Professor Katarzyna Starowicz - Bubak, PhD

She holds M.Sc. degree from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland and Ph.D. degree from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. She received habilitation in 2013 at the Jagiellonian University Medical College and since 2021 holds an academic rank of Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences.  

After receiving PhD degree in Medical Sciences at the University of Utrecht, she started a post­doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry CNR in Pozzuoli (Naples, Italy) in the Endocannabinoid Research Group headed by prof. Vincenzo Di Marzo. Continuing her interest in the search for effective substances to treat pain, she conducted a study on the role of TRPV1 receptors located in the CNS and their possible involvement in pain and nociception. 

After completing a postdoctoral fellowship, in October 2007 she was employed as a Research As­sociate in the Department of Pain Pharmacology, Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków (Poland), headed by prof. Barbara Przewłocka. She continued the study on the role of the endovanilloid and endocannabinoid systems with particular emphasis towards neuropathic pain. Subsequently, her research interests expanded to include the issue of degen­erative joint disease (osteoarthritis, OA).  

An important research topic, high involvement of young scientists and significant financing of the research by external sources (LIDER NCBiR and SONATA BIS NCN) resulted in her appointment as Head of the Laboratory of Pain Pathophysiology at the Department of Pain Pharmacology (at the Institute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków).  

With the appointment as the Head of the Department of Neurochemistry in 2017, she pro­posed a new research direction for the Department, namely combining pain experiences with activity mesolimbic reward system, as well as an indication of the learning mechanism as important element of persistent effects of severe pain. Prof. Starowicz’s group is also engaged in determining the cannabinoid function in chondrocyte regeneration, in determining the inflammatory component in OA as well as in studying the function of cannabinoid receptor ligands in the regulation of chondrocytes and osteoblast activity. In April 2021 President of Poland awarded her with a title of full professor in medicinal and health sciences. 

She specializes in the strategies of chronic pain treatment, especially in extending the effectiveness of neuropathic and osteoarthritis pain therapy through targeting the endogenous cannabinoid system.