Prof. Dr hab. Magdalena Król from the Institute of Biology of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences has won a Proof-of-Concept Grant awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) to pioneering projects that go beyond our current state of knowledge.
Król will analyse the impact of macrophage therapy on changes in the tumour microenvironment. She will rely on the results of her prior research into the TRAIN mechanism (TRAnsfer of Iron-binding proteiN), conducted under an initial ERC Starting Grant.
Prof. Król specializes in immuno-oncology and cancer biology. She heads an Independent Cancer Biology Lab at the Institute of Biology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences. She has won multiple awards and fellowships, founded the Cellis biotechnology start-up, where she works on an innovative solid tumour treatment, and the Cellis Laboratory, responsible for SARS-CoV-2 testing. She is the first Polish woman to make it to the final round of the EU Prize for Women Innovators. Prof. Król served as a PI in three grants funded by the National Science Centre between 2012 and 2022.
Worth 150,000 euro, Proof-of-Concept Grants are available to researchers who have previously finished at least one ERC grant. They allow scientists to apply the tools they have developed in practice and commercialise their research results. The funding is part of the EU programme “Horizon Europe”.