National Science Centre awards millions for research of UPWr scientists

• In the OPUS 21 competition, aimed at research projects and financing the purchase of equipment, the UPWr has as many as seven projects
• TANGO and BEETHOVEN add prestige to two large projects of our scientists
• Scientists from three leading disciplines were the best in the PRELUDIUM 20 competition
• Five Doctors were awarded in the MINIATURE 5 competition
• The winner of the international competition JPIAMR-ACTION Call 2021 is from the UPWr

On 26 November we announced the results of the PRELUDIUM 20 and OPUS 21 competitions of the National Science Centre. As part of the first one, nearly PLN 2 million will be allocated to research projects carried out by people without a doctoral degree. In the second one, addressed to scientists at all stages of their careers, funding was awarded to three of our projects and an additional four under a consortium where UPWr is a partner. This is a real opportunity for development and our great success. We are a leader among science universities.

OPUS 21: independently and in a consortium

In the OPUS 21 competition for research projects, including financing the purchase or production of research equipment necessary for their implementation, we have as many as seven projects. Three are independent projects, which will receive over PLN 2 million: one from each of the three leading scientific disciplines (civil engineering and transport, socio-economic geography and spatial management, as well as animal science and fishery). Four more are projects within a consortium where the UPWr is a partner (two of them went to veterinary scientists, one each from civil engineering and transport, and life sciences).

Those awarded include:

• Paweł Bogusławski: A new multidimensional data structure for scale-variable representation of a spatial model (PLN 490 520);
• Paweł Krzysztof Swianiewicz: The structure of local government and styles of political leadership in Polish municipal local governments (PLN 420,200);
• Joanna Szyda: Bioinformatic modelling of the effects of probiotic supplementation on the microbiomes of rearing ponds and the carp digestive system (PLN 1,184,760);
• Grzegorz Apoznański from the UPWr and Dr. Aleksander Rachwald from the Forest Research Institute (project leader): Influence of the grading of the European wood bark beetle (Ips typographus) on colonisation and utilisation of spruce and mixed stands with spruce participation by a complex of forest bat species in the European lowland forest – the Białowieża Forest (PLN 103 800),
• Alina Wieliczko from the UPWr and Dr Igor Buzalewicz from Wrocław University of Technology (project leader): Multi-parametric phenotyping of bacteria and their spatial structures (PLN 217,282),
• Bożena Obmińska-Mrukowicz from the UPWr and Prof. Michał Zimecki from the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy Ludwik Hirszfeld, Polish Academy of Sciences (project leader): Research on the potential importance of yolkin, egg yolk protein, in the maturation, stimulation and regulation of the immune system (PLN 262,246),
• Maya Blagoeva Ilieva from the UPWr and Dr. Grzegorz Lizurek from the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (project leader): Research on the process of tremors triggering by artificial water reservoirs by means of cluster identification and machine learning techniques (PLN 23,760).

TANGO and BEETHOVEN for the UPWr

The director of the National Centre for Research and Development also announced the results of the TANGO competition carried out with the National Science Centre. It covers support for the practical use of the results of basic research.

The Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences together with the Włodzimierz Trzebiatowski Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of PAN and the company Vivadental received a grant (PLN 2,879,881) for a project entitled ‘Development of a therapeutic platform for accelerated bone tissue augmentation, including in osteoporotic patients, based on nanometric calcium hydroxyapatite mixed with supermagnetic iron oxides and functionalised with RNA molecules’. The Project Manager is Professor Krzysztof Marycz from the UPWr.

As part of the BEETHOVEN CLASSIC 4 competition for Polish-German research projects in the field of humanities, social sciences and art, Dr. Iga Solecka from the UPWr received received PLN 412,234 in funding for a project together with Sarah Gottwald from Leuphana University Lüneburg: The importance of place and mobility in cross-border context - an essentialist and progressive perspective.

