| Narodowe Centrum Nauki

Molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis in extreme environmental conditions

Principal Investigator :
Dr hab. Joanna Monika Kargul, Prof. UW
Centre for New Technologies, University of Warsaw

Panel: NZ1

Funding scheme : OPUS 8
announced on 15 September 2014

Solar energy powers life on our planet through the fundamental process of photosynthesis. Natural photosystems are made up of large membrane protein complexes, which use spatially organized systems of electron transfer cofactors and pigments to create highly efficient macromolecular nanomachines that convert solar energy into chemical energy. Converting solar power into fuel may serve as the most attractive source of clean energy as the demand for power grows in our time. In an era of global climate change, there is an urgent need to thoroughly study the molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis, especially in extreme conditions similar to those that accompanied the emergence of the first forms of life.

Photo by Michał Łepecki The structure of photosynthetic apparatus of Cyanidioschyzon merolae, an extremophilic unicellular red alga harvested from volcanic hot springs implies that this microalga constitutes an evolutionary link between cyanobacteria and higher plants. Our project studied how the photosynthetic apparatus of this thermophilic and acidophilic microalga regulates its function in extreme environmental conditions. For this purpose, we examined: (1) the pattern of dynamic changes in the structure of antenna systems (systems that capture solar power) connected to photosystems I and II (PSI and PSII) in the cells of C. merolae, as influenced by the quantity and spectral quality of available light; (2) water substrate exchange rates in the catalytic centre of PSII (an enzyme that splits water upon absorption of sunlight); (3) the role of carotenoids, i.e. pigments, identified in PSI and PSII complexes obtained from C. merolae, which protect the photosynthetic apparatus from excess sunlight. We also looked into (4) the kinetics of the early processes of solar energy conversion, including the solar energy transfer pathways in photosystems isolated from this extremophilic microalga.

Photo by Michał Łepecki Both photosystems isolated from this fascinating extremophile were shown to be exceptionally stable under extreme pH, temperature and light conditions. The quantum efficiency of the water-splitting enzyme (PSII) also remained unchanged regardless of light conditions. Thanks to our highly interdisciplinary approach, which employed biochemical, biophysical, proteomic, and advanced microscopic imaging methods to study individual photosynthetic complexes, we were able to define the following molecular mechanisms by which the photosynthetic apparatus of C. merolae adapts to fluctuating light: (i) the accumulation of photoprotective pigments (zeaxanthin and β-carotene) in antenna complexes and photosynthetic reaction centres; (ii) dynamic changes in the structure of antennae and photochemical reaction centres in PSI and PSII complexes, on the level of both proteins and pigments, which improves the use of sunlight for cellular metabolism; and (iii) the same photosynthetic water-splitting reaction kinetics in the PSII complex of C. merolae as in its equivalent in mesophilic organisms.

We need to know these precise molecular mechanisms that regulate the high stability and photoprotection of the photosynthetic apparatus of the extremophilic unicellular alga C. merolae so as to understand the processes of efficient solar energy conversion and cellular energy homeostasis in extreme environmental conditions. The research has a high translational potential. It will facilitate the development of better strategies for manufacturing stable and efficient biomimetic devices to convert solar energy into clean fuels under extreme conditions, thus promoting a more efficient production of clean energy.

Project title: Structural and functional characterisation of the photosynthetic apparatus of an extremophilic red microalga Cyanidioschyzon merolae

Dr hab. Joanna Monika Kargul, Prof. UW

Head of the Solar Fuels Lab at the Centre for New Technologies, University of Warsaw. She got her PhD in biological sciences in 1999 from the University of Warwick (UK), and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in a group led by Professor James Barber at Imperial College London, where she studied the structure and function of photosynthetic complexes. Her research led to the ground-breaking discovery of unique molecular mechanisms that govern rapid photosynthetic adaptation to changing environments. She earned her habilitation degree at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw in 2009. In 2011, upon her return from London to Warsaw, she set up an interdisciplinary international team of biologists and chemists to conduct basic and applied research into the fundamental processes of natural photosynthesis, as well as the production of so-called solar fuels in biomolecular devices for artificial photosynthesis.

