Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub Jubilee Event#

Date: 19 May 2023, 10:00-16:00 hrs (CET)
Venue: University of Science and Technology, H-14 building (Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 40), Wrocław, Poland

In May 2023, Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub celebrated the anniversary of its presence in Poland. The meeting on 19 May marked this jubilee.#

The regional branch of Academia Europaea was established in Wrocław in 2011. Over the years, it has been actively involved in organising academic meetings and events, as well as applying resources of the Academia Europaea Association to support the local scientific milieu.

The celebration of the jubilee of the Wrocław Hub of Academia Europaea was all the more significant, as the event created an exceptional opportunity to promote the mission and objectives of Academia: deep recognition of open thinking, pioneering research, and scientific excellence. The event gathered accomplished scholars from all over Europe.

The agenda of the meeting included a session summarising over a decade of Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub, scientific lectures, and a panel discussion of young researchers. The event was streamed online. The video recording is available via Hub's YouTube channel.

The programme featured AE member, the Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine - Professor Erwin Neher MAE as the keynote speaker, who gave a lecture on "Ion Channels: Their Discovery, their Function and their Role in Biomedicine and Pharmacology".

The second lecture on "An Empathic Engineering Journey and The Future Under Our Skin" was given by the Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe, Prof. Dr. Ir. David F. Rivas.

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10:00 - 11:30 Wrocław Knowledge Hub Anniversary session

11:30 - 12:00 Coffee break

12:00 - 13:15 Lectures



13:45 - 14:30 Lunch

14:30 - 16:00 Young researchers panel: Challenge of change

Participants include:

• Academia Iuvenum (Wrocław Tech)
• Academy of Young Scholars and Artists (Wrocław)
• Young Academy of Europe

Chair: Prof. Tadeusz Luty MAE

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Prof. Erwin Neher: "Ion Channels: Their Discovery, their Function and their Role in Biomedicine and Pharmacology"#

Short abstract:

The concept of bioelectricity emerged in the late 18th century, based on the experiments of Italian scientists Luigi Galvani and Allesandro Volta. 60 years ago British Physiologists Alan Hodgkin & Andrew Huxley showed that the nerve impulse is a result of permeability changes of the nerve membrane. This provoked the question what the molecular mechanisms of such permeability changes might be. In 1976 Bert Sakmann and myself were able to show that so-called ion channels –proteins, which gate ion fluxes across membranes - mediate these responses.

Research over the last 40 years has shown, that ion channels are not only present in electrically excitable cells, such as in nerve and muscle, but also in basically all cell types of our body, mediating a variety of physiological functions. We now know, that they are prime drug targets, and that dysfunction of ion channels underlies a variety of diseases.

Prof. Dr. Ir. David Fernandez Rivas: "An Empathic Engineering Journey and The Future Under Our Skin"#

Short abstract:

How can chemistry, process intensification, applied physics and engineering contribute to a topic like reducing pain? Needle-based injections improve living conditions and the health of millions of people and animals. One timely example is the injection of vaccines. Needles have been praised for centuries, but also feared, and in the last decades there is renewed interest in getting rid of them.

I want to share salient moments on my ongoing quest in developing ways to inject without needles, using lasers and microfluidics. In the BuBble Gun project (https://bubble-gun.eu), we want to change the lives of people who fear them, and open new therapeutic opportunities to treat diseases. Moreover, reducing the use of needles and the plastic packaging they require can reduce accidental finger-pricking and contamination caused by traditional healthcare procedures.

Moreover, I am excited to present a novel approach that helps to increase empathy in people having different points of view, and to understand or predict the perspectives of stakeholders 1,2. I will also share the latest progress in The Future Under Our Skin (FUOS) an international stakeholder forum bundling scientists, dermatologists, tattoo artists, philosophers, other experts, and patients. We share a vision of quality-of-life improvements with skin as a technological platform, and I look forward to recruiting more collaborators.

1. Rivas, D.F., Husein, S. "Empathy, persuasiveness and knowledge promote innovative engineering and entrepreneurial skills." Education for Chemical Engineers 40 (2022): 45-55.

2. Rivas, D.F. "Empathic Entrepreneurial Engineering." De Gruyter, 2022.

Photo gallery#