February 15, 2023—Ludwig Oxford was delighted to welcome Eitvydas Bajarūnas, the Lithuanian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and First Secretaries Gitana Šukaitytė and Tadas Kubilius to Ludwig Oxford last week, where they met with group leader Skirmantas Kriaucionis to discuss his work on DNA modifications in cancer.
“This was an exciting opportunity to discuss avenues for future interaction, including incentives for talented Lithuanian students to come to study in Oxford and ways to facilitate collaborations between life science academics in the UK and Lithuania,” said Kriaucionis. “Based on our respective experiences in different countries, we discussed success stories in Sweden and the U.S., such as promoting a culture of entrepreneurship in different sectors and nurturing philanthropies for science funding.”
Kriaucionis, whose interest in scientific research began in his native Lithuania, received a prestigious award from the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science following his discovery of the modified DNA base 5-hydroxymethylcytosine. This award is given to prominent Lithuanian scientists working abroad in physics, biomedical sciences and technology, and encourages collaborative links with scientific and academic communities in Lithuania.
“It is a great pleasure to hear about the important work being carried out by the Ludwig Institute at the University of Oxford by Skirmantas and his colleagues,” said Ambassador Bajarūnas. “Future challenges in cancer research will undoubtedly require international collaborations, and we will continue to give our full support to partnerships between the UK and Lithuanian life sciences communities.”