Researchers from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Gdańsk, Prof. Adam Lesner and Dr Natalia Gruba, have received a distinction in the “EUREKA! DGP” competition for devising a rapid and non-invasive diagnostic test to detect the cancer of the urinary system. The suggested method is an alternative to those currently used, requiring only a urine sample, and the results of the tests carried out so far on a group of over 600 individuals have had a 90% success rate. The invention has a patent pending in the European Union and worldwide. Talks are currently under way regarding test implementation. The research is conducted with financial backing from the UG’s Technology Transfer Centre as part of the Innovation+ Incubator.

This year’s edition of “EUREKA! DGP” focused on inventions with filed patent applications to the Polish Patent Office in 2016 and 2017. The UG’s Technology Transfer Centre Centrum entered five inventions for the competition from the fields of physical, chemical, biological, medical and biotechnology and health sciences, all results of the work of University of Gdańsk researchers.

During the final gala four equal distinctions were awarded, including to a University of Gdańsk invention. One of the distinctions was awarded to Prof. Dr hab. Adam Lesner and Dr Natalia Gruba from the UG’s Faculty of Chemistry for the results of the invention project entitled “A new compound, ways of obtaining it, a set containing the new compound and the application of the new compound for the detection of epithelial cancers”. The project by the research team from the Department of Environmental Technology of the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Gdańsk has received funding from the UG’s Technology Transfer Centre as part of the Innovation+ Incubator, whose aim is to provide assistance to pre-implementation work and to strengthen cooperation between the academic and business environments. The project is being implemented in a Consortium comprising the University of Gdańsk, the Gdańsk University of Technology, the Medical University of Gdańsk and the Gdańsk University of Technology’s SPV – Excento Sp. z o.o.

Participants in the “EUREKA! DGP” competition included Polish universities (both public and private) as well as research institutes and units of the Polish Academy of Sciences concerned with activities in the following fields − informatics, mechanical engineering, other engineering sciences and technologies, civil engineering, materials engineering and nanotechnology, physical sciences, biological sciences and biotechnology, chemical sciences and medical sciences.