17 February 2025

Dr Marcelina Jureczko – the winner of the 10th Polish edition of the FameLab competition entered the international finals

Dr Jureczko, who works at the Biotechnology Center of the Silesian University of Technology, represented Poland at the international FameLab competition finals on November 29, 2024. Renowned for her engaging talks on environmental biotechnology, she demonstrated how fungi can tackle pharmaceutical pollution. The online event featured finalists from eight countries, including Austria, South Africa, and the UK.

What is FameLab?

FameLab is the world’s largest public-facing science communication international competition for young researchers, established in 2005 in Cheltenham, UK. Initially, it was part of the local science festival, but it quickly won the hearts of audiences around the world.

The rules are simple – scientists need to entertain a live audience on stage, using only their wits and a few simple props, and have only three minutes to do so. The aim is to spark curiosity and expand public understanding of scientific topics and research. “FameLab is a bit of a science show, which of course has to be factually correct at all times, but also clear and understandable”, explains Dr Jureczko.

Local editions of the competition have been organised in over 30 countries on all continents, and over 40,000 participants have performed on stage so far. Between 2012-2021 British Council Foundation and the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw ran FameLab in Poland.

In 2024, the Polish edition took place in Katowice, at the University of Silesia, as part of the European City of Science 2024 celebrations. The final, which was live-streamed on the FameLab YouTube Channel in November 2024 (link: FameLab International Final 2024 ), showed representatives of 8 countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Republic of South Africa, Switzerland, Great Britain and Poland.

“The finals are held online, which is a shame, as it deprives us all of the opportunity for direct contact and interaction with the audience. Only the winner will have the chance to present live at the Cheltenham Science Festival in June 2025”, said Jureczko. To refine her three-minute presentation, Dr. Jureczko attended masterclasses with storytelling expert Dr. Anna Ploszajski.

Source: Photo by Katarzyna Suchańska, University of Silesia in Katowice

Fungi – Avengers who wear caps instead of superhero capes

Dr Jureczko’s presentation, “Fungi – Avengers Who Wear Caps Instead of Superhero Capes,” delves into her pioneering research in environmental protection. By partnering with fungi, she aims to mitigate the harmful effects of pharmaceuticals in ecosystems. She has discovered that fungi can purify water from cancer drugs, which is a huge problem as medicines excreted by humans, e.g. remnants of anti-cancer therapies, flow into sewage. Sewage treatment plants are unable to get rid of them, and this is where fungi come in handy – they can help us in the fight for a clean environment.

“Anticancer drugs are not only heroes who save lives in oncological diseases, but also villains who, due to their toxicity, can be harmful to the natural environment”, says Dr. Jureczko. In her FameLab presentation, she also touched upon the topic of fungi being capable of breaking down compounds with a complex chemical structure. “I hope that thanks to my research and fungi, anticancer drugs will no longer be a threat to the environment and will remain only a salvation in disease”, adds Jureczko.

“Got Talent!” for scientists

Although Dr Jureczko did not win, the competition gave her the opportunity to present her research to the wider audience. She highlighted: “They say that FameLab is like Got Talent! for scientists, where you must talk about a scientific issue for three minutes in a way that will catch the attention of the recipient”.

For her, the event was a great way to meet people who are fascinated by science, but also it was a chance for the whole world to hear about her research. “The form that FameLab has adopted means that the recipient does not lose focus, there is a good chance that they will listen to what I have to say.

Someone said that if you can’t explain to a child what you do, then you don’t really understand the issue yourself”, she adds, hoping that she can reach out to people in a way that is understandable to them, not just to her.

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