20th Annual Conference of the Hungarian Stroke Society

The 20th Annual Conference of the Hungarian Stroke Society was held in Zalakaros from 10 to 12 September 2026. The annual conference focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention of stroke, with particular emphasis on the latest advances in research and clinical practice, as well as the continuous development of diagnostic tools. At the conference, Dr Ákos Menyhárt, Associate Professor at our Department, and Dr Sándor Nardai, Head of the Department of Neurointervention at Semmelweis University, jointly organized the “Stroke – Basic Research” session. In addition to Dr Ákos Menyhárt, members of our Department, Dr Rita Frank, Dr Anna Törteli, and Dr Szilvia V. Kecskés, also gave presentations during the session. We are proud that our Department was well represented by our colleagues at one of Hungary’s most important professional forums for stroke research. Congratulations to all our speakers, and we wish them continued success in their research!

Institute of Biology Seminar

On 4 September 2026, the Institute of Biology at the Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged, organised an Institute Seminar. During the one-day event, junior members of the Institute of Biology presented their research findings through oral presentations and a poster session. The scientific programme was followed by an informal team-building event. Research conducted at our Department was represented by Dr Anna Törteli, who gave an oral presentation, while Dr Rita Frank and Dr Szilvia V. Kecskés presented posters. The event provided an excellent opportunity for members of the Institute to learn more about each other’s research. We would like to thank the organisers for their work in making the event possible!

EKÖP Scholarship Awards

We are delighted to announce that two applications submitted by members of our Department in response to the University of Szeged’s 2026 call for the University Research Scholarship Programme (EKÖP) have been awarded funding! Sára Pető, an MSc student in Molecular Biology, received a 10-month scholarship in the Master’s and Undivided Study Programmes category, while Krisztián Vinga, a PhD student, was awarded a 12-month scholarship in the Doctoral Programme category. The EKÖP programme aims to support the next generation of university lecturers and researchers and to involve the most talented students in higher education talent development programmes. We warmly congratulate the awardees and wish them every success in carrying out their projects!

Another high-profile publication from our Department

Our latest high-impact paper has been published in the prestigious Aging and Disease, the official journal of the International Society on Aging and Disease. The article, entitled “Senolytic treatment triggered by carotid occlusion confers protection against later acute ischemic stroke in aged rats”, is led by Dr. Szilvia V. Kecskés, Assistant Professor at our Department. In this study, we investigated whether the targeted removal of senescent cells accumulating in the walls of cerebral blood vessels could reduce stroke-induced brain damage in older age. Our results show that, under experimental conditions, the treatment reduced the size of cerebral infarcts and had beneficial effects on cerebral blood vessels as well as on age-related inflammatory and metabolic processes. These findings suggest that targeting the biological processes of aging may offer a new approach to increasing the resilience of the aging brain to stroke. Congratulations to all the authors on this excellent work!

New International Publication

A new paper entitled "Faecal proteases and immune signatures drive subtype-specific enteric neuronal activation in IBS" has been published in the prestigious journal Gut. The study was led by Dr. Anita Annaházi from the Department, in collaboration with physicians from the Centre of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Szeged, researchers from the Genome Integrity and DNA Repair Team, University of Szeged, as well as German and French collaborators. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects millions of people worldwide, yet there is still no simple diagnostic test to reliably identify the disease, and currently available treatments remain only partially effective. Our study demonstrated that components present in the stool of patients with both diarrhoea-predominant (IBS-D) and constipation-predominant (IBS-C) IBS activate neurons of the gut wall (enteric neurons) more strongly than those from healthy individuals. These findings provide further evidence that IBS is associated with genuine, measurable biological alterations rather than being merely a "functional" disorder. Importantly, we also showed that the two major IBS subtypes differ biologically: in IBS-D protein-degrading enzymes in the stool appear to drive these changes, whereas IBS-C involves different underlying mechanisms. The proteins identified in this study may form the basis of a simple stool-based diagnostic test for IBS-D in the future, while our findings may also contribute to the development of more personalized and targeted therapeutic approaches. Congratulations to all authors on this outstanding achievement!

20th Annual Conference of the Hungarian Stroke Society

Institute of Biology Seminar

EKÖP Scholarship Awards

Another high-profile publication from our Department

New International Publication

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