Professor Blanka Říhová from Czech Academy of Sciences has been nominated for European Inventor Award 2011 in lifetime achievement category. Blanka Říhová, currently Head of Department of Immunology and Gnotobiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (2000 – 2007, Director of the Institute of Microbiology in Prague, Czech Republic), and her team have, in close collaboration with the team of professor Karel Ulbrich, Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic strived to develop a more targeted treatment with positive results.
Her research has enabled the development of several anti-cancer drugs with specific
anti-tumour targeting mechanisms. The combination of the drugs’ increased specificity and efficacy
along with the ability to enhance the immune system’s response to the tumour cells themselves
reduce the chances of new tumours developing later on.
Chemotherapy has for some time been considered the most effective treatment to combat cancer.
One of its main drawbacks, however, is that its cytotoxic effects do not just reach the tumour
cells but those that surround it. Blanka Říhová has worked at developing a more targeted treatment,
researching a particular method of treatment that not only targets tumour cells but even appears to
increase immune function.
Blanka Říhová is not only a prolific inventor and researcher, named in over 20 patents, she
has also received numerous awards and prizes for her research, including: a 2005 Medal of the
Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; the 2005 “Česká hlava” medal, an award for her
invention in the field of Polymeric drugs; the 2005 Medal of the Faculty of Science, Charles
University and a Medal of the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand, in 2000, to
name but a few.
She has also served in some of the Czech Republic’s most remarkable and prestigious scientific
societies, including the Czech Learned Society, the European Academy of Sciences, the European
Science Foundation and the American Association for Cancer Research, and has served as a professor
to universities in the Czech Republic and USA.
Again a large number of proposals were submitted to the European Patent Office and had to
undergo rigorous examination on formal and legal criteria. From those that passed, the high calibre
international jury, including prominent personalities such as European Parliament President Jerzy
Buzek, selected the fifteen finalists, the key factors in its choice being technical content,
economic impact and social relevance of the inventions. It is worth noting that the inventors come
from a dozen countries covering nearly every region of Europe. Medical research leads the field,
followed by energy technology and then construction engineering, vehicle technology and
telecommunications. Europe's most prestigious innovation prize will be awarded in five categories
on 19 May in Budapest.
4 Mar 2011
