Research topics
Research interests in Laboratory of Transcriptional Regulation are very broad and are focused, on one hand, on the molecular aspects of information transfer in biological systems, and on the other hand, on the practical use of molecular and cellular biology techniques in medical and environmental biotechnology. The core of research activity carried out in the Laboratory concerns signaling pathways related to innate immunity and their modification in immunomodulation and immunotoxicity, enzymatic and non-enzymatic determinants of redox homeostasis and their regulation by cellular signals, biogenesis and regulation of active membrane transporters and their role in the pharmacokinetics of natural compounds and function of barrier tissues with particular emphasis on the blood-brain barrier, as well as the use of nanoparticles for drug delivery. Our team’s methodological and scientific expertise includes genetic engineering of proteins and eukaryotic cells, techniques for studying protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions, transcriptomics, advanced biological imaging and high-content screening, as well as the construction and application of cell line-based biosensors. We conduct research mainly on human cell line models (including stable transfectants and induced pluripotent stem cells that we generate ourselves).
A large part of research activity in the Laboratory is devoted scientific collaborations, in which our scientists support the research topics of other teams with their experience and methodological foundations. We have participated in projects in the fields of clinical immunology, oncology and hematology, environmental toxicology, population genetics, microbiology of pathogenic and environmentally relevant organisms, endocrinology, enzymology and biochemistry, biomaterial science, drug formulation, molecular neurobiology, and even experimental and systematic zoology and botany. We are open to new collaborations and to participation in multi-center research projects, for which our methodological experience and access to advanced equipment can be a significant benefit.
Main directions of research, expertise and potential scientific collaboration:
- Human multidrug resistance transporters from the ABC superfamily: transcriptional regulation of expression, biochemical regulation of activity, role in the pharmacokinetics of dietary compounds and in anticancer therapy.
- Human monocytes and macrophages: signal transduction and regulation of gene expression in the process of differentiation, role of redox homeostasis in immune function, influence of immunomodulators and immunotoxicants on activity.
- Emerging sources of environmental toxicological threats: neglected and underestimated biogenic, dietary and civilizational toxins.
- Rare human genetic diseases: pathophysiology at the molecular and cellular level, development of innovative research models.
- Biophysics of biological membranes: the influence of physicochemical parameters of the lipid bilayer on the function of transport and signaling proteins, development and validation of new research methods.
- Advanced biological imaging methods: confocal microscopy, high-content screening (HCS), Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), fluorescence lifetime microscopy (FLIM), super-resolution microscopy.
- Cellular biosensors based on reporter genes, modifications of natural signal transduction pathways, fluorescent proteins and protein-protein interactions.
- Nanoparticles: pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of nanodrugs and nanobiomaterials, technical, medical and environmental nanotoxicology.
- Application of advanced techniques of molecular biology and cell biology in the physiology and taxonomy of plants and animals with economic importance.Searching for prognostic factors of colorectal cancer
