UPWr scientists awarded by the Polish Academy of Sciences

Prof. Krzysztof Sośnica, head of the scientific discipline of civil engineering and transport and the Department of Satellite Geodesy at UPWr, is among the laureates of the scientific awards of the Division IV – Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences – he was awarded for a series of 16 works on the processing of laser and microwave observations to navigation and geodetic satellites.

Prof. Sośnica is currently the youngest full professor in Poland. He developed a methodology for integrating satellite laser ranging (SLR) and microwave observations from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).

- Improved methods of satellite data processing allow for the determination of exact orbits of artificial Earth satellites, which in turn translates into a better understanding of the processes taking place in the Earth's system, such as changes in the gravitational potential, irregularities in the Earth's rotation, deformation of the Earth's crust caused by anthropogenic and natural processes , and even verification of the impacts resulting from general relativity theory on the basis of anomalies in satellite movements – explains Prof. Sośnica and adds that research on the integration of independent observation techniques on board satellites – in particular the European Galileo system – make it possible to, for example, determine the variability of day length with previously unattainable accuracy thanks to the strong resonance of the GPS satellite orbit period with the Earth's rotation.

Krzysztof Sośnica manages a project financed by the European Space Agency (ESA), two OPUS projects of the National Science Centre and research tasks in two European Union projects. The laureate co-founded the Laser Observation Processing Centre for Artificial Earth Satellites, which received the status of an official centre of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). In 2019, he became the youngest honorary member of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG Fellow).

The series of publications presented for the award consisted of 16 scientific articles published within the last two years in journals to which the Ministry of Science and Higher Education assigns a score of 100–200 points. The laureate is the first or second author of all the submitted publications. He was also the initiator of those works, while exercising substantive supervision over their creation.

The Division II – Biological and Agricultural Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences awarded the series of works on "Species diversity of the genetic background of sex development disorders in domestic animals and a new approach to their diagnosis", authored by scientists from two universities: Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences and Poznań University of Life Sciences. The award went to prof. Stanisław Dzimira, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and prof. Wojciech Niżański, chairman of the Discipline Council for Veterinary Science and head of Innovative veterinary diagnostics and therapy WZB (Inno-WET), as well as prof. Marek Świtoński, prof. Izabela Szczerbal, prof. Joanna Nowacka-Woszuk, prof. Monika Stachowiak (Dragan) and Paulina Krzemińska.

- Our research, and thus the series of publications, concern disorders that we call intersexuality, i.e. bisexuality. In the individuals affected, we find the presence of internal and external sex organs of both sexes, so such an animal is an intermediate individual between male and female – says Prof. Wojciech Niżański.

As Professor Niżański explains, intersexuality is caused by mechanisms of genetic background, which may occur spontaneously, may be hereditary, but may also arise as a result of environmental impacts, such as the negative influence of pollutants or toxins in plastics, pharmacological substances or smog. These substances disturb hormonal balance, accumulate and directly affect the development of the embryo and foetus during pregnancy, but they can also affect the body by changing its metabolism, DNA, or lead to chromosomal aberrations in terms of their structure and number.

- At the present stage of our research, we are looking for genetic mechanisms that determine the occurrence of such changes, but we are doing it in order to make it easier to diagnose these cases in the future, which may enable us to predict whether a given animal will give birth to an intersex individual – explains prof. Niżański and adds that a key element is good diagnosis of each case, which consists of clinical epicrisis, imaging (computed tomography and USG), as well as genetic and molecular tests that are carried out in Poznań. Professor Stanisław Dzimira will be responsible for histological examinations.

- It all started at the beginning of the 21st century. The search for scientific partners resulted in establishing cooperation with a world-renowned team of geneticists representing our field of science from the University of Life Sciences in Poznań – led by prof. Marek Świtoński. The professor is an international authority and the cooperation with him has been extremely fruitful. What is interesting, we never met during the first 10 years of cooperation, but only exchanged results and e-mails - smiles prof. Wojciech Niżański. Research on intersexuality in mammals can be a model for research on such disorders in humans, as they are also exposed to the influence of civilization factors and related pollutants, which can affect both the DNA structure and many tissues of both the foetus and the mature organism.