On May 23rd of this year, the reporting session on the scientific activities of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences in 2023 took place. The reporting session was attended by the Institute’s employees and members of the IBCH PAS Scientific Council. Professor Zofia Szweykowska-Kulińska, representing the Board of Curators of Division II of the Polish Academy of Sciences, also participated in the session.

In the first part of the meeting, the Director of the Institute, Luiza Handschuh, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., presented a report showing the activities and achievements of the Institute’s employees in the previous year. Subsequently, Dr. Cezary Mazurek, the Director’s Plenipotentiary for Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center, summarized the activities of PSNC during the same period.

The next part featured the best experimental and review papers published at the Institute in 2023, as well as outstanding doctoral theses, selected by the Advisory Team for the nominations of the best publications and doctoral dissertations for the IBCH PAS Director Award. The following works were awarded:

Best experimental publication

“Genetic history of East-Central Europe in the first millennium CE”, I. Stolarek, M. Zenczak, L. Handschuh, A. Juras, M. Marcinkowska-Swojak, A. Spinek, A. Debski, M. Matla, H. Kocka-Krenz, J. Piontek, Polish Archeogenomics Consortium, M. Figlerowicz*, Genome Biology, 24, 173 (2023)

Best review publication

“Specialized metabolites as versatile tools in shaping plant–microbe associations”, G. Singh, H. Agrawal, P. Bednarek*, Molecular Plant, 16, 122-144 (2023)

Best doctoral thesis

Dr. Carolina Sofia Pereira Roxo, “Investigations on structural and physicochemical features potentially correlated with G-quadruplexes antiproliferative activity”, supervisor: Prof. Anna Pasternak, auxiliary supervisor: Dr. Weronika Kotkowiak

The reporting session was accompanied by a poster session where the research results of all Departments and Specialized Laboratories were presented. Out of 57 posters, the two best ones were selected through a voting process in which all institute employees participated. The authors of these posters will receive an award in the form of funding from the Institute for attending a selected scientific conference.

Winning posters

Aleksandra Pawłowicz, Ewa Połomska, Julia Wieruszewska, Witold Andrałojć, “Measurements of metal ion binding to DNAzyme 8 17”.

Maciej K. Nowak, Aleksandra Pawela, Michał Jasiński, Joanna Banasiak, “New mechanisms determining MFT-mediated sensitivity to abscisic acid during the germination of Medicago truncatula seeds”.

At the conclusion of the reporting session, distinguished essays on the topic of RNA prepared by doctoral students of the Doctoral School were also awarded. The recipients of these awards were Grażyna Adamek, Marta Sztachera, Adrian Tiré, Angelika Romanowska-Andrzejewska, Marianna Śmiełowska, and Paulina Borysiuk.