On February 28, 2025, the Reporting Session of Scientific Council was held at the Nencki Institute, summarizing the Institute's scientific and organizational activities in the past year. The event brought together members of the Scientific Council and distinctive guests, including the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Prof. Marek Konarzewski, directors of partner institutes, and numerous Institute members.

The first part of the Council was open to the public and began with a report by the Chair of the Scientific Council, Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek, summarizing the key activities of the Council in 2024.

Then, the laureates' presentations of two prestigious scientific awards took place. The first speaker was Dr. hab. Piotr Majka from the Laboratory of Neuroinformatics, who was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for his scientific achievement, being the basis for his habilitation – the Atlas of Cortico-Cortical Connections in the Common Marmoset Monkey (Callithrix jacchus). The second speaker was Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek, who, together with her team, received the Award of the Division II of Biological and Agricultural Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences for their scientific achievement titled “The Role of Epigenetic Disorders and Selected Gene Expression Regulation Pathways in the Pathogenesis of Malignant Gliomas.”

In the next part of the Council, the Director of the Institute, Prof. Agnieszka Dobrzyń, presented diplomas to the authors of the best publications, who were awarded a special Prize of the Director of the Institute in 2024 (list below). All the laureates gave brief presentations on their research findings.

The final part of the open session was the report by the Institute's Director summarizing the key scientific achievements, the development of research infrastructure, and the implementation of strategic projects in 2024. The Scientific Council unanimously accepted the report, and the Director received many words of appreciation.

As always, the Reporting Scientific Council of the Nencki Institute was not only an opportunity to summarize the past year but also an inspiring meeting that highlighted the essential role of scientific research in addressing contemporary biomedical challenges.

List of Awarded Publications:

PEARL-Neuro Database: EEG, fMRI, health and lifestyle data of middle-aged people at risk of dementia. Dzianok P, Kublik E. Sci Data. 2024; 7;11(1):276. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03106-5.

Spatio-temporal mechanisms of consolidation, recall and reconsolidation in reward-related memory trace. Hamed A, Kursa MB, Mrozek W, Piwoński KP, Falińska M, Danielewski K, Rejmak E, Włodkowska U, Kubik S, Czajkowski R. Mol Psychiatry. 2024 Sep 13. doi: 10.1038/s41380-024-02738-8.

Antibiotic-driven dysbiosis in early life disrupts indole-3-propionic acid production and exacerbates allergic airway inflammation in adulthood. Perdijk O, Butler A, Macowan M, Chatzis R, Bulanda E, Grant RD, Harris NL, Wypych TP, Marsland BJ. Immunity. 2024 Aug 13;57(8):1939-1954.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2024.06.010.

Molecular signature of primate astrocytes reveals pathways and regulatory changes contributing to human brain evolution. Ciuba K, Piotrowska A, Chaudhury D, Dehingia B, Duński E, Behr R, Soroczyńska K, Czystowska-Kuźmicz M, Abbas M, Bulanda E, Gawlik-Zawiślak S, Pietrzak S, Figiel I, Włodarczyk J, Verkhratsky A, Niedbała M, Kaspera W, Wypych T, Wilczyński B, Pękowska A. Cell Stem Cell. 2025 Feb 4:S1934-5909(24)00458-2. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2024.12.011.

Information sharing within a social network is key to behavioral flexibility-Lessons from mice tested under seminaturalistic conditions. Winiarski M, Madecka A, Yadav A, Borowska J, Wołyniak MR, Jędrzejewska-Szmek J, Kondrakiewicz L, Mankiewicz L, Chaturvedi M, Wójcik DK, Turzyński K, Puścian A, Knapska E. Sci Adv. 2025 Jan 3;11(1):eadm7255. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adm7255.