️

Missed the last summer school? Or maybe you attended and want to refresh your knowledge on your favorite lecture?

We've just uploaded the full recordings from NGSchool2025: Sequencing Toolbox for Computational Biologists

📈 Statistical Inference
🧬 Cancer Evolution
🧠 Genomic Architecture
.. and more to come

Whether you joined us in person or are just discovering NGSchool, this is your chance to (re)learn these topics from top experts in the field.

📽 Watch now on our YouTube channel!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj4Zs4bjsI9rl5c0SOVoss11D4Gvjm7k_&si=xBojJiSTaylDz4-P

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This project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Visegrad Fund

In the eye of the hackathon storm 🧠💻🤔



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This project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Visegrad Fund

Bioinformatics with a side of Vitamin D ☀️👨‍💻



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This project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Visegrad Fund

Nighttime coding session at 👨‍💻🌃

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This project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Visegrad Fund

Hard at work, but always time for an NGSmile! 😃✨



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This project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Visegrad Fund

is in full swing! 💯🧬💻 After a few days of intense learning and great discussions in our beautiful venue, we're ready to dive even deeper into bioinformatics. Excited for what's ahead!✨



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This project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Visegrad Fund

🎉 We’re thrilled to congratulate Lauren Fajardo on winning the Logo Design Contest!🏆

The winner receives a fee waiver and infinite respect! 🙌

The winning logo will be featured on all of the School’s hoodies! 👕



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This project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Visegrad Fund