Nikola is a PhD student. He did his Bachelor of Science in Molecular Cell Biology in the University of York in the United Kingdom, which included a one-year placement cloning T-cell receptors in a biotech company. He followed it with more Molecular Biology in his Master of Science at the International Max Planck Research School in Göttingen, Germany. For his Master thesis he visited the lab of Prof. Mike Fainzilber at the Weizmann Institute in Israel to work on fibroblast cell size.
He switched gears in warm Barcelona to investigate how the life experiences of parents affect the health of their offspring. Namely, he looks at differences between mice whose fathers ate a lot of fat food and mice whose fathers ate standard mouse food.
On free days, Nikola goes on trips and hikes around Barcelona, in wider Catalonia and sometimes in Spain. In summer he swims and sips on the beach, and in autumn and spring he takes vermouth at the Olympic Pool bar on the hill of Montjuic after surveying the museums and gardens nearby.