News
PASIFIC Call 1
Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of
Sciences (IP PAS) has become Host Institute for the realization of the Postdoctoral
Fellowship of Dr. Rugmani Meenambal (India), the winner of the first Call of the PASIFIC Programme,
which is co-financed from the Horizon 2020 programme in the frame of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Co-funding of
regional, national and international programmes (MSCA COFUND). During 2-year postdoctoral fellