Professor Marcin Drąg from the Faculty of Chemistry of Wrocław University of Science and Technology has been awarded the so-called Polish Nobel Prize by the Foundation for Polish Science. The prize is the most important scientific award in Poland. 

The Foundation's awards are granted for special achievements and scientific discoveries that push the boundaries of cognition and open new cognitive perspectives, make an outstanding contribution to the civilisational and cultural progress of our country, as well as making Poland an important country undertaking the most ambitious challenges of the modern world. The prize amounts to PLN 200,000.

Professor Marcin Drąg was recognised for developing a new technological platform for obtaining biologically active compounds, in particular, proteolytic enzyme inhibitors. The platform can be used to develop new therapies, medicines, or diagnostic methods.

The winner works at WUST’s Department of Bio-organic Chemistry and specializes in biological and medical chemistry. A holder of numerous grants awarded by the Foundation for Polish Science, he has carried out numerous projects under research grants, including those from the budget of the National Centre for Science and Polish and foreign universities, institutions, and organisations financing advanced scientific technologies. 

Professor Drąg has received several awards from the Rector of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, as well as the Minister of Science and Higher Education. Moreover, he was recognised by the participants in the poll for 30 creative personalities of Wrocław ‘2018.

Professor Drąg has worked at universities in Italy, Austria, France, and the United States. He is an employee of the prestigious Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in California.

In his research work, Professor Drąg conducts research into proteolytic enzymes (proteases), which are responsible for the development of practically all diseases associated with the progress of civilization. He is a holder of nine patents and the author of nearly 110 scientific papers published in top-class journals and quoted over 2 thousand times, which translates into Professor Drąg’s Hirsch index of 28.