What makes a research project really promising, an innovation likely to succeed? Which projects are worth investing in, how can you foresee that a process of scientific work lasting years or sometimes a decade will eventually yield societal benefits? This section showcases ambitious promises of research projects, development directions, innovations heading for success. Any of them may lead to breakthrough scientific discoveries, new products or services – with and for society.
Modern medicine relies more and more on knowledge acquired in molecular biology and genetics. Therefore, the research into molecular markers revolutionising the diagnosis of diseases has also become extremely timely both for academic basic research and for pharmaceutical research. In order to harmonise the efforts of discovery research and industrial pharmaceutical developments, the Molecular Biomarker Research and Service Centre of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE Biotechnology HEICC) was established, about the goals and achievements of which, we interviewed Professor Imre Kacskovics, head of Department of Immunology of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE).
Professor László Gránásy and his team are engaged in modelling the formation of polycrystalline materials, a research they were granted funds for early in 2018 under the “Frontline” – Excellence Programme developed by the NRDI Office. The goal, after having fully understood the crystallisation process, is to use the results in biological systems.
Gábor London’s project proposal on how useful work could be harnessed from assemblies of molecules functioning as switches awarded funding by the evaluation panel under the call announced by the NRDI Office in 2017 for thematic applications initiated by young researchers. Molecular machines and switches can be used, for example, in medicine, as computer memory elements or even in mobile phone coatings that self-repair their scratches. Gábor London, research fellow at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Research Centre for Natural Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (RCNS HAS) and recent recipient of the Youth Award of HAS, learned the “profession” at the right place: his PhD supervisor, Ben Feringa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016.
Hungary may by the next to cross the boundaries of theory in quantum physics: things that text books formerly mentioned as mere curiosities are soon to become real experiments here and some of them have already been incorporated into the curriculum. Better imaging, quantum computers for so far unsolvable mathematical problems and a boom of hyperloop may come round the corner. What are Hungarian researchers working on, what the money is needed for? Anyway, what is quantum physics all about?