On 17th September 2019, The Nencki Institute held the ceremoial opening of the first two Dioscuri Centres of Scientific Excellence in Poland, created under the auspices of the Max Planck Society, thanks to a joint initiative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland, and Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany. Both Dioscuri Centres established in Poland, being a bilateral Polish-German scientific cooperation, will be carried out at the Nencki Institute. The Center for Chromatin Biology and Epigenesitcs, managed by Dr. Aleksandra Pękowska, will conduct research in the field of evolutionary and functional genomics of astrocytes, while the Center for Metabolic Diseases, led by Dr. Gregory Sumara, will work on explaining the signal routes that play a role in metabolic diseases.

The opening ceremony of the Dioscuri Centres, conducted by Dr. Sławomir Zagurski, was opened by the Director of the Nencki Institute, Prof. Agnieszka Dobrzyń, who welcomed guests who gathered at the event. This was followed by speeches from the representatives of the governments of Poland and Germany: Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland, and Ms. Anja Karliczek, Federal Minister for Education and Research. Speeches were also delivered by representatives of the organizations co-administrators of the Dioscuri programme in Poland: President of the Max Planck Society - Prof. Martin Stratmann, and the Director of the National Science Centre - Prof. Zbigniew Błocki. The ceremony was concluded with the speeches of the winners of the Dioscuri competition, and a brief discussion on the course of their scientific careers.

The ceremony was also attended by Mr. Rolf Nikel, Ambassador of the Republic Federal of Germany in RP; Prof. Joachim Sauer, Chairman of the Scientific Dioscuri Council; Prof. Jerzy Duszyński, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Maciej Żylicz, President of the Foundation for Polish Science.