Pre-announcement of the JPND Call 2022

The project consortia must have a minimum of 3 eligible and independent partners requesting funding from at least 3 different countries participating in the call.

This will be a two-step call, expected to be launched in early January 2022, with a likely pre-proposal submission deadline in early March 2022. Further details will be provided at the launch of the call.

For further details, please check the JPND website.

Please note that this pre-announcement is for information purposes only. It does not create any obligation for the JPND consortium, nor for any of the participating funding organizations. The official call announcement, to be published later, shall prevail.

Contact:

Dr Jadwiga Spyrka, jadwiga.spyrka@ncn.gov.pl

Alicja Dyląg, alicja.dylag@ncn.gov.pl, tel. 12 341 09 69, +48 532 086 494

Antimicrobial peptides – an antidote to drug resistance

Principal Investigator :
Dr hab. inż. Magdalena Rowińska-Żyrek
University of Wrocław

Panel: ST5

Funding scheme : SONATA BIS 7
announced on 17 March 2014

Funded under the SONATA BIS call, this project was inspired by the marked rise in drug resistance that we have now seen for more than 30 years. Drugs we have relied on until now are gradually becoming ineffective as pathogenic bacteria and fungi develop specific defence mechanisms that make them drug-resistant.

In our research, we try to understand the correlation between the coordination, thermodynamic stability, structure and mode of action of antimicrobial peptide-metal complexes.

Photo by Michał Łepecki Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are often viewed as potential next-generation therapeutics. What offers a glimmer of hope is that even though they have been around for millions of years, barring a few exceptions, microbes still seem to have developed no resistance to these substances.

Biologically essential metal ions, such as zinc, Zn(II) and copper, Cu(II), have a dual effect on the activity of antimicrobial peptides: (1) AMPs bind metal ions, which means that microbes cannot get enough of these essential metals to survive and cause disease (metal-ion capturing, nutritional immunity) or (2) AMPs require specific metal ions to reinforce their antimicrobial action (metal ions impact AMP charge/structure). To the best of my knowledge, no prior research has looked into the various relationships between the ability of AMP to bind metal ions, their structure, mode of action and biological activity; this subject matter has become the main research domain of my team, working in tandem with our consortium partner, a team led by Dr Agnieszka Matera-Witkiewicz from the Wrocław Medical University.

We focused on the thermodynamics, structure and coordination chemistry of selected AMPs with Zn(II) and/or Cu(II) and compared these data with our results concerning the biological activity of metal-AMP complexes against selected strains of bacteria and fungi, as well as cytotoxicity against selected cell lines, which allowed us to draw important conclusions on the relationship between the structure and stability of the metal-AMP complex and its efficacy and mode of action.

Funded under SONATA BIS and, subsequently, PRELUDIUM BIS, PRELUDIUM and OPUS grants (with Joanna Wątły acting as the PI under the last of these), our research brought a number of important discoveries. For instance, we discovered that the coordination of Zn(II) to some AMPs involves a specific structural and morphological change which, in its turn, makes the entire complex effective at combating fungal pathogens. This phenomenon was observed for human amylin analogues and peptides from the shepherin group.

Our team - standing from left side: Kinga Garstka, Emilia Dzień, Silke Andra, Natalia Nogala, Dorota Dudek, Aleksandra Hecel-Czaplicka; sitting from left side: Adriana Miller, Magdalena Rowinska-Żyrek, Valentyn Dzyhovskyi, Joanna Wątły. Fot. Dominika Hull, UWr

We also got exciting results for Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes with PvHCt, an antimicrobial peptide derived from shrimps. The coordination of Cu(II) has a very strong impact on its structure and antimicrobial properties, showing a clear and fascinating link between metal coordination, structure and function. What is intriguing is that PvHCt inhibits microbial growth only in the presence of metal ions, especially those of Cu(II), which coordinates to the central part of the peptide and its C-terminal region, thus inducing a structural change, increasing the proportion of the α-helix and initiating the formation of reactive oxygen species. Cu(II) coordination has a very clear impact on the antimicrobial activity of the complex, showing significant efficacy against E. coli, MRSA and E. faecalis, with a promising value of MIC = 16 µg/ml.

