A quarter of the funds won

SZTE researchers will now collaborate with Cambridge and Yale Universities With a budget of 12 billion forints, the National Innovation Agency NKFI supports excellent Hungarian institutions to collaborate with the world’s leading universities and research institutes in international research projects to solve important social and economic challenges. NKFI announced 30 winners from 112 applications received.

Out of these, four projects from the revitalised science cluster at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence for Research, Development and Innovation at the University of Szeged received support. In addition, four projects from the inanimate science cluster won funding. The researchers in Szeged and their international partners are investigating the effect of plastic nano- and microparticles on biological systems, developing a diagnostic method to study oxygen deficiency states, a new solution to combat oxidative stress in inflammatory bowel diseases and an mRNA-based therapy against Candida albicans infections. The specialists also carry out the assessment and monitoring of micro- and nanoplastics in agroecosystems. Research in the field of artificial intelligence is being continued. For example, they are investigating how photoacoustic spectroscopy can be used for environmental monitoring purposes. Finally, work is being carried out on rapid identification methods and intervention strategies against infectious diseases that pose a global risk.