Research and development projects
Examples of actions taken by scientific teams in Poland
| Area of research and development | Institution | Research results and publications |
|---|---|---|
| PHIRI is a roll-out of the research infrastructure on population health information to facilitate and generate the best available evidence for research on health and well-being of populations as impacted by COVID-19. | Ministry of Health, Department of Analysis and Strategy | project summary |
| Polymeric inhibitors (chitosan derivatives) of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV infection targeting viral S protein. Studies on the mechanisms of the viral entry into cells. | Laboratory of Virology, Malopolska Center of Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow | HTCC as a highly effective polymeric inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV (preprint) |
| Studies on the relationship between human gene polymorphisms of ACE2 and TMPRSS2, which are involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection and their possible impact on the clinical outcome of COVID-19. | Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznan | project summary |
| Biochemical characterisation of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. | Department of Chemical Biology and Bioimaging, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology | Substrate specificity profiling of SARS-CoV-2 main protease enables design of activity-based probes for patient-sample imaging (preprint) |
| Computer-aided synthesis design for efficient synthesis of compounds used in COVID-19 therapy | Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw | Computer-Assisted Planning of Hydroxychloroquine’s Syntheses Commencing from Inexpensive Substrates and Bypassing Patented Routes (preprint) |
| Structural research on SARS-CoV-2 proteins for the development of new antiviral drugs. | International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw | https://www.exscalate4cov.eu/ |
Funding opportunities - who and how can get support?
In order to raise funds for COVID-19 research, scientific teams can apply for support and funding through various national competitions supporting a wide range of R&D projects. Within the COVID-HUB-PL platform it is possible to support new projects through consistent access to various data sources, use of the ICT infrastructure of science and dedicated services and analytical tools developed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland, Europe and worldwide.
Recent calls (in Polish or English)
| Name of the call | Organisation | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Track Competition "Coronaviruses" | National Centre for Research and Development | Results - round IResults - round II |
| Medical Research Agency allocated measures for designing the vaccine, therapy and development of fast diagnostic tests techniques. | Medical Research Agency | Results |
| Additional funds for the beneficiaries of the Smart Growth Operational Programme Measure 4.4 for research on the COVID-19 pandemic | Foundation for Polish Science | Results |
| EXPRESS CALL TO FUND RESEARCH ON COVID-19 | The National Science Centre | Results |
| ALPHORN-COVID-19 call | The National Science Centre | Submission until 26th May 2020 |
| COVID-19 Research Credits Program | On a rolling basis |
Implementation of R&D results in Poland
Planned further scientific research on SARS-CoV-2 genetic variability and identification of biomarkers and risk factors in the course of COVID-19 in order to create a model of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Poland in cooperation with various scientific entities around the common research data space shared and shared on the COVID-HUB-PL platform.
ELIXIR-CONVERGE
As of December 2021, the development of infrastructure and service offered by the IBCH PAS together with the affiliated PSNC via COVID-19 Data Portal Poland (COVID-HUB) has started under the ELIXIR-CONVERGE project (WP9 work package: Mobilization of SARS-CoV-2 variant surveillance data tracking services and tools).
The ELIXIR-CONVERGE project aims to support the standardization in life-science research data in Europe. The project's WP9 focuses on workflow development of fully open sharing of coronavirus genome data to monitor and track genetic variability of SARS-CoV-2. These goals are consistent with the activities carried out by COVID-19 Data Portal Poland in the field of rapid mobilization and COVID-19 data sharing for the public.
The ELIXIR-CONVERGE project is funded by the European Commission from February 2020 to January 2023. Different research institutions from over 20 European countries are involved in its implementation. The initiative is coordinated by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), together with many partners developing the European research infrastructure ELIXIR, as well as the European Data Platform on COVID-19, of which COVID-19 Data Portal Poland is a part.
https://elixir-europe.org/about-us/how-funded/eu-projects/converge
https://elixir-europe.org/about-us/how-funded/eu-projects/converge/wp9
REGIONAL COVID-HUB
As part of the REGIONAL COVID-HUB project, it is planned to use NGS data generated at IBCH PAS concerning samples from Wielkopolska region to create (i) a virtual model of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the voivodeship and (ii) determine the impact of COVID-19 on the course of intra-individual variability of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, using the biological material collected at IBCH PAN, additional sequencing will be carried out targeting the pathogens of the respiratory system co-occurring with SARS-CoV-2, including other coronaviruses. RNA sequencing of selected COVID-19 patients' samples will also be performed, which will allow to determine genetic polymorphism and expression levels of selected genes encoding proteins potentially involved in SARS-CoV-2 penetration into cells and proteins involved in the immune response.
The research and development scheme proposed in the project assumes carrying out a series of specialized analyses using high-throughput research methods that require significant computing power. SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences will be subjected to phylogenetic analysis by comparing all known SARS-CoV-2 sequences in Poland, Europe and the world. The data processed in this way, together with information about the time of diagnosis and the place of origin of the infected person, will be visualized as an interactive map of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Wielkopolska region.
Data characterising coexisting respiratory pathogens will be mapped to the reference genome database of such pathogens. The result obtained will be both qualitative and quantitative. The accompanying NGS data generated for human RNA will be used to quantify the expression of genes related to infection and immune response. Additional metadata describing the place of origin of the infected person, time of diagnosis and the course of COVID-19 will be obtained from the National Register of Patients with COVID-19.
We assume that all available data will be used in the scope regulated by the Regulation of the Minister of Health of April 7, 2020 on National Register of Patients with COVID-19 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 625). Based on the obtained data set, we will analyse the association between the measured parameters and the course of COVID-19.