The ceremony was organized by the Faculty of Medicine and hosted by its Dean, Prof. Rafal Krenke. - The ability to feel heat, cold, and touch provides the basis for interacting with the world around us and ensures survival in dynamically changing external conditions. Although we all experience these sensations on a daily basis, for a long time it was not known how these impulses are initiated and then how they are processed into our sensations of temperature and touch. This exciting and extremely important issue has been clarified thanks to the work and research of this year's Nobel Prize winners," Prof. Krenke said in his speech.
The Rector of the MUW, Prof. Zbigniew Gaciong, stressed that the Nobel Session is a celebration of the university, which has two objectives. The first of course is the presentation of the achievements of the most eminent scholars in the world. Second - promotion of our university's scientific achievements. The professor also revealed the backstage of the Nobel Prize awarding and recalled the profile of the first laureate in medicine - Emil Adolf von Behring.
The main part of the session consisted of lectures. The speakers included Prof. Agnieszka Cudnoch-Jędrzejewska from the Department of Experimental and Clinical Physiology of the Medical University of Warsaw, Prof. Anna Kostera-Pruszczyk from the Department of Neurology MUW, Prof. Jan Szmidt, PhD, Eng. from the Institute of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics of Warsaw University of Technology and Professor Marek Krawczyk from the Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery.
Prof. Agnieszka Cudnoch-Jędrzejewska focused in her lecture on presenting the successive stages of research, which led the Nobel Prize winners to the discovery of heat and cold receptors. Prof. Anna Kostera-Pruszczyk gave a lecture on the significance of temperature and touch disorders in diseases of the nervous system. Prof. Marek Krawczyk spoke about the role of engineers in the progress of medical science. And Prof. Jan Szmidt took up the topic of technology development and its challenges.
The ceremony was highlighted by a performance of the MUW Choir directed by Daniel Synowiec.
