Dr Eng. Marcelina Jureczko with the Prime Minister's Award

Dr Eng. Marcelina Jureczko from the Centre for Biotechnology and the Department of Environmental Biotechnology of the Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering was awarded the Prime Minister's Award in the category of an outstanding doctoral dissertation.

The Award Team awarded this distinction for the work "Ecotoxicity studies of selected cytostatic drugs and the possibility of using fungi to remove them". The promoter of this work was Dr hab. Eng. Wioletta Przystas, prof. of Silesian University of Technology 

- In my doctoral thesis, I dealt with the toxicity of selected anticancer drugs present in waters and assessed the usefulness of selected species of fungi for removing these substances from the environment - said Dr Eng. Marcelina Jureczko.

The scientist was the first person in the world to prove that fungal biomass can ultimately be used as an effective sorbent for the tested substances. – In my work, I consider innovative research achievements to be a significant extension of data on the toxicity of cytostatics, by determining the environmental impact of drugs that have never been comprehensively tested before and demonstrating the usefulness of white rot fungi for removing cytostatics from the environment by sorption and biological degradation - she explained Dr Eng. Marcelina Jureczko. - I have proved that the process of biodegradation of cytostatics by fungi is accompanied by their detoxification - she added.

The award of the Prime Minister in the category - outstanding doctoral dissertation was received by 25 people from all over Poland, which is why it is prestigious. - The fact that I found myself in such a respectable group is a great honour for me, but also a motivation to take further action - emphasized Dr Eng. Jureczko.

Dr Eng. Marcelina Jureczko is associated with the Department of Environmental Biotechnology at the Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering and the Centre for Biotechnology of the Silesian University of Technology. She is the manager of the grant "Studies on the possibility of using white rot fungi to remove cytostatic drugs on the example of bleomycin and vincristine". In Spain, she also completed an internship abroad at the prestigious Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (Barcelona), ranked 21st in the SCImago ranking. During the internship, she identified transformation products of cytostatic drugs in post-process samples treated by fungi.