New initiative started - Top 100 Innovations of the Silesian University of Technology
Top 100 Innovations - this is the name under which a new initiative was launched at the Silesian University of Technology. During cyclical meetings with the media, we will present selected innovative solutions with good chances for implementation. The first such invention is a project for a platform and microcircuit for testing drugs on human cells.
'Many innovative solutions are being developed at the Silesian University of Technology. We would like to support all of them, but of course, we have to adopt specific priorities in order for our activities to be effective. Therefore, we have decided to select a hundred solutions that have the greatest chance for commercialisation, for technology transfer from science to business, to which we want to devote special attention, media interest, and our entire environment' said the Vice-Rector for Science and Development, Professor Marek Pawełczyk, during press briefing.
Professor Marek Pawełczyk emphasised that the Silesian University of Technology is an ambitious research university where innovative solutions for society and the economy are being researched.
'Among other things, we support medicine. Near the Silesian University of Technology is the National Institute of Oncology, with which we cooperate extensively. The Biotechnology Centre is active, and lately the European HealthTech Innovation Center has been operating in Zabrze. So we have many ambitious scientists, who are creating innovative solutions in this area, an example of which is the project presented today' he said.
The Director of the Centre for Incubation and Technology Transfer, Magdalena Letun-Łątka, PhD, emphasised that one of the objectives of the CITT is to communicate inventions made by researchers at the Silesian University of Technology so that they reach the largest possible audience in the socio-economic environment.
'CITT is where science meets business. Our work is to identify solutions which have the highest potential for commercialisation or may be of particular interest to businesses. And it is precisely such solutions that we will be presenting as part of our original idea, the Top 100 Innovations programme. To begin with, we have selected 100 innovations, which we will take care of in terms of marketing and brokerage as well as mentoring and coaching from the moment they are created until they are implemented' said the CITT director.
She added with confidence that there certainly will be more than a hundred of these inventions in the future.
The first invention presented was the design of a platform and microcircuit for drug testing on human cells. As Professor Sebastian Student and Director of the Biotechnology Centre explained, this microcircuit is a set of reactors into which cells can be supplied and then various reactions can be carried out on them to test how a given drug affects human cells, e.g. cancer cells.
'We can control various parameters here, such as temperature, gas composition, and the medium provided (this medium is like, say, blood in the body), and thus we have the ability to precisely determine the specific conditions under which we can test drugs,' explained the researcher.
The research entitled "Production of microcircuits for culturing cell spheroids in hydrogels" was conducted by an interdisciplinary team consisting of Professor Sebastian Student, Professor Ilona Wandzik, and Professor Ziemowit Ostrowski, Małgorzata Milewska, PhD, Kazimierz Gut, PhD, Maria Gracka, PhD, Maciej Stefanek, PhD.
As part of the Top 100 Innovations programme, cyclical meetings for the media are planned, during which scientists from the Silesian University of Technology will present their innovative solutions - those that have a good chance of being implemented. The cycle will include presentations of innovations in biotechnology, medicine, IT, electromobility and future transport, and so on.
The next meeting will take place after the summer holidays.
