Slovakia has European 'Science Oscar'

Slovakia managed to acquire the European version of a "scientific Oscar". The European Research Council (approved and endorsed for financing a project by Ján Tkáč from the Slovak Academy of Sciences' Chemical Institute on the diagnosis of prostate cancer with the use of innovative methods. The project represents the first ERC's Proof of Concept grant that the European research authority has ever approved for Slovakia to date. "The project was created also with the support of scientist Pavol Cekan and the Health Ministry, which in this fashion reflects on the long-term strategy of biomedical applied research development in Slovakia," stated SAV vice-chair Peter Samuely. According to Tkáč, the purpose of the grant is to apply the results of basic research into biomedical practice. "Statistics establish that one in eight men will develop this illness during their lifetime. Some 400,000 people die of this disease on an annual basis," he said.