On November 2, 2009 Prof. Adam Szewczyk signed, on behalf of the Nencki Institute, a bilateral Cooperation Agreement concerning execution of the CePT Project: Centre of Preclinical Research and Technology with the Medical University of Warsaw. The Nencki Institute along with the Medical University of Warsaw – the CePT consortium coordinator and the University of Warsaw is one of the main beneficiaries of the CePT project. The value of the Centre for Neurobiology (CN) investment has been estimated at 52 million PLN, which constitutes approx 15% of the total value of the CePT project (359 million PLN). About 26 million PLN of this amount will be used to purchase research equipment; 21 million will be spent on construction works to extend both wings of the Institute building, while the remaining funds will be allocated to other project-related activities (project management and promotion, personnel costs, training, audit and general costs).
The agreement was signed after two years of intensive preparatory work, in which active roles were played by: Leszek Kaczmarek (delegated by the seven Polish Academy of Sciences institutes to coordinate preparations of the CePT research programme), Urszula Sławińska (coordinating the analysis of functional requirements of the CN investment) as well as Anna Jachner, Hanna Michalska, Jerzy Duszyński and Marcin Szumowski (a team responsible for execution of CePT project tasks within the scope of CN).

Under the CN investment, planned to be completed in the first quarter of 2013, a number of core facilities will be established at the Institute, furnished with state-of-the-art research equipment. These labs shall provide services not only to researchers working at the Nencki Institute and partners of the CePT consortium, but also scientists from other research centres in Poland and abroad. Execution of the CN investment will enable the Institute to assume a leading role in pan-European initiatives such as the EuroBioImaging project (www.eurobioimaging.eu) listed on the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI).

Opening a cluster of core facilities within the Centre for Neurobiology is aimed at, among other, creating a supportive and attractive environment for professional development of the most talented international researchers in the fields of neurobiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. We hope that the CN investment, strengthened by an inflow of human capital and execution of ambitious, international research projects shall within the next ten years place the Nencki Institute among not only the best research institutions in the field of biology in Poland but also among leading European research centres.