History
The Department of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences was established by the Academy's Scientific Secretariat on October 5, 1954 (Directive 148/54). The department then consisted of two sections: the Pharmacology-Chemistry Unit, headed by Professor Janusz Supniewski, which shared laboratories with the Department of Pharmacology of the Cracow Medical Academy at 16 Grzegórzecka Street, and the Medicinal Plants Unit, headed by Professor Marek Gatty-Kostyal, which was located at 176 Radzikowskiego Street.
During the Department's first decade of existence, total employment grew to 41 (as compared to 27 employees in the end of year 1954). The number of laboratories had increased as well. In 1964, the Department already comprised the laboratories of Chemical Synthesis, Pharmacodynamics, Microbiology, Phytochemistry and Plant Horticulture (later - Agrotechnology). Professor Janusz Supniewski was called to head of the Department. Following Professor Janusz Supniewski's death in 1964, Professor Józef Hano was appointed Head of the Department of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and had been holding that position until his retirement in 1977.
In 1967-1968 the Department of Pharmacology was relocated from its hitherto occupied location at 16 Grzegórzecka St. (buildings belonging to the Medical Academy) to quarters adapted to its particular needs at 52 Ojcowska Street and at 176 Radzikowskiego Street. The latter also contained the already existing Phytochemistry and Agrotechnology Labs.
In the following years the Department of Pharmacology was further developed. In January 1968 the Neurosurgical Pathology Laboratory of the Polish Academy of Science headed by Professor Adam Kunicki, and in June 1972 the Immunology Laboratory headed by Associate Professor Anna Skowron Cendrzak, were placed under the Department's administration. Due to limited availability of facilities, these laboratories were provided the location they currently occupied in buildings belonging to the Medical Academy.
The 1970's were of particular importance in the Department of Pharmacology's development. The year 1970 brought doctoral programs in pharmacology and phytochemistry. Run in the years 1970-1997, the Doctoral Studies were brought to a halt for financial reasons on 31 December 1997 (up to that date, the Doctoral Studies had been financed from central funds). In the past 27 years (1970-1997), 38 post-graduates completed their studies. The Doctoral Studies were restarted at the Institute of Pharmacology on 1 October 2003.
In 1971 the Department was granted permission to confer Ph.D. degrees in the medical and biological sciences (at present the Institute has the right to confer Ph.D. degrees in biological sciences (in the area of biology) and Ph.D. degrees in medical sciences (in the area of medicinal biology).
That same year the Institute coordinated tier II probes in the area of neuro- and psychopharmacology of problems associated with axis 09.4.1, Structure and Function of the Nervous System. Coordinating research in neuro- and psychopharmacology was included in the Institute's activities until 1990 while it coordinated tier II research in axis 10.4, The Nervous System and Biocybernetic Systems and Elements (1976-1980) and The Nervous System and the Organism's Basic Functional Regulatory Mechanisms (1981-1985). It also coordinated the Central Program of Basic Research 06.02, Adaptive Neurobiological Mechanisms (1986-1990).
In 1974 by order of the Polish Academy of Science Executive Committee (No. 5/74, dated May 7, 1974, and ratified by the Council of Ministers on July 13, 1974), the Department of Pharmacology achieved status of an institute, and its laboratories became individual departments. The Institute was headed by Professor Józef Hano.
The Department of Biogenic Amines at Łódź was incorporated into the Institute in 1975 and headed by Professor Czesław Maśliński. In January 1976 the independent Gastroenterology Laboratory was set up.
The year 1976 saw the completion of construction of the Institute's new and independent quarters at 12 Smętna St. The main building then housed the Departments of Pharmacology, Neuro- and Psychopharmacology, Biochemistry, Endocrinology, Organic Chemistry, Histology and Histochemistry, Neuropathology, as well as the independent Laboratories of Immunology and Gastroenterology, the Library and the Division of Documentation and Scientific Information. A separate building housed experimental animals and the Department of Phytochemistry remained at its original location at 176 Radzikowskiego Street.
