Winners of the competitions
The SONATA competition is designed to support early career researchers in conducting innovative research. From MUW in this competition, funding will go to Mariusz Tomaniak, MD, PhD, Dr Eng. Urszula Piotrowska and Dr. Barbara Żyżyńska-Granica. And also, in a consortium project, Dr. Łukasz Masior. The OPUS competition supports projects with foreign partners or with Polish teams using large international research facilities. Our laureate scientist in it is Maciej Dawidowski, MD, PhD.
About the projects
The project, "Comprehensive morphological, functional, biomechanical and biological evaluation of the interaction between atherosclerotic plaque and platelets flowing through a stenosed coronary artery in vivo: a prospective study," by Mariusz Tomaniak, MD, PhD, of the 1st Department of Cardiology UCC MUW, concerns the cardiovascular system and, as written in the application, the results will allow a better understanding of the processes occurring in stenosed coronary vessels, the complete closure of which may cause a heart attack in the future. The results obtained will be important for the implementation of further - both laboratory and clinical - studies aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of patients with coronary artery lesions, with the aim of preventing coronary events.
Dr Eng. Urszula Piotrowska, from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Biomaterials MUW, will receive funding for a project entitled "Research on obtaining novel hydrogel nanosystems for applications in targeted therapy of colorectal cancer." The goal is to study the synthesis and determination of the structure as well as chemical and biological properties of new hybrid biomaterials: polymer-hydrogel composites for dual targeted therapy of metastatic colorectal cancer. The researcher hopes that the project's research will significantly contribute to the development of new treatments for metastatic colorectal cancer.
"The influence of diet on the development of autoimmune diseases - novel interleukin-15 inhibitors in a group of dietary polyphenols and their intestinal metabolites" is the title of a project by Dr Eng. Barbara Żyżyńska-Granica of the Department of Biochemistry MUW. As written in the application, in recent years there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease and many others. A common feature of these conditions is the overactivation of a protein, interleukin 15 (IL-15). It is responsible for the body's normal immune response, while when its activity is impaired, it can contribute to the development of these very diseases. The goal of the project is to provide scientific evidence for the inhibitory effects of dietary polyphenols and their intestinal metabolites against IL-15.
The project of Maciej Dawidowski, MD, PhD, from the Chair and Department of Drug Technology and Biotechnology MUW is entitled "Exploring the unexplored chemical space of drug-like compounds: new classes of sulfoximine derivatives and their biological activity." It will attempt to increase the pool of available compounds with potential therapeutic properties from the class of sulfoximines and expand the scope of so-called multicomponent reactions (MCRs), important contemporary tools in the search for new drugs.
"The role of gut-liver axis in Amanita species mushroom poisoning" is the title of a project in which our university is a consortium member. The project leader is Dr. Aleksandra Kołodziejczyk of the International Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Warsaw. The researcher from MUW is Dr. Łukasz Masior from the Chair and Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery UCC MUW. The goal of the project is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of poisoning following the ingestion of the toadstool with a view to improving clinical outcomes. In the project, Dr. Łukasz Masior will be involved in the sampling of human livers during transplantation and the characterization of liver failure after toadstool ingestion in humans.
In the OPUS 24 and SONATA 18 competitions, decided on May 19, 3015 applications were submitted, of which 363 were qualified for funding. Researchers will receive nearly PLN 520 million to carry out basic research projects in Polish units.