On 19.12.2024r. Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences became the venue for an exceptional event - an honourary seminar devoted to Professor Małgorzata Skup and Professor Sławomir Pikuła, who, after decades of scientific work at the Institute, ended their active careers by taking a retirement.

The meeting, organized under the auspices of the Scientific Council and the Director of the Institute, provided a moment of reflection on the rich and inspiring scientific journeys of both Professors. During the seminar, participants were invited to recall the memories of their pioneering research, successes, and passions that shaped their scientific achievements. The ceremony was filled with emotion and expressions of gratitude. The honorees received symbolic flowers and heartfelt thanks for their immense contribution to science, their inspiration to colleagues and students, and their years of dedication to the development of our Institute.

The speeches were recorded and archived in the Nencki Foundation's "Archiwum Historii Mówionej" program.

Prof. Małgorzata Skup

Prof. dr. hab. Małgorzata Skup has been associated with the Nencki Institute since 1979. Her studies concern molecular and cellular aspects of neuroplasticity associated with repair in the damaged brain and spinal cord. Until 1997  the member of the Laboratory for Neurochemistry, in the years 1998-2016 she co-headed the Laboratory for Reinnervation Processes in the Department of Neurophysiology, which she led in the years 2014-2018. Since 2016, head of the Repair Neurobiology Group. Prof. Skup was involved in the activities of the Institute's Scientific Council for several terms. Long-time member of the Presidium of the Polish Society for Neuroscience (PNS), Chairwoman of the PNS Organizing Committee of FENS Featured Regional Meeting in 2009. Chairwoman of PNS in the years 2015-2017. Currently, she chairs the Scientific Council of the Mossakowski Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the Warsaw Scientific Society and the Committee of Neurobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Sławomir Pikuła

Professor Slawomir Pikula has been associated with the Nencki Institute since 1977. He is the co-author of outstanding publications devoted to the research of calcium-binding proteins and calcium mediated processes including mineralization. Since 1995 Professor Pikula headed the Laboratory of Lipid Biochemistry at the Department of Cellular Biochemistry. In 2007 he was elected as a head of the Department of Biochemistry at the Nencki Institute for five years. From 2007 to 2022 he was a member of the Scientific Council of the Nencki Institute and from 2007 to 2020 was a member of the Committee of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences. For 16 years (2005-2020) he hold a position of an editor-in-chief of the Polish scientific quarterly “Advances in Biochemistry”.