We also demonstrated the impact of a local change in the charge of AMP complexes on their biological activity and described the impact of the pre-organisation of the Zn(II) binding site on the biological properties of its complex with clavanin. Our results have been reported in more than twenty renowned publications, and our fascination with AMP complexes has not stopped there: we are now trying to go a step further and improve their proteolytic stability, i.e., make them more biologically stable. A longer half-life in the body would make AMP complexes fit for use in therapy; we are now working on a solution to the problem with the use of so-called inverso-peptides, which exhibit reversed sequences and chirality compared to the parent molecules, but an identical array of side chains, and sometimes even a similar structure. The presence of D-amino acids, which cause reversed chirality, makes them less susceptible to proteolytic degradation, thus eliminating the main drawback of peptide-based medicines, i.e., their lack of stability.

Both AMPs and retro-inverso peptides seem like a real treasure trove for scientists wishing to discover new, safe drugs with a prolonged half-life and increased potential, but this is not the only reason why we investigate them. From the point of view of chemistry, our work is also an intellectually rewarding, incredibly robust contribution to our general knowledge of the basic bioinorganic chemistry of (still unstudied) complexes of retro-inverso peptides with Zn(II) and Cu(II).

Project title: Antimicrobial peptide – metal interactions – understanding the correlation between coordination chemistry, structure, thermodynamics and mode of action

Dr hab. inż. Magdalena Rowińska-Żyrek

Earned an MSc in biotechnology and physics (2008) and a PhD (2011) and habilitation degree (2018) in chemical sciences. Author of more than 70 publications. Graduate of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology and École Normale Supérieure de Cachan. Between 2012 and 2015, she worked at the University of Zurich. Currently, she heads a team at the University of Wrocław that tries to decipher the secrets of antimicrobial peptides (a promising alternative to traditional antibiotic therapies) and zincophores (molecules that guide these therapeutics to selected bacteria and fungi).

Prof. Magdalena Rowińska-Żyrek, photo by Dominika Hull

Success of Polish researchers in the BiodivERsA & Water JPI call for proposals

We are pleased to announce that four projects involving Polish researchers have been awarded funding in the call entitled BiodivRestore: Conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and their biodiversity, including a focus on aquatic systems. The call announced in October 2020 covered the following subjects:

Studying the biological and biophysical processes at stake for conservation/restoration, and their interactions;
Assessing trade-offs and synergies between targets, benefits and policies for conservation and restoration;
Knowledge for improving the effectiveness and upscaling of conservation and restoration actions.

Within the call applicants have submitted 172 proposals. Over EUR 21,4 million have been granted to 22 research projects.

Polish projects awarded within the BiodivRestore call:

BiNatUr: Bringing nature back – biodiversity friendly nature-based solutions in cities. Polish Principal Investigator: prof. Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz, Poznań University of Life Sciences. The project will involve research teams from Belgium, Germany, Finland and Portugal.
EMYS-R: A socio-ecological evaluation of wetlands restoration and reintroduction programs in favor of the emblematic European pond turtle and associated biodiversity: a pan-European approach. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Małgorzata Anna Dereniowska, University of Gdańsk. The project will involve research teams from France, Germany and Latvia.
RESPOND: Restoring and Managing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Temporary Pond Landscapes. Polish Principal Investigator: dr hab. Bartłomiej Kazimierz Gołdyn, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The project will involve research teams from Belgium, Spain and Morocco
ReVersal: Restoring peatlands of the nemoral zone under conditions of varying water supply and quality. Polish Principal Investigator: prof. Mariusz Grzegorz Lamentowicz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The project will involve research teams from Austria, Germany and Netherlands.

The implementation of research projects funded in the BiodivRestore call will start in December 2021. More information and the full list of the projects recommended for funding are available on the BiodivERsA web page.

Sound memories: The Musical Past in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe

Principal Investigator :
Dr hab. Paweł Gancarczyk, Prof. IS PAN
Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences

Panel: HS2

Funding scheme : HERA Public spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe
announced on 28 August 2017

Our current repertoire is dominated by the music of the past; it reigns supreme both in concert halls and on radio stations, which love to broadcast the golden oldies. We frequently go back to the music created decades or centuries ago and accord it great importance in our culture, European and national identity, as well as a regional and generational sense of belonging. Underway since the early 19th century, this trend has been further reinforced by contemporary media. But how was the music of the past perceived several centuries ago, in the late medieval and the early modern period? Was it also somehow important then? Is it true that 15th- and 16th-century audiences preferred a largely contemporary repertoire? These questions were addressed by a research project conducted by musicologists from universities in Cambridge, Heidelberg/Zurich, Prague and Utrecht, as well as the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.

