Professor Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology at the Nencki Institute PAS, has been awarded the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science in the area of life and earth sciences. The FNP Prize honors for outstanding achievements and scientific discoveries that push the boundaries of cognition and open new research perspectives, provide an exceptional contribution to Poland’s civilizational and cultural advancement, and assure the country with a significant position for undertaking the most ambitious challenges of the modern world.

Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek is a pioneer of research on the impact of brain tumours on the local immune system. She received an award of the Foundation for Polish Science for the discovery of mechanisms by which immune system cells, both those residing in the brain (microglia) and those migrating from the blood, instead of destroying glioma (brain tumour), support its development.

Professor Kamińska-Kaczmarek studies the diversity of the environment of brain tumours and the influence of microglia and other immune cells (macrophages) accumulating in the tumour on tumour progression. Her achievements have contributed to the development of advanced therapies for the treatment of glioblastoma and may give rise to a new ones. By targeting different populations of macrophages, it may be possible in the future to inhibit tumour growth or appropriately mobilise the patient's immune system to fight the cancer. To this end, Prof. Kamińska-Kaczmarek is working, among others, on a specialised platform for complex diagnostics and personalised therapy in neurooncology.

The discoveries of prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek are important not only in the treatment of gliomas, since microglia malfunction also occurs in Alzheimer's disease. They may therefore contribute to the initiation of similar studies on various neurological and neurodegenerative disorders.

https://www.fnp.org.pl/en/nagrody-fundacji-na-rzecz-nauki-polskiej-2021-przyznane/