In 1976 the Institute was assigned coordination of subtopic 2, Compounds of High Biological Activity of Interdepartmental subtopic MR 1.12, Synthesis and Properties of Chemical and Biological Organic Compounds, which it was responsible for coordinating until 1985.
Upon Professor Józef Hano's retirement on August 1, 1977, Professor Jerzy Maj was nominated as Director of the Institute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków.
In 1979 two other laboratories were established: the Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism Laboratory within the Department of Biochemistry, and the New Drug Research Laboratory within the Department of Pharmacology.
Between 1986 and 1990 the Institute was tier I coordinator within the Central Program of Basic Testing, 06.03, Endogenous Substances of High Biological Activity. It also coordinated tier II research as part of the Central Program of Research and Development, 3.8, Drug Technology and Pharmaceutical By products, testing compounds that potentially could act on the central nervous system.
On January 1, 1981, the Department of Biogenic Amines at Lódz was separated from the Institute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and made an independent institution. In January 1984, the Neuropeptide Research Laboratory was set up within the Department of Pharmacology.
Further changes within the organizational structure of the Institute took place on April 1, 1989. The independent Immunobiology Laboratory became the Department of Immunobiology, and the independent Gastroenterology Laboratory was transformed into the Department of Physiology. Also the Drug Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism Laboratory and the Neuropeptide Research Laboratory became autonomous Departments. The Agrotechnology Laboratory within the Department of Phytochemistry was transformed into the Garden of Medicinal Plants. The new Laboratory of Neurobiology was set up within the Department of Pharmacology; the Histology and Histochemistry Department was shut down.
In the 1990's the successive changes in the organizational structure of the Institute had place. On June 23, 1992, the Department of Organic Chemistry changed its name to the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. Upon Professor Jerzy Maj retirement on January 1, 1993 Professor Edmund Przegaliński was nominated as Director of the Institute of Pharmacology. In the same year, Assoc. Professor Władysław Lasoń was named head of the Department of Endocrinology. In 1995 the Laboratory of New Drug Research and the Laboratory of Neurobiology become two independent Departments (on 22 February 1995), and the Department of Neuropeptide Research changed its name into the Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology (since 18 October 1995). In 1997 two new laboratories were established: the Laboratory of Receptor and Neuromediator Metabolism within the Department of Biochemistry, and the Laboratory of Drug Dependence within the Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology.
Upon Professor A. Skowron-Cendrzak's retirement on (April 1, 1998) the Department of Immunobiology was shut down. In 1998 the Laboratory of Intracellular Signals was set up within the Department of Biochemistry.
In the 1999 upon Professor J. Bugajski and Professor S. Misztal retirement, Associate Professor Maria Bijak was named head of the Department of Physiology and Associate Professor Maria Mokrosz was named head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. In the same year, Associate Professor Władysław Lasoń was nominated as Deputy Director for General Affairs.
Following Associate Profesor Maria Bijak death in 2001, Associate Professor Grzegorz Hess was named head of the Department of Physiology. Since Associate Professor Maria Mokrosz death in 2001, there is a vacancy at the position of head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. Currently Dr Andrzej Bojarski serves as Acting Head.
In 2001, three new laboratories were established within the Department of Pharmacology: the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, and the Laboratory of Brain Pharmacology and Biostructure. In 2003, the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurobiology was set up within the Department of Biochemistry. In 2004 Laboratory of Immunoendocrinology was set up within the Department of Experimental Neuroendocrinology (from Department of Endocrinology).
In 1990 the Institute was granted permission to award a degree of D.Sc. in medical sciences within the area of medicinal biology (M.P. number 11 pos. 85, by authority of the Ministry of Education dated March 1, 1990).
In 1991 the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) introduced a new system of financing research in the form of grants (Resolution 32/91 KBN). Up to the present, the Institute's researchers have entered all the competitions for grants (I-XXVII) and have obtained 115 grants in all. Moreover, in the past few years they were given 1 grant by the KBN (the so-called KBN-commissioned grant), 2 grants by the Foundation for Development of Polish Pharmacy and Medicine, 3 other grants by the KBN: Polish-German KBN-commissioned grants in the field of neurological sciences and 9 international grants: five by the European Community, one by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, one by Bundesministerium fur Bildung and Forschung and two by the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Fund II.