PRELUDIUM 20: the success of young scientists

In the PRELUDIUM 20 competition, scientists from three main disciplines were the best performers: environmental engineering, mining and energy (3 projects), civil engineering and transport (2 projects), agriculture and horticulture (2 projects). The disciplines of biological sciences, food and nutrition technology, veterinary medicine, animal science and fishery had one project each among the winners.

• Agnieszka Krawczyk-Łebek: New flavonoid glycosides with a chlorine atom with potential antimicrobial activity (PLN 137,372),
• Karolina Tkacz: Amplification of synbiotic formulas with phenolic compounds as a factor modulating bioavailability in the context of postprandial hyperglycemia (PLN 210,000),
• Aleksandra Tabiś: Can preservatives commonly used in food protect consumers against the risk of consuming staphylococcal enterotoxins? (PLN 210,000),
• Kamil Smolak: Explaining and alleviating statistical burdens in human mobility forecasts (PLN 206 298),
• Agata Walicka: Development of methodology based on deep learning for repeatable classification of different types of airborne laser scanning point clouds (PLN 138,416),
• Daria Marczak: Research on biodegradation processes of geotextiles made of natural fibres and plant vegetation support additives used in environmental engineering (PLN 138,400),
• Karolina Sobieraj: Influence of technological parameters of bio-waste composting on the efficiency of production of carbon monoxide - a precursor to the production of biohydrogen (PLN 209,954),
• Paweł Tomczyk: Research on changes in water quality in river systems used for hydropower - modelling changes in elements of the ecological status of waters (PLN 208,920),
• Aleksandra Kot: Water-soluble organic matter and greenhouse gas emissions from volcanic soils as indicators of natural and anthropogenic changes in south-eastern Iceland (PLN 208,996),
• Monika Słupska: A material model for the new, promising apple variety Chopin, based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) (PLN 128 500),
• Damian Konkol: Determining the immunomodulatory properties of levan as a poultry feed additive (PLN 139,831).

UPWr MINIATURE 5 projects awarded

On 1 December the National Science Centre published the latest ranking list of the MINIATURE 5 competition. Scientists who had not managed NCN grants so far could take part in it.

– One of the goals of this competition is to expand the group of winners of NCN competitions and to encourage scientists from smaller research centres to participate. In the 5th edition, the NCN Council decided to increase the budget of the MINIATURE competition by over PLN 4 million due to the very high level of applications – informed the NCN in a press release.

Among the awarded were five scientists from the UPWr (three from veterinary medicine, and one each from animal science and fishery, as well as food and nutrition technology). In total, they will receive almost PLN 250,000 for research. They are:

• Anna Pudło: Reconstitution of collagen fibres in the presence of proteoglycans and keratan sulphate (PLN 49,973),
• Angelika Sysak: Evaluation of the in vitro immunomodulatoryactivity of synthetic 7-aminoxazolo [5,4-d] pyrimidine derivatives (PLN 49,995),
• Katarzyna Morka: Does belonging to a biotype matter for the survival and pathogenicity of Yersinia enterocoliticain red blood cell concentrate (RBC)? (PLN 49 534),
• Ewa Popiela: The effect of thermal stress on fertility and mating behaviour of honey bee drones (PLN 49,984),
• Maciej Zacharski: Identification of genes whose products are related to the pathogenesis of canine prostate cancer (PLN 49,995).

Our JPIAMR-ACTION Call 2021 winner

Four projects, with the participation of five Polish teams, were awarded in the One Health interventions to prevent or reduce the development and transmission of AMR competition. This competition is part of the ERA-NET JPIAMR-ACTION programme, co-financed by 30 agencies from 21 countries, including the National Science Centre and the European Commission. Topics included using the One Health approach to: understand the impact of interventions on the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance or develop, implement, evaluate and compare interventions that will have a significant impact on preventing or reducing the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance.

109 applications were submitted in the competition, of which 19 projects, including four from Poland, received EUR 25.6 million in funding. Among them is the project: Interventions to control the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in chickens in the environment (ENIVRE) by Dr. Marta Kuźmińska-Bajor. The UPWr scientist will implement it together with a five-person strong international team.