Dr Zuzanna Urban-Wójciuk from ICCVS was awarded with UGrants First funding. The goal of UGrants First initiative is to increase the number of research projects at the University of Gdansk by supporting researchers in obtaining their first external research grant.

Dr Urban-Wójciuk is planning to use these funds to perform preliminary experiments to test the impact of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR-9) stimulation on NK cells and the role of dendritic cells in the regulation of this response. In cancer patients immune system is often dormant – it seems that immune cells cannot detect malignant cancer cells even though they differ from healthy ones. One of the approaches to enhance the immune system to fight cancer is to activate the immune cells with parts of bacteria (i.e. TLR ligands). Dr Urban-Wójciuk has already designed several TLR9 ligands and is planning to: characterize them in silico and in vitro, investigate the TLR9 ligand-induced NK cell activation and perform functional tests to examine the impact of the NK cells stimulated by the TLR9 ligand on primary lung cancer cells. To perform this project dr Urban-Wójciuk is going to apply for NCN funding.

Full list of laureates:

Laureaci | Uniwersytet Gdański – University of Gdańsk (ug.edu.pl)