on 6 December, NCN announced the list of projects qualified for funding in the 23rd edition of the OPUS competition and the 21st edition of the PRELUDIUM competition. OPUS is aimed at researchers at all stages of their research career, with no restrictions on degree, age or research experience. In this edition, 1,983 applications were submitted, from which 266 winning applications were selected. The PRELUDIUM competition supports the development of young researchers by giving them the opportunity to gain experience in project management even before obtaining a doctoral degree. The list for this edition included 253 applications out of 2,163 submitted.
The winners of the OPUS competition are: prof. Magdalena Kucia, head of the Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine, prof. Mariusz Ratajczak from the Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine and prof. Piotr Pruszczyk from the Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Centre for Diagnosis and Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism.
- Prof. Kucia will receive PLN 2,859,680 from NCN for a project entitled. "Influence of the 'yin and yang' of purinergic receptors type P2X and P1 on the hematopoietic stem cell compartment".
- Prof. Ratajczak will receive PLN 2,674,240 for the project 'New insights into the role of complement circulating in peripheral blood and expressed in haematopoietic stem cells in the regulation of haematopoiesis'.
- Prof. Pruszczyk will receive £777,750 for the project 'Evaluation of L-tryptophan metabolites in the kynurenine axis in relation to inflammation severity in acute pulmonary embolism and post pulmonary embolism syndrome'. MUW is the leader in this project, with the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences as a partner.
Among the applications with funding in the PRELUDIUM competition were two by researchers from the MUW: Dr Anna Nowak, from the Chair and Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, and Dr Marcin Jasiński from the Chair and Department of Hematology, Transplantation and Internal Medicineof the UCC MUW. Each researcher received funding of more than £200,000.
- Doctor. Anna Nowak is the author of the project entitled 'Pharmacogenomics of SGLT2 inhibitors - investigating the role of empagliflozin in the epigenetic modification of the non-coding RNA - sirtuin - sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 axis after myocardial infarction'. The project supervisor is Prof. Marek Postula.
- Doctor. Marcin Jasinski is the author of 'The role of the gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of plasmocytic dyscrasias'. The project supervisor is Prof. Grzegorz Basak.