The funding has been granted from the regional Operational Programme for the Łódzkie Voivodship, under the so-called Territorial Contract.
The newly created Centre will contribute to the creation of innovative economy in the region. This will happen owing to the transfer of knowledge from universities to the business sector. Advanced research with a view to developing businesses in the cosmetics, food, chemical, pharmaceutical and medical products industries will result in new products, services and technological processes being launched on the market.
Funding obtained under the project will help to equip two laboratories of the Faculty of Chemistry of Lodz University of Technology. Cutting edge research equipment will be supplied to the Laboratory of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance headed by Prof. Łukasz Albrecht, and the Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Combined Techniques headed by Prof. Beata Kolesińska. These independent laboratories will become a distributed but fully complementary research network. The existing distributed Laboratory of Gas Chromatography and Coupled Techniques will be an integral, complementary part of the Centre.
The new Centre will be a unique unit comprehensively equipped with infrastructure for conducting widely understood research on compounds useful in medical diagnostics and search for new biologically active compounds.
Laboratories will be equipped with an NMR spectrometer and a high-resolution mass spectrometer coupled with a liquid chromatograph. The equipment purchased with project funding will facilitate research with high commercial potential and cooperation with enterprises.
Mainstream of research - omics techniques
Researchers from the Centre will search for biomarkers of many diseases using modern chemical analytical techniques in omics research. Omics technologies related to evaluation of genome, proteins, metabolites or mRNA are a relatively new field that allows solving various diagnostic problems.
The area of interest is the search for protein and polypeptide markers of many different diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and pathogen infections. Research is also carried out in the field of translational medicine (bench-to-bedside), which means that the results of research conducted in the laboratory are directly used to develop better ways of treating patients under clinical conditions. Personalised medicine using metabolomic profiles is also part of this area.
In addition, research determining the long-term effects of implants on the human body will allow the development of new technologies in the field of biomaterial and materials engineering. They will enable not only the assessment of implant safety at the molecular level, but also the development of new solutions introduced to the market. Safety issues are also related to research on the molecular level of active substances, e.g. drugs.
Compounds with potential biological activity
The second area of the planned R&D relates to the synthesis and design of compounds with potential biological activity, including useful reagents in organic synthesis. New analogues of natural compounds with antimicrobial and anticancer activity, or analogues of used anticancer drugs useful for new therapies based on nanomaterials will be sought.
Utilisation of waste products
The Centre will also carry out projects related to obtaining bioactive components from cereal industry waste and using their antioxidant potential to obtain products with better biological properties.
Another area is the use of valuable compounds contained in the biomass of algae (they are ingredients of cosmetics, animal feed or natural medicinal substances) and identification of secondary metabolites showing cytotoxic and antioxidant activity, isolated from medicinal plants.
Benefits from the existence of the Centre
The activities within the framework of the project will allow for preparation of highly qualified staff to cooperate with enterprises and medical units, clinics, hospitals. Extensive inter-university and international cooperation conducted by the staff will help the Centre to provide top-quality services to entrepreneurs, contributing to the creation of strong links between science and industry throughout the region. The new Centre at the Faculty of Chemistry means joint collaboration with entrepreneurs to develop strategies for new technologies or products.