SAV: Slovakia Managed to Acquire European 'Science Oscar'

Bratislava, August 16 (TASR) - Slovakia managed to acquire the European version of a "scientific Oscar", as the European Research Council (ERC) approved and endorsed for financing a project by Jan Tkac from the Slovak Academy of Sciences' Chemical Institute on the diagnosis of prostate cancer with the use of innovative methods, SAV vice-chair Peter Samuely said at a press conference on Thursday. 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 from 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 Samuely. According to Tkac, the purpose of the grant is to apply the results of basic research into biomedical practice. "The statistics establish that one in eight men will develop this illness during his lifetime. Some 400,000 people die of this disease on an annual basis," he said. Scientists Jan Tkac and Tomas Berok expect the preparation of prostate cancer diagnostic kits to be realised in two versions: clinical tests for oncological facilities and hospitals, and home tests for the public. Tkac is confident that the results from the home tests can be acquired within ten minutes, whereas it might take roughly an hour with the clinical tests. The kits are likely to hit the market in 2021. "In the future, we would also like to develop kits for the diagnosis of other illnesses as well, for instance, breast cancer," claimed Tkac. mf/mch/ko