Photo by Michał Łepecki Scholars from these five research centres examined a wide variety of 13th-16th-century sources, both those that were already well known and those that were first discovered and analysed within the framework of the project, and searched them for data and music pieces that document the presence of music from the past in the medieval and the early-modern period. It turned out that such music played an important role in the identity of certain social and religious groups, e.g. the Czech Utraquists or Lutherans in Northern Germany. As early as the 13th-century, polyphonic music was being archived at the University of Paris. In the 15th and 16th centuries, alongside new works, there existed a large body of earlier pieces going back to the preceding decades but also to earlier generations and historical periods. The Warsaw team (Paweł Gancarczyk, Antonio Chemotti, Bartłomiej Gembicki) presented this phenomenon using the example of various music genres practiced in Central Europe, such as the hymns collected by the Lutheran pastor Valentin Triller (Wrocław, 1555). They also asked how this old music functions in the 21st century, both in academic discourse and among performers and listeners.

Photo by Michał Łepecki The project’s products include: four PhD dissertations, two monographs, a critical edition of music and a number of articles published, for instance, in a volume entitled Sounding the Past: Music as History and Memory (Turnhout, 2020). In accordance with the requirements of the HERA programme, the researchers put great emphasis on outreach activities, organizing seminars, workshops, concerts and exhibitions, as well as publishing popular articles and teaching young people. In this endeavour, they worked in tandem with associate partners: musical ensembles, such as Bastarda (Warsaw), La Morra (Basel), Schola Gregoriana Pragensis (Prague), Trigon (Leiden), and a new group formed as a result of the project, Anonymous III (Cambridge). Young composers from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague composed modern pieces inspired by early music and a CD with late medieval compositions was released. The team produced several documentary films which, along with videos recorded during the concerts, are now available on their YouTube channel, “SoundMe HERA Research Project”. More information: www.soundme.eu (archived website).

Project title: Sound Memories: The Musical Past in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe

Dr hab. Paweł Gancarczyk, Prof. IS PAN

Head of the Department of Musicology of the Institute of Art at the Polish Academy of Sciences and editor-in-chief of the Muzyka quarterly. In 2020, he was elected as a member of Academia Europaea and the Warsaw Scientific Society. He specialises in the history of medieval and early modern music. The French version of his monograph Muzyka wobec rewolucji druku [Music and the Printing Revolution] won the Prix des Muses (2016). In 2021, he published a book entitled Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudecz i muzyka Europy Środkowej XV wieku [Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudecz and the Music of 15th-century Central Europe].

MINIATURA 5 results

In the last call addressed to researchers who have not managed any NCN-funded research projects, 300 research activities were deemed eligible, with a total of almost 700. We have just published the last ranking list under MINIATURA 5.

Funding awarded under MINIATURA 5 could have been designated for preliminary/pilot studies, library and archive searches, fellowships, research visits and/ or consultations. Proposals were submitted on an on-going basis, between May and September. The ranking lists of eligible research activities were published once a month. The ranking list of proposals submitted in September is now available.

Funding will be provided for preliminary studies concerning, comprehensibility and availability of contents on the websites of Polish central authorities and use of river areas in the three largest cities of Eastern Poland. The last list includes 321 winning researchers. The added value of the successful research activities is 11.9 mln PLN. We were able to award more grants because, the Ministry of Science and Education increased their funding of the NCN.

A call for a good start

One of the aims of the MINIATURA call is to expand the group of winning applicants and encourage researchers from the research institutions reluctant to apply for NCN funding to do so. Proposals may be submitted by investigators who have not managed any NCN-funded projects and have not been successful in a call for doctoral scholarships or fellowships.

