In a breakthrough in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, researchers from Pharmacoidea Kft., Szeged have unravelled the secret of the increased infectivity of the dreaded Delta variant, which triggered a new wave of epidemics in 2021. In the project funded by a HUF 350 million grant from the “Investment in the Future” programme and implemented in university-research institute-enterprise cooperation, Dr Tamás Letoha and his research team have successfully elucidated the mechanism of infection. This allows the development of molecularly targeted yet simple strategies to reduce the spread of newer variants and effectively treat the diseases they cause.

Zoltán Nusser, Széchenyi and Bolyai Prize winning neurobiologist and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) leads the Laboratory of Cellular Neurophysiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of HAS. His research was supported by a Momentum (Lendület) grant and an ERC Advanced Grant in the past five years. From 2018, the team continues its work with funding from the Frontline programme of the NRDI Office. His research focuses on the understanding of synaptic communication between nerve cells of the central nervous system.

Recent research indicates that inflammatory processes play an outstanding role in the development of diseases of the nervous system, which are increasingly present in developed societies, however, the underlying mechanisms have not been properly understood. Ádám Dénes, biologist, explained one of their research projects in the field of neuroimmunology, which have been granted funding from the NRDI Office’s Fund as part of the National Competitiveness and Excellence Programme.

Hungary’s highest-resolution electron microscope has been deployed at the Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science of the HAS Centre for Energy Research, promising successful projects in discovery research and business RDI projects in materials science. The implementation was  financed under the Competitive Central Hungary Operational Programme (CCHOP/VEKOP).

Gravity R&D Inc develops online recommender systems. The Netflix Prize contest gave them the first reference, then they received research funding, among others the predecessor of the NRDI Fund. Their customers are 50% foreigners and 50% Hungarians, and no one can beat their algorithms on the market. They pretty much know what users want even if they visit the given website for the first time. They expect their revenues doubled in 2017.

At the end of 2017 four Hungarian researchers won the Consolidator Grant, one of the most prestigious discovery research grants, in the framework of the call announced by the European Research Council (ERC) for principal investigators leading independent research groups. One of them, Judit Makara, returned to Hungary from the USA with a Momentum fellowship grant, now she is head of the Laboratory of Neuronal Signalling at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS). The NRDI Office’s bridge funding also contributed to this success.

An international collaboration of scientists achieved a breakthrough in the therapeutic options for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most common types of leukemia in adults. We interviewed Dr. György Miklós Keserű, principal investigator of the research launched in 2015 with Hungarian participation and financed by the NRDI Office, about the background, significance and findings of the research, as well as about the chances of curing one of the worst forms of leukemia.

The threshold of adulthood is a critical period of life. It is no coincidence that this period is marked by an increase in the use of drugs, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and car accidents. However, adolescent risk-taking comes with great flexibility as well: brain plasticity makes this period of development the time of opportunities. This gave the idea to Professor Ilona Kovács, head of the Institute of Psychology of Pázmány Péter Catholic University, to study the development of the cerebral cortex across adolescence and its relationship with sleep with her research group. The results of the project funded from the NRDI Fund have relevance to pedagogy, medicine and also to everyday life.

According to recent findings, inflammatory processes play a significant role in the evolution of diseases of the nervous system that are becoming increasingly widespread in modern societies. However, the mechanisms involved are presently unclear. At the “Brain Research and Oncology” conference organised by the Hungarian Biochemical Society, Hungarian researchers gave an account of the outcomes of the Hungarian Brain Research Program and projects in the field of oncology, funded from the lately launched National Competitiveness and Excellence Programme of the NRDI Fund. Biologist Ádám Dénes presented his most recent research findings.

The selective waste disposal of empty plastic bottles of mineral water and soft drinks has been a practice for some years now, but little do we know about the fate of these flasks. Those working in the project granted funding from the NRDI Fund worked out a method already applied by industry, as well: by altering certain properties of plastic waste material they give it a chance for a new life in so far unknown forms.

In the course of the interaction between metal nanoparticles and light the electric field might as well be ehnanced by several hundredfold in the proximity of nanoparticles. The benefits of this phenomenon may include the manufacturing of even more sensitive sensors, the destruction of harmful cells or the increased efficiency of certain solar cells. The “Ultrafast Nanooptics Research Group” in the Wigner Research Centre for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, supported by the NRDI Fund, has elaborated a method which helps to learn about and measure the limits of the enhancement of the electric field in the case of any metal nanostructure on a surface.

Back covers of plasma TV sets, egg trays, things made of foam-structured plastic. The selective collection of empty plastic bottles of mineral water and soft drinks has been a practice for some years now, but little do we know about the fate of these flasks. Participants in a project funded from the NRDI Fund worked out a method that is now applied also in industries: by altering certain properties of plastic waste material they give it a chance for a new life in so far unthinkable forms.

Neuroscientist László Acsády, winner of an ERC Advanced Grant, the most prestigious grant of the European Research Council fostering discovery research, has set the objective to explore the so far virtually unknown links between the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex – responsible for cognitive functions, movement coordination, speaking and in pathological cases also for epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease – and the thalamus. With the professor of the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA KOKI) we discussed the directions of research in the forthcoming five years.

Key indicators of smoking or consumption of alcohol and other drugs show improving trends –the survey project performed by the Institute of Sociology and Social Policy of Corvinus University of Budapest concludes, when comparing the latest information available on domestic conditions with all the data collected over the past 20 years, thus putting changes in addiction among Hungarian youth into an international context.

The research objective of academician László Pyber may also qualify as a milestone in classic and more recent branches of mathematics, such as computer science. The professor of the Alfréd Rényi Research Institute of Mathematics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences won an ERC Advanced Grant, one of the most prestigious grants of the European Research Council (ERC) supporting discovery research. László Pyber and his research team have been assisted by the bridging fund of NRDI Fund over the past one-and-a-half years on his way to the grant. We asked the professor about the winning research project.

“Reinforcing the research infrastructure – internationalisation, networking” (GINOP-2.3.3-15) was among the first calls announced by the Ministry of National Economy on recommendation of the NRDI Office. The call with a total budget of HUF 20 billion (EUR 65.5 million) aims to strengthen domestic research infrastructure and facilitate Hungarian participation in international research infrastructures. It was also the first call in which the winners – from Debrecen, Keszthely, Pécs, Szeged and Veszprém– were announced in May 2016.

A successful clinical test has been completed by Meditop Gyógyszeripari Kft. which can bring the long-awaited breakthrough in the development of a special-purpose painkiller. The project was awarded almost HUF 500 million (EUR 1.59 million) from the Research and Technology Innovation Fund under a programme supporting market-oriented R&D activities, which was used by the Hungarian pharmaceutical company to prepare and conduct the Phase II clinical test of a new combination medicine for the treatment of neuropathic pain.

As a result of the research-development project led by BHE Bonn Hungary Elektronikai Kft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly, the drones will become faster, safer and capable of even more tasks. The internationally remarkable results of the three-year project were achieved with a funding of more than HUF 500 million (nearly EUR 1.5 million) received from the Research and Technology Innovation Fund.