On Wednesday, 17th of June, an online awards gala will take place of the 18th Polpharma Scientific Foundation Competition for the best research project in the field of pharmaceuticals and medical sciences. The grant, measuring at over half a million zlotys, has been awarded to dr hab. Sylwia Rodziewicz-Motowidlo, the professor serving as the head of the Department of Biomedical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Gdansk, for the development of her project supporting cancer therapies.
The main theme of the annual competition is “Searching for anchor points for targeted therapy with the usage of the immunity system and searching for resistance mechanisms for the currently used immunotherapy methods”. The competition has received 16 applications, out of which 3 have been awarded grants to the combined value of 1 627 560 zl. The best research projects in the field of pharmaceutical and medical sciences were considered. The winners of the 18th edition of the competitions were: professor dr hab. Piotr Dziegiel from the Department of Histology and Embryology of the Faculty of Morphology and Embryology at the Medical University of Wroclaw, dr Malgorzata Opydo-Chanek from the Department of the Experimental Hematology of the Zoology and Biomedical Research Institute of the Jagiellonian University Biology Faculty in Krakow and dr hab. Sylwia Rodziewicz Motowidlo, University of Gdansk professor at the Department of Biomedical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Gdansk.
Professor Sylwia Rodziewicz-Motowidlo has received financing of 539 280 zl for the project titled “Peptide immunomodulators as next-generation PD-1 / PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors", which supports cancer therapy. As emphasized by the scientific team behind the project, there are numerous strategies to be applied when fighting cancer, some of which include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, there are cancer types which remain resistant to all of the above methods. In the last few year, oncological immunotherapy and the so called targeted therapies have dominated as the best methods for curing cancer.
- The main advantage of immunotherapy is the fact that it does not have a direct cytotoxic effect on cancer cells, it merely stimulates the immune system to fight them. Anticancer immunotherapy utilizes, amongst other things, blocking of the complexes between the receptor – ligand pairings, such as PD-1/PD-L1 with the use of antibodies. Therapeutic antibodies extend the life of the patient, but are not without drawbacks. The negative effects require further research in order to counter the linkage of receptor proteins. These include peptides and peptidomimetics. Peptides as therapeutics possess a number of advantages, such as high effectiveness and high selectivity, as well as safety of usage due to the well-researched metabolic tract. What is more, peptides are the basis for the design of peptidomimetics, showing greater stability in the presence of enzymes found in body fluids, often increased strength of interaction with the targeted molecule and greater selectivity - explains professor Sylwia Rodziewicz-Motowidło.
The project, financed by the Polpharma Science Foundation, will rely on obtaining new peptidomimetics being a cheaper and safer equivalent of monoclonal antibodies currently used in cancer therapies.
Other than professor Rodziewicz-Motowidlo, the following people take part in the project: dr Marta Spodzieja, dr hab. Adam Sieradzan and mgr Magdalena Bojko from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Gdansk, dr Katarzyna Wegrzyn from the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG-GUMED and veterinarian dr. Maciej Parys from the University of Edinburgh.
Biography
Dr hab. Sylwia Rodziewicz-Motowidlo, prof. UG has from the very beginning of her academic career been tied to the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Gdansk. Her science career is focused on the research of forming processes of amyloid fibrils through peptides and proteins, regenerative peptides, proteins belonging to the immune system’s checkpoints and studies of the structure-activity relationship of biologically active peptides. Her achievements include 78 original works from the so called Philadelphian list. Her works have been cited 1270 times and her current Hirsch score is 18. She has completed scientific internships at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAN at Warsaw in 1999 and at Cornell University (Ithaca, USA) in 2005. She led and/or took part in 24 research projects. Currently she leads two consortium projects (TECHMASTRATEG). She is also the head of the financial project of the Polpharma Science Foundation. She also carries out the NCN grant at the consortium with the Faculty of Bilogy of the University of Warsaw. She has led an international project (Poland-Switzerland research program) as well as the Polish grant consortium (STRATEGMED). She was the content supervisor of two NCN-Preludium grants. For her scientific achievements, she has received a number of awards. She is the member of four scientific associations: The European Peptide Society, The Gdansk Scientific Association, The Polish Biochemical Association and the Polish Chemical Association. In the years 2012-2016 she has served as Deputy Dean of the Research and Development at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Gdansk. In the years 2005-2016, she was the member of the UG Senate. Since 2012, she leads the Biomedical Chemistry Department.
The prize giving ceremony will take place on Wednesday, June 17. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the gala will be held online. The start is scheduled for 15:00. You can join the event by clicking the link.
More about the competition and the next edition
Monika Rogo, Biuro Rzecznika Prasowego Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego
Zdjęcia: materiały prasowe NFP
Translation: Adam Myzyk
