The National Centre for Research and Development announced the results of the Strategmed programme competition. The programme, the full name of which is "Prevention practices and treatment of civilization diseases" is the first such strategic project developed by the Centre in accordance with the National Research Programme. On the basis of the detailed evaluation by the experts, 16 projects from such fields as cardiology, oncology, neurology, and regenerative medicine were awarded grants with a total value of 310 million PLN.

"Diseases of affluence are among the greatest challenges of contemporary medicine. Therefore, in order to develop the potential of Polish medical science, it is necessary to invest in new technologies in this field. Strategmed programme is aimed at meeting the challenges posed by the ageing population, in the area of prevention, diagnostics, and treatment of diseases," said Prof. Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, the Minister of Science and Higher Education.

Jagiellonian University researchers are involved in two of the winning projects. Prof. Józef Dulak from the Department of Medical Biotechnology at the JU Faculty of Biophysics, Biochemistry and Biotechnology will take part in the project "Epigenetic therapies in oncology," aimed at finding new compounds with anticancer properties. The research will be carried out in several fields of such disciplines as biochemistry, molecular biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, and oncology.

The second project, "Prostacyclin, nitrogen oxide and carbon oxide-dependent pharmacotherapy of vascular mesothelium and the activation of platelets – a new strategy in preventing cancer metastasis," will be run by a consortium including the Jagiellonian Centre for Experimental Therapeutics (JCET). It is aimed at finding mechanisms of mesothelium pharmacotherapy, which can form a basis for effective treatment for cancer metastasis, and, most importantly, provide lots of important data from preclinical research on the new antimetastatic compounds, documenting their effectiveness, pharmacokinetic profile, and safety.

The project consortium, headed by Prof. Stefan Chłopicki from JCET and consisting of five Polish partners and one foreign one, is a dynamic, interdisciplinary and international research group. The significance of the proposed treatment strategy seems to have been proved by the preliminary research results as well as patent applications.

„The results of the first Strategmed competition show that innovations can directly contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of all Poles. The latest medical solutions developed by our scientists can also have immense commercial potential on international markets, which will significantly strengthen Polish economy," said Prof. Krzysztof Jan Kurzydłowski, the Director of the National Centre for Research and Development.

The programme will take place until 2017. By then, the National Centre for Research and Development is going to organise three competitions for the grants with a total value of 800 million PLN.

For more information, please visit the programme's website.