Two collaborative projects between Poland and Luxembourg with OPUS 28 + LAP grants for research into Parkinson’s disease pathology and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma immunotherapy. The Polish part of the research is valued at over 5,500,000 zlotys.
OPUS is NCN’s largest call open to researchers at any stage of career, regardless of their age or research experience. The autumn edition follows the Lead Agency formula under which researchers may request funding of international projects carried out in multilateral Weave collaboration. This simplified application procedure involves participation of researchers from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium (Flanders), and enhanced evaluation procedure.
Under OPUS LAP (Lead Agency Procedure), funding proposals may be submitted by international research consortia where all partners apply for funding to their respective research-funding agencies and evaluation of proposals is performed by one agency only (in this case, the National Science Centre), while the other agencies approve the evaluation results, thereby funding their respective research teams. Polish research teams are funded by the NCN.
2,039 proposals were submitted to OPUS 28+LAP/Weave, for a total of over 3.2 billion zlotys, of which 1,823 domestic proposals for a total of nearly 3 billion and 216 proposals for over 320 million zlotys following the Lead Agency formula. The results for Polish projects funded under OPUS 28 were published at the end of May.
Collaborative Research Between Researchers from Poland and Luxembourg
The NCN experts recommended two collaborative projects for funding, for a total of over 5.5 million zlotys. They will be performed by research teams from Poland and Luxembourg. The recommendations were approved by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).
One of the projects will be carried out by the Polish research team headed by Prof. Leonora Bużańska from the Mossakowski Medical Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the University of Luxembourg. Researchers will study the role of aged microglia in exacerbating Parkinson’s Disease pathology. Normally, microglia help keep the brain healthy by clearing away waste and protecting neurons. But as we age, microglia can become overactive, releasing harmful substances that might damage nearby neurons and worsen diseases. The researchers will use an exciting new approach: brain organoids grown in the lab, to analyse how aging affects microglia, and how these changes interact with the toxic proteins that build up in Parkinson’s. The NCN will fund research of the Polish team valued at nearly 3 million zlotys.
The other project will be carried out by a research team headed by Prof. Iwona Inkielewicz-Stępniak from the Medical University of Gdańsk. Researchers from Poland and Luxembourg will study the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma immunotherapy. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 85–90% of all pancreatic malignancies. PDAC is a challenging cancer to treat, and in most of cases, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are inefficient treatments. In the last decade, immunotherapies have become major breakthroughs in the fight against cancer, however there is a limited efficacy of current immunotherapies against pancreatic cancer. Researchers from the Medical University of Gdańsk and the Luxembourg Institute of Health will evaluate and validate NK (Natural Killer) cell-based and graphen oxide nanoparticles immunotherapy approaches against pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The National Science Centre will award over 2.5 million zlotys for the Polish part of the project.
Projects recommended for funding by the NCN under OPUS 28+LAP/Weave include LAP proposals (pending approval) involving collaboration with researchers from Austria, Belgium-Flanders, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Germany. Publication of call results - dates.
Service of Decisions Modified
The funding decisions by the NCN director are only served on the applicants and are not communicated to the principal investigator if the applicant is specified in Article 27 (1) - (7) and Article 27 (9) of the NCN Act. If an individual applies, funding decisions are not served on the participating entity specified in the proposal. More information on the service of decisions .