Silvia Pastoreková, laureate of the Outstanding Scientist in Slovakia category, works at the Biomedical Research Center SAS. She deals with research into the mechanisms by which tumour cells adapt to the lack of oxygen and investigates the possibilities of their use in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In cooperation with a wider team, she discovered a protein that is found on the surface of tumour cells, but healthy cells do not have it. Based on genetic information, this protein was included in the so-called family carbonic anhydrases and was named CA9. Using an antibody against CA9, which Silvia Pastoreková prepared, the team of Oxford scientists led by Adrian L. Harris and the current Nobel Prize winner Peter J. Ratcliff showed that CA9 is formed in tumour cells when there is a lack of oxygen - hypoxia.