For 55 years, i.e. since the Institute came into existence, a scientific title of Professor has been conferred on 25 researchers, and a degree of D.Sc. on 45 scientists. Moreover, since 1971, 178 scientists have been awarded a Ph.D. degree (in 149 case as a result of research done at the Institute).
The Institute has been cooperating with Poland's pharmaceutical industry for many years. This cooperation consists in research and systematic testing of new products and generic drugs, as well as in giving lectures and training in pharmacology.
Since 1984 the Institute has organized Winter Schools dedicated to the latest achievements and directions in the development of neuropsychopharmacology all over the world. Participants of these schools are scientists workers of the Institute and researchers from centres cooperating with the Institute and from similar institutions. Up to the present twenty seven such schools have been organized.
The Institute has been implementing long-term collaborative scientific projects with a number of foreign research centers. The most comprehensive ones have been carried out jointly with the Psychopharmacologic Laboratory at the Roskilde Psychiatric Hospital (Denmark), the CNR Institute of Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology in Rome (Italy), the Max Planck Psychiatric Institute in Martinsried (Germany), the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen (Germany), the Department of Physiology, University of Heidelberg (Germany), the Department of Neurochemistry, Philipps University in Marburg (Germany), the Department of Neuropsychopharmacology, Free University in Berlin (Germany), the Department of Comparative Psychology and Physiology of the Nijmegen University (the Netherlands), the Department of Toxicology, University of Cagliari (Italy), the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg (Germany), the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Philipps University in Marburg (Germany), the Rudolf Magnus Institute, University Medical Centre in Utrecht (the Netherlands), the Department of Psychiatry, Medical Centre of the Vanderbilt University in Nashville (USA), the Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University in Atlanta (USA), the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (USA), INSERM, the French Institute of Hygiene and Medical Research in Montpellier (France), the Institute of Biochemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged (Hungary), the Research Laboratory Novartis in Basel (Switzerland), the International Research Institute Servier in Coubervoie (France), the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague (Czech), Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Gottingen (Germany), Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Ulm (Germany), Institute of Medicinal Chemistry, Losanna University of Technology (Switzerland), the Laboratory of Endocrinology, Semmelweis University od Medicine in Budapest (Hungary), and the Pavlov State Medical University of Saint Petersburg (Russia).
This multilateral cooperation has already brought about a number of important joint publications and an exchange of scientists.
The exchange of scientists in the years 1986-2009 resulted in 89 long term scientific visits abroad, 605 short-term visits and 962 attendances at foreign congresses and symposia. In the same period, 533 foreign visits were paid to the Institute's departments and laboratories.
In the years 1955-2009, 5173 papers were published (of which 2979 were original) and 20 patents were granted to the Institute's scientists.
Up to the present the Institute's researchers have received, among others, two prizes of Prime Minister of Poland for outstanding scientific achievements, three prizes of the International Anna Monika Foundation, four Jędrzej Śniadecki's prizes from the Medical Division of the Polish Academy of Sciences, eleven prizes of the Scientific Secretary of the Polish Academy of Sciences, eleven scientific prizes of the Medical Division of of the Polish Academy of Sciences, three Prime Minister's prizes for outstanding doctoral dissertations, five prizes of the T. Browicz's Fund of the Medical Division of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU), one prize of the Aurelia Baczko Foundation, nine prizes of the Polish Society of Pharmacology, one prize of the Polish Society of Endocrinology, one diploma honoris causa Award of the European Federation of Pharmacological Societies, one Honorary Award of the Aurelia Baczko Foundation, three Copernicus prizes of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU) and city of Cracow, one Prix Leonardo - Magna cum Laude (for screenplay and animation of the picture: The Neuronal Activity of Antidepressiva), sixteen scholarships of Foundation for Polish Science for Young Scientists, and one prize of Minister of National Education.