Two research projects submitted by scientists from the JU Faculty of Pharmacy and Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science will be realised within the framework of a Polish-French competition Polonium 2017/2018, coordinated by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development as well as Ministry of National Education. A total of 21 projects have been awarded in the competition.
The competition is funded by both parties according to national regulations. The Republic of France will provide 100 euro per day for researchers in France, reimburse the cost of travel to Poland up to 550 euro, and cover any expenditures related to the management of Campus France. The Republic of Poland will provide 300 zł per day for researcher in Poland and reimburse the cost of travel to France.
Scientists could submit projects from all academic disciplines and areas, although the preferred subjects were: energy; nuclear physics; astronomy; catalysis; sustainable development; agronomy and food safety; nanotechnology; biotechnology; life sciences; medicine (particularly cancer studies); information technology and communication. Bonus points were awarded to projects which included the following participants: young researchers, students, PhD candidates, and recent PhD graduates.
The first JU project funded within the framework of the Polonium competition is New selectively functional 5-HT receptor ligands as a prospect in neurodegenerative disease treatment led by Dr hab. Paweł Zajdel from the JU MC Department of Medicine Chemistry. The project’s French coordinator will be Dr Frédéric Lamaty from the Department of Green Chemistry of the Max Mousseron Institut des Biomolécules in Montpellier. Other researchers participating in the project are Dr Katarzyna Grychowska, Dr Vittorio Canale, Dr Nicolas Massurier and Marcin Drop.
‘The aim of the project is to develop the methods of synthesis of chemical compounds via flow chemistry and to design new particles affecting selected receptor structures located in the nervous system. This type of particles could potentially be used in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The project is interdisciplinary, which means that researchers from other higher education institutions – the Polish Academy of Science Institute of Pharmacology and Institute of Functional Genomics in Montpellier – will also participate in our study’, explained Dr hab. Paweł Zajdel.
The second winning JU project will be related to quantitative aspects of logic and programing. It will be coordinated by Prof. Marek Zaionc from the JU Chair in the Foundations of Computer Science and Prof. Olivier Bodini from Laboratoire d’Informatique de Paris-Nord. Other participants of the research include Dr Katarzyna Grygiel, Agnieszka Łupińska, Łukasz Lachowski and Maciej Bendkowski.
