A European grant will help research on breast cancer cells

At the beginning of September, grants from the European Research Council were awarded. Among the distinguished Polish scientists was Dr Hab. Eng. Małgorzata Włodarczyk-Biegun, who will carry out an international project in Poland and the Netherlands.

The European Research Council announced the results of the competition for researchers from 2 to 7 years after the PhD. Among the 494 ERC Starting Grants winners there are only two researchers conducting research in Poland and eight representatives of Polish research units who carry out research abroad. One of those scientists is Dr Hab. Eng. Małgorzata Włodarczyk-Biegun, professor of the Silesian University of Technology, employed as an assistant professor at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands).

As reported by the Academic Forum, the project will be implemented in a consortium with the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (as part of a Multi-beneficiary grant). The research will focus on the use of 3D (bio)printing techniques to generate complex, hierarchical scaffolding from polymer materials for advanced tissue regeneration.

As part of the JAM2PRINT grant Prof. Włodarczyk-Biegun will develop modern bio-inks, i.e. printable materials containing living cells. The project could revolutionize breast cancer research.

A scientist at the Silesian University of Technology has already carried out projects in Germany and the Netherlands. In 2017, she received the UNESCO-L’Oréal prize for Women in Science, and in 2022 – the Political Science Prize in the Science category. 

Photograph Maciej Mutwil