Dr. El Sayed Ali takes 3rd place in the Falling Walls Lab Wrocław competition

Falling Walls Lab is an international forum for innovators, creatives, and visionaries who are at the cusp of their careers. The competition was created to promote exceptional ideas and to connect with the most promising scientists and entrepreneurs from around the world.

Participants are tasked with presenting the results of their research or business idea in three minutes in front of a jury of experts and the general public.

Dr. El Sayed Ali's research focuses on the discovery and production of natural products with industrial applications, such as the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid used to prevent acute transplant rejections, taxol, and vinblastine, which are anti-cancer drugs, a cardiac glycoside with the ability to improve heart function, digoxin - used in medicine mainly to treat heart failure and biopigments. Over the past few years, his research interests have broadened to include the use of fungal endophytes for the synthesis of various nanomaterials as a green, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly platform.

Together with a team of scientists from UPWr, he is also working on developing a cost-effective fermentation process for natural pigments. By covering new bioactive compounds, searching for new carotenoids and other biopigments, and developing a cost-effective production process, they will unlock the potential of these microorganisms. Essentially, natural pigments (dyes) consist of a wide range of bioactive compounds that are used in industry as food colourings, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, or poultry feed. There is currently a growing demand to discover new sources of natural pigments, mainly due to the toxic effects caused by synthetic dyes used in many industries.

Falling Walls Lab Wrocław took place on the 22nd of September at the Oratorium Marianum in the Wrocław University Museum. During the event, an interdisciplinary jury of experts from academia and the public sector, led by Professor Anna Chełmońska-Soyta from Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, selected the winners.

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