The University of Gdańsk (UG) has announced the results of the second edition of the UG Visiting Professors Program. The competition is addressed to scientists carrying out their research and teaching activities in cooperation with foreign researchers. One of the laureates of the competition is dr David Saliba from the University of Malta (UM), who will conduct research at International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science (ICCVS) in cooperation with dr Małgorzata Lisowska and dr Alicja Sznarkowska.

Dr Saliba has a long standing collaboration with scientists from ICCVS. The overarching aim of their common research is to discover and validate high affinity and high specificity recombinant antibodies targeting immune checkpoint targets and viral proteins as potential anti-tumour and anti-viral therapeutic tools. The visit of dr Saliba to the University of Gdańsk will facilitate the bidirectional transfer of knowledge between the researchers from UM and UG. More specifically, we will adopt an integrative approach to optimize molecular techniques of 3D spherical substrates and synthetic viral envelopes developed at UM in conjunction with state of the art Phage Display techniques optimised in ICCVS. We envisage that this collaboration will enable both institutions to create a flexible platform that is applicable to different cutting edge fields of biomedical research – says dr David Saliba.

31 applications were submitted in the second edition of the UG Visiting Professors Program. The commission selected 9 laureates. Among them are scientists from the USA, Lebanon, Malta, Great Britain and Italy. The applications submitted by scientists were assessed by the commission in terms of the reputation of the invited scientist, the prestige of their home research centre, strengthening of the existing international cooperation between the centres, interdisciplinarity of research topics, impact on the quality of education and tangible scientific effects of the visit relevant to the development of the scientific discipline practiced in UG.
More information about the program: Wyniki II edycji programu „Profesorowie Wizytujący UG” | Aktualności – Uniwersytet Gdański

Interview with dr Saliba (September 2021): Interview with dr David Saliba from the University of Malta – ICCVS (ug.edu.pl)