Five researchers received the Scientist of the Year 2020 award at the Faculty of Arts of Bratislava-based Comenius University on Tuesday. The award was announced by the Scientific and Technical Information Centre (CVTI), the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) and the Association of Slovak Scientific and Technical Societies.
Imrich Barak from Slovak Academy of Sciences's Institute of Molecular Biology received an award in the category of scientist of the year for unique results in the field of bacterial physiology and the discovery of bacterial nanotubes as an expression of a dying cell.
Katarina Kalavska of the National Cancer Institute received an award in the young researcher category. She received it for the development of cancer diseases biobanking at the National Cancer Institute and pre-clinical research in the field of germ cell testicular tumours.
Marian Peciar from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Bratislava-based Slovak University of Technology triumphed in the category of technologist of the year. The jury praised him for his contribution to the development of new non-traditional and unique technologies for the processing of dry and wet powder and granular substances.
Virologist Boris Klempa of Slovak Academy of Sciences's Biomedical Centre received the award in the Innovator of the Year category for innovative research into new methods of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics usable for testing children in schools, as well as for his participation in the development of Slovak PCR tests and the representation of Slovakia in the EVA-GLOBAL European virus archive project.
Michal Cehlar from the Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Management and Geotechnology of Kosice-based Technical University won in the international cooperation category.
In a speech she addressed to scientists, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova stated that Slovak science and scientists became a support for Slovakia during the pandemic. She believes that Slovakia will become competitive only if science is supported, pointing to the fact that we do have top scientists in Slovakia.
