MEEX Speaker
PONGRACZ Judit, Ph.D, DSc.
Chief Scientific Officer Humeltis Ltd. Pécs, Hungary
Biography
Prof Dr PONGRÁCZ, Judit Erzsébet received her BSc degree in Biochemistry, did her PhD in Immunology both at the University of Debrecen, Hungary, became drhabil in Medical Sciences at Pecs University, then in 2013 received the Academic Doctorate degree from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She spent 15 years in the United Kingdom working at the University of Birmingham first as a post-doc, then as a senior research scientist. Currently, she is a full professor at Pecs University, heads the Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, director of the Biotechnology MSc Programme at the University of Pecs, and chief scientific officer of Humeltis Ltd, the University’s spin-off company based on Prof Pongracz’s granted patents in lung tissue engineering. Her research interests include: Molecular microenvironment of non-small cell lung cancers, side effects of cancer drugs, drug transporter activities within the lung, angiogenesis in pulmonary senescence and lung cancer, molecular background of COPD and the regulation of pulmonary aging mechanisms. She also works on modelling most pulmonary diseases in vitro. She’s holder of several national and international grants both in research and education. At Humeltis she is responsible for novel pulmonary tissue product development, toxicology and efficacy testing of drug candidates in pulmonary tissues and development of personalized applications for lung cancer treatment. She was honoured by the Women in Science Foundation in 2014 with the Excellence Award in Biotechnology; received the Szentagothai Experienced Scientist Award, within the National Excellence Programme, in 2013, won I-st prize for Innovation, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Baranya County Industrial Board, in 2013 and was honorary senior lecturer and scientist at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK since 2008. In 2009 Prof Pongrácz co-authored and co-edited the award winning book of “Medical Biotechnology” commended by The British Medical Association in the Medical Book Competition Awards.