Funding of 5,000 to 50,000 PLN was awarded for research activities performed within 12 months. The call was available to researchers who received their PhD after 1 January 2009 and whose scientific achievements included at least one paper published or at least one artistic achievements in research or achievement in research in art.

In the fifth round of the call, the NCN Council decided to increase the call budget by approx. 4 million PLN due to the high quality of proposals, in particular proposals submitted by researchers from smaller academic centres.

Experience from the previous MINIATURA calls show that the MINIATURA call winners have successfully applied for other grants, for example, 19 researchers who had managed a research project under MINIATURA were among the winners of the OPUS call, the results of which were published a few days ago.

Numbers

Proposals submitted in September
Funding awarded for particular research groups:

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: 90 research activities with a value of 2 173 463 PLN
Physical Sciences and Engineering: 82 research activities with a value of 2 977 355 PLN
Life Sciences: 149 research activities with a value of 6 730 868 PLN

A total number of proposals submitted to the MINIATURA 5 call between May and September
Funding awarded for particular research groups:

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: 193 research activities with a value of 4 789 738 PLN
Physical Sciences and Engineering: 207 research activities with a value of 7 871 798 PLN
Life Sciences: 294 research activities with a value of 13 557 145 PLN

949 proposals were submitted in September and a total of 1898 proposals in the entire call.
A success rate for the latest ranking list was 33.82%.
A success rate for all proposals submitted to the call was 36.56%.

Decisions

The decisions for all successful and unsuccessful projects submitted to MINIATURA 5 call in September will be sent today. Please remember that the decisions are delivered to the applicant in electronic format to the Electronic Delivery Box (ESP ePUAP) provided in the proposal. If you do not receive a decision, please make sure that the address (ESP) listed in your proposal is correct. If it is not, contact the person in charge of the proposal, as indicated in the ZSUN/OSF system.

Polish research teams awarded funds in the JPI AMR call

Four research projects conducted by five Polish teams have been awarded funding in the transnational call One Health interventions to prevent or reduce the development and transmission of AMR launched by the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance.

The call was launched in January 2021, within the framework of the ERA-NET JPIAMR-ACTION, and was supported by 30 research funding organisations from 21 countries, including the National Science Centre, and by the European Commission. Using a One Health approach, the call aimed to

understand the impact of interventions on the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance, and to
design, implement, evaluate, and compare interventions reducing the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance.

109 proposals were submitted to the call, out of which 19 projects involving 114 partners from 35 different countries have been recommended for funding. The total funding amount is 25,6 M€.

The following projects involving Polish research teams were awarded in the JPIAMR-ACTION Call 2021:

ENVIRE Interventions to control the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance from chickens through the environment.

Applicant: Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences. Polish Principal Investigator: dr inż. Marta Kuźmińska-Bajor. The project will involve research teams from France, Germany, Lithuania, and Tunisia.

ICONIC Ionophore coccidiostats: risk of CO-selectioN of antImicrobial resistance – Clinical impact and intervention strategies.

Applicant: National Veterinary Research Institute in Puławy. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Jowita Samanta Niczyporuk. The project will involve research teams from France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway.

PhageLand Phage treatment and wetland technology as intervention strategy to prevent dissemination of antibiotic resistance in surface waters.

Applicants: Warsaw University of Life Sciences and University of Warsaw. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Małgorzata Dorota Grzesiuk-Bieniek (WULS). The project will involve research teams from Belgium, Moldova, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

STARS-TAP Specific Targeting of Antimicrobial Resistant Strains in situ using Targeted-Antibacterial-Plasmids. Applicant: Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute in Puławy. Polish Principal Investigator: dr Anna Marzec-Grządziel. The project will involve research teams from Belgium, and France.

The implementation of research projects funded within the call will start in early 2021.

More information and the full list of the projects recommended for funding are available on the JPIAMR website.

Record-breaking editions of OPUS and PRELUDIUM

Over 900 grants will be awarded to researchers from all over Poland in NCN-funded research projects in the area of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. We have not had that many winners in the OPUS and PRLUDIUM calls for years!

