Dr. Ceren Eyileten-Postuła from the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology will receive over PLN 1,700,000 in the SONATA 17 competition for a project to determine the role of platelets and their function in epigenetic changes in Wilson's disease – a rare disorder of copper metabolism. The most common symptoms of Wilson's disease are non-specific liver dysfunction and neurological and psychiatric disorders. The deposition of copper in the tissues of the eye, which can lead to visual disturbances, is also observed. Because Wilson's disease is rare and the initial symptoms resemble those of other conditions, it is difficult to diagnose, and late diagnosis of the disease results in irreversible complications. The project's innovative research will deepen knowledge of the pathophysiological processes underlying this condition. They will also make it possible to assess the importance of platelet reactivity, platelet-related microbubbles and selected RNA molecules in this disease. In addition, the creator of the project would like to determine the diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers available in peripheral blood. In the future, the results of the project may accelerate diagnostics and treatment to improve the prognosis. The project will be implemented by the Centre of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw.
Dr. Piotr Regulski from the Department of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology will receive over PLN 1,500,000 in the SONATA 17 competition for a project called "Personalized interventional cardiology using artificial intelligence and virtual reality methods." It involves the development of automatic methods for creating real models for coronary vessels and simulating procedures under conditions similar to real ones, using virtual reality technology to facilitate angioplasty – which is pre-requisite for the treatment of coronary vasoconstriction. Thanks to this, the doctor performing the procedure will be able to carry it out under simulated conditions first, which would enable the risk of complications to be minimized. The project is the first research work of its kind and could potentially lead to a breakthrough in cardiac diagnostics and therapy.
Our university will also take part in a project entitled: "The role of profags in the virulence of clinical strains of the human pathogen Clostridioides difficile in vitro and in vivo", co-financed under OPUS 22, managed by the Medical University of Gdańsk. The project manager is dr hab. Krzysztof Hinc, while the main contractor representing the Medical University of Warsaw is Prof. Hanna Pituch, Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology. As part of the project, researchers wish to investigate in vitro phage-host interactions to understand how profags can affect host virulence and the course of in vivo infection in a mouse model of C. difficile infection. The results of the study should show whether the phages studied, affecting the virulence of the host, pose a real threat to hospitalized patients. This is of great diagnostic importance. The knowledge acquired, together with the possibility of detecting such profags in strains infecting patients, may be a signal to clinicians and epidemiologists that we are dealing with a lysogenic strain of C. difficile with increased virulence and, consequently, to use a C. difficile infection in a surveillance facility.
The SONATA 17 competition is addressed to researchers with a doctoral degree, obtained from 2 to 7 years before the year of submitting the application, and aims to support people starting their scientific careers in conducting innovative research. In this edition of the competition, 1139 applications were submitted. Ultimately, 239 projects were selected for funding. OPUS is addressed to a wide range of recipients. There are no restrictions to the advancement of the project manager's scientific career, degree course or experience in conducting research. All competing scientists are subject to evaluation criteria, which include, the scientific level of the planned research as well as the novelty of the scientific problem to which a solution is proposed. The OPUS 22 competition received a total of 1866 proposals, of which 350 succeeded in obtaining funding.