The National Science Center announced the results of the OPUS 24+LAP/Weave competition addressed to Polish scientists who carry out bilateral and tripartite international research projects in cooperation with partners from Germany, Slovenia, Austria and the Czech Republic. The ranking list included the project of the research team of JU Prof. Anna Więckowska, PhD, DSc, carried out with scientists from the University of Ljubljana.

OPUS has the broadest formula of all NCN competitions and is intended for scientists at various stages of their career. In its 24th edition, scientists working in Polish units could apply for funding not only for national research projects, but also for international projects based on the Lead Agency Procedure (LAP). Thanks to LAP, it was possible to plan the project in cooperation with teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg or Belgium – Flanders.

The just-announced ranking list includes the project titled “Double attack on the NF-κB signaling pathway in the fight against diseases caused by inflammation – development of compounds inducing the degradation of TAK1 and IKKβ”, which will be implemented jointly by JU Prof. Anna Więckowska, PhD, DSc, and Prof. Izidor Sosič from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana.

Research focuses on developing new therapies for inflammatory diseases. Chronic inflammation plays a role in the pathomechanism of many diseases, including: inflammatory joint diseases, atherosclerosis, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer and even depression. In their project, researchers plan to obtain the first PROTAC-type compounds that degrade TAK1 and IKKβ kinases with anti-inflammatory effects. For the research, the Polish team will receive funding from the National Science Center in the amount of PLN 2,061,296.

JU Prof. Anna Więckowska, PhD, DSc, graduated in pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Jagiellonian University Medical College. After obtaining her doctoral degree, she completed research internships at the University of Uppsala (Sweden) and the University of Sherbrooke (Canada), and since 2021 she has led the Department of Physicochemical Drug Analysis at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry of the Jagiellonian University Medical College.

Her scientific interests focus on the search for new, effective therapy for inflammatory diseases, primarily Alzheimer’s disease. He leads a team that conducts broad, interdisciplinary research including in silico design, chemical synthesis, and in vitro and in vivo biological tests aimed at identifying new compounds interfering in processes that are key to the development of these diseases.