"We were able to award more grants because the Ministry of Education and Science significantly increased their funding of the NCN. The quality of proposals submitted to the calls is usually very high and we often regret that we have to reject projects which, in our opinion and in the opinion of our experts, mainly international ones, should be funded" says Zbigniew Błocki, Director of the National Science Centre. A total of almost 559 million PLN will be awarded for research projects submitted under the OPUS call and over 77 million PLN under the PRELUDIUM call.

Researchers submitted a total number of 4531 proposals to the two calls. The NCN coordinators and experts recommended 912 projects for funding following the eligibility check and merit-based evaluation of proposals. The last time the National Science Centre awarded a similar number of grants under the OPUS call was in 2017 and in the case of PRELUDIUM, more researchers were only awarded funding in the first edition of the call ten years ago.

RANKING LIST

The OPUS call is addressed at researchers at any stage of their research careers. Principal investigators must have at least one research paper published or accepted for publication in their research track or, in the case of research in art, at least one artistic achievement or achievement in research in art. Principal investigators are not required to be PhD holders. Funding awarded under the call may be designated for research projects carried out by a research team affiliated with, for example, a university, research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, research library or scientific and industrial centre, including a research project involving large-scale international research infrastructure or carried out in cooperation with foreign partners.

Under PRELUDIUM, the principal investigator must not be a PhD holder (and does not even have to be a PhD student) and the project may (but does not have to) be related to the subject of the doctoral dissertation. The research team must not comprise of more than 3 members, including the principal investigator and mentor. “The NCN allows young researchers to be more independent in their efforts to seek funding of their research. We are the only grant agency (or perhaps one of very few grant agencies in the world) to provide funding directly to PhD holders (under PRELUDIUM). This is an expression of great confidence in young researchers who are just starting their research careers and a chance for them to spread their wings” says Professor Jacek Kuźnicki, President of the NCN Council.

Out of a total number of 2314 proposals submitted to the OPUS call, 417 will be funded; in the case of PRELUDIUM, out of a total number of 2217 proposals, 495 were recommended for funding. The success rate in the calls was 18% and 22.3%, respectively.

From travel literature to space exploration

The scope of research that has been awarded funding is very wide. Projects will cover all academic disciplines or groups of disciplines of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Life Sciences. Under the OPUS call, funding will be awarded for research projects concerning, e.g., medieval Japanese travel literature by Dr Adam Bednarczyk from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, the impact of demographic changes on the electoral market by Dr hab. Agnieszka Turska-Kawa from the University of Silesia in Katowice, bioethics of space exploration by Dr Konrad Szocik from the University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów and universal vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variants based on conserved epitopes of spike protein by Dr Katarzyna Grzyb from the University of Gdansk.

The winners of the PRELUDIUM call will research, inter alia, the effects of high pressure treatment on expression of antimicrobial resistance(Urszula Zarzecka from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn), agent-based modelling of diffusion of electric vehicles among households interested in applying photovoltaic microsystems (Karolina Bienias from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology) and links between algebraic, modal and multiple valued quantum logic (Elżbieta Drozdowska from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin).

"Our grant awarding system is merit-based. NCN officers and members of the Council are always happy to talk to the representatives of science and guide them to increase their chances for success in the future calls", says Professor Kuźnicki.
The majority of grants went to the researchers from the largest academic and research centres, i.e. Warsaw, Krakow, Poznań, Wrocław and Gdańsk. A large portion of funding was also awarded to researchers from Katowice, Toruń and Łódź. Furthermore, the ranking lists include projects that will be carried out by researchers from all over Poland.

A list of all OPUS and PRELUDIUM proposals in PDF format.

Weave-UNISONO – forecasted proposal submission deadline under the call for research projects carried out jointly with research teams from Slovenia

Please note that under the Weave-UNISONO call, proposals may be submitted to the ARRS as the lead agency between 17 December 2021 and mid-February 2022 (the exact dates will be provided at a later date). NCN proposals must be submitted electronically via the ZSUN/OSF submission system as soon as possible following the submission of the joint proposal to the ARRS, within 7 calendar days at the latest.

Please read the important information on the dates and application procedure in the Weave-UNISONO call and the updated call documentation.

SHENG 2 results – joint research by scientists from Poland and China

In the second round of the international call for Polish-Chinese research proposals, funding was awarded to 18 projects. Applicants had vied for grants in the Life Sciences and selected disciplines of Physical Sciences and Engineering, as well as Social Sciences. The total budget slated for the Polish part of the research projects amounted to nearly 28 million PLN.

