Discovery across continents

A research partnership between Dalhousie University and the Medical University of Graz in Austria is creating new opportunities for scientific collaboration, professional development, and international exchange.

After a successful student exchange in 2025, the partnership recently facilitated research staff visits between the two institutions, supported through an Erasmus+ grant funded by the European Union.

This spring, Dr. Marco Eigenfeld, a postdoctoral fellow from the Medical University of Graz, traveled to Halifax to spend time with Dr. Jan Rainey in Dalhousie's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Just weeks later, Dr. Yanitza Trosel, a postdoctoral fellow in the Rainey lab, travelled to Graz to learn new techniques and explore opportunities for future collaboration. 

Although their research focuses on very different questions, both researchers returned home with new expertise, fresh perspectives, and plans for future collaborative work. 

Exploring the science of aging

For Dr. Eigenfeld, the visit to Dalhousie was driven by a desire to better understand how cells age. His research uses yeast as a model organism, taking advantage of tiny "bud scars" left behind each time a cell divides. Like counting the rings of a tree, by counting these marks researchers can determine the age of a cell and investigate how biological processes change over time.  Because many of the fundamental aspects of aging are shared between yeast and human cells, this work offers valuable insights into the aging process more broadly.

He came to Halifax specifically to learn more about nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a technique that can profile hundreds of metabolic compounds in a single measurement and an area in which Dr. Rainey and his team have significant expertise. 

“Dr. Rainey is a leading expert in NMR spectroscopy,” Dr. Eigenfeld says. “In Graz we can separate yeast cells by age, but we lacked a precise enough method to see how their metabolism actually differs. His expertise was exactly what we needed to close that gap."

The technique could help the Graz team better understand how metabolism changes as cells age. During his time in Halifax, Dr. Eigenfeld worked closely with researchers in the Rainey lab, gaining hands-on experience with NMR methods and helping identify future directions for collaboration. 

“Our cell separation technology in Graz combined with the NMR expertise at Dal is genuinely complementary; neither group could replicate what the other brings,” he says. “Running measurements on our age-sorted yeast samples using their infrastructure would be a natural next step.”

Expanding possibilities 

The discussions that took place during Dr. Eigenfeld’s time in Halifax helped shape plans for Dr. Trosel's visit to Graz, where she would learn techniques developed by researchers in Austria that could be applied to her own work on recombinant spider silk biomaterials. 

In the Rainey lab, she studies recombinant spider silk proteins, materials valued for their remarkable strength, toughness, and energy-absorbing properties. Her research aims to develop new biomaterials with potential biomedical applications. 

During her time at the Medical University of Graz, Dr. Trosel’s goal was to learn how to synthesize magnetic nanoparticles and test whether they could be attached to her recombinant spider silk proteins. The experience introduced her to entirely new techniques and opened possibilities for creating multifunctional biomaterials that combine the unique properties of spider silk with magnetic functionality. 

"It was exciting to learn a completely new technique and think about how it could be combined with my recombinant spider silk research," she says. “Gaining hands-on experience with the entire process—from nanoparticle synthesis to testing their interaction with spider silk—was incredibly valuable.” 

Building a collaboration across borders 

For Dr. Rainey, the exchanges highlight the value of researchers working together in person. What began as Dr. Eigenfeld’s request to develop expertise in NMR spectroscopy has evolved into a broader collaboration connecting complementary strengths in Halifax and Graz. 

He believes the exchange will yield lasting benefits, with Dalhousie’s expertise and instrumentation made available to Graz, and their capabilities also complementing his lab’s work. By providing technology that enables the creation of biomaterials with the strength, flexibility, and energy-absorbing properties of spider silk, as well as magnetic functionality, the research could open up entirely new possibilities for spatially manipulating these materials.

“Collaboration will allow us to build on the synergies between our research programs far more effectively than would be possible through publications alone,” he says. “We have direct access to the expertise, insights, and feedback of the researchers who developed and use these methods every day.”

Creating opportunities for the future

As Dalhousie and the Medical University of Graz continue to strengthen their relationship, these exchanges demonstrate how international partnerships can spark new ideas and build lasting professional connections.

“One of the most exciting parts of this experience was seeing how our research could connect with the work being done in Graz,” says Dr. Trosel. “The training gave me new skills and introduced me to techniques that I’m excited to bring back to Dalhousie and see where they lead.”

For both researchers, the exchanges underscored the value of learning directly from experts in the environments where new techniques are developed and applied—an experience Dr. Rainey believes is essential to building meaningful collaborations.

“Seeing how research is carried out in different environments is enormously beneficial,” he says. “This was a great demonstration to me of the level of institutional support and enthusiasm for international collaborations of this nature and I am sure that this will lead to a fruitful long-term collaboration.”