Prof. Jean-Pierre Majoral received honorary doctorate from the University of Łódź

In his laudation, Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry Prof. Grzegorz Mlostoń presented prof. Majoral’s scientific area of interest, covering issues of heteroatomic compounds chemistry. He gained international fame after developing a method for the synthesis of organophosphorus compounds from the group of dendrimers with a very high molecular weight and the highest ever number of generations. The method is used in the implementation of dendrimer structures for medical and biological applications.

Mlostoń emphasised that the French chemist had been working for years with biologists from the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, studying the activity of the so-called Majoral dendrimers. The research focuses on the interactions between these structures an various biomolecules (e.g. proteins, nucleic acids ) and biological membranes, and demonstrate the usefulness of dendrimers in applications including targeted therapy.

"I first started collaborating with Łódź university in 1973 while doing research for my doctorate. The cooperation was so successful that we wanted to develop it" - said Majoral. Over the next decades, researchers from the University of Łódź and the Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies in Łódź participated in international research projects, prepared many publications in the fields of chemistry and biology, and went for doctoral internship at the University of Toulouse, Majoral’s alma mater.

An opportunity to honour the French scientist was the 69 anniversary of the University of Łódź. According to the rector of the University of Łódź Prof. Włodzimierz Nykiel, in the beginning the university had six faculties and educated more than 7 thousand people. Currently, the University of Łódź has 12 faculties, a branch in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, and 42 thousand students receive education at 120 courses.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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