RANKING LIST

Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death around the world. A large proportion of people who suffer heart attacks also develop heart failure due to other causes, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, or various infections. At just 50%, the five-year survival rate of patients with heart failure is lower than for many cancers. These problems will be addressed by Professor Józef Dulak from the Jagiellonian University in a project entitled “Wzmocnienie naprawy serca po zawale za pomocą genetycznie ulepszonych kardiomiocytów i komórek śródbłonka uzyskanych z indukowanych pluripotencjalnych komórek macierzystych” [“Genetically-enhanced HiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells for post-myocardial infarction cardiac repair”]. The findings of the project will pave the way for new, safe and effective heart failure treatments. The project was awarded nearly 2 million PLN in funding.

Food wastage and the accumulation of food waste have now become a global problem. At present, the world’s population (more than 7 billion people) produces c. 1.3 billion tons of food waste per year. The annual household waste generated within the EU is estimated to be as high as 76 kg per person; the corresponding figure for China is much lower and stands at 16 kg. The main goal of Professor Jacek Mąkinia from the Gdańsk University of Technology is to study the fermentation of food waste aimed at high-added value products (carboxylic acids). The REVAMP project will allow the valorisation of different kinds of waste to be compared and contribute to a greater understanding of the food waste fermentation process targeted at the recovery of valuable products. Entitled “Odzysk wartościowych produktów z fermentacji odpadów spożywczych poprzez sonokawitację i intensyfikację hydrotermalną: porównanie efektywności, mechanizm regulacyjny i modelowanie (REVAMP)” [“Recovering valuable food waste fermentation products by sonic cavitation and hydrothermal intensification: a comparison of efficacy, regulation mechanism and modelling (REVAMP)”], the project received nearly 1 million PLN in funding.

Substance abuse and behavioural addictions, such as gaming addictions, are a growing problem today, not least in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr hab. Mateusz Gola from the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences will work in Poland and China to study the discrepancy between behavioural expectations and outcomes (PE – prediction error) in subjects with different forms of addiction. Dr hab. Gola received a grant of 2.2 million PLN for a project entitled “W stronę zintegrowanego modelu błędów predykcji nagrody w uzależnieniach od substancji i zachowań. Badanie EEG metodą potencjałów wywołanych” [“Toward an integrated model of reward prediction errors in substance and behavioural addictions. An ERP/EEG study]. The team designed a sequence of 6 studies with more than 800 subjects in Poland and China, including individuals with a diagnosed alcohol, methamphetamine or gambling addiction. By carrying out measurements in two different countries, they will be able to analyse several theories on how people with addictions learn and predict future events or behaviours and, finally, assess the extent to which any potential discoveries may be generalised.

The international bilateral call for Polish-Chinese research projects, SHENG 2, organized by the National Science Centre in tandem with the National Natural Science Foundation of China relied on a parallel review procedure. This means that both agencies carried out parallel formal eligibility checks and merit-based assessments and funding was granted only to projects recommended both by the NCN and the NSFC. Because of the very high quality of submitted proposals, the ranking list only includes the projects selected as the best by both agencies.

The successful projects will be carried out in Poland and China and each will have two principal investigators, one in either country. The grant may go toward funding research team salaries, scholarships for students or PhD students, purchasing or manufacturing research equipment, and other necessary costs necessary to complete the Polish part of the research project.

To find out more about the call, go HERE.

We will shortly send out the decisions for all successful and unsuccessful projects under SHENG 2. Please remember that the decisions of the NCN Director are delivered to the applicant in electronic form to the electronic address indicated in the proposal.

If the applicant is an entity described in Article 27 (1)-(7) and (9) or the Act on the National Science Centre, the decision will only be delivered to the Electronic Inbox (ESP ePUAP) provided in the proposal.

The funding decisions of the NCN Director are also communicated to the principal investigator. If you do not receive a decision, please make sure that the address (ESP, ePUAP, e-mail) listed in your proposal is correct. If it is not, contact the person in charge of the proposal, as indicated in the ZSUN/OSF system.

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