CePT is the top project on the indicative list for Operational Programme Innovative Economy. It has received confirmation of assistance from the European Commission. The Neurobiology Centre investment is executed under a bilateral agreement with the CePT project coordinator, the Medical University of Warsaw (MUW). The Nencki Institute along with the Medical University of Warsaw is one of the main beneficiaries of the CePT project. The value of the Neurobiology Centre (CN) investment has been estimated at 52 million PLN, which constitutes over 15% of the total value of the CePT project (359 million PLN). About 30 million PLN will be used to purchase research equipment; 15 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).

After two years of intense preparatory works and following the settlement of a public tender for the construction design, the works have started in May of 2010 and will continue for 19 months. The CN investment is supervised by a team overseeing implementation of the CePT Project at the Nencki Institute. The team is coordinated by Marcin Szumowski, Nencki Institute director’s proxy for the CePT project and consists of Anna Jachner (construction coordinator), Hanna Michalska (financial coordinator) and Prof. Jerzy Duszyński (scientific coordinator). During the preparatory stage the following other people have been actively involved: Leszek Kaczmarek (scientific coordinator for the CePT research programme representing all seven institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Urszula Sławińska (coordinating the analysis of functional requirements of the CN investment).

A number of core facilities will be established at the Institute after the CN investment is completed in 2012. These labs will be furnished with state-of-the-art research equipment and will provide services not only to researchers working at the Nencki Institute and partners of the CePT consortium, but also to 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).

The cluster of core facilities within the Neurobiology Centre shall, among other, create a supportive environment enhancing professional development of the most talented researchers in the fields of neurobiology, biochemistry and molecular biology in Europe and in the world. 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 the best research institutions in the field of biology in Poland as well as among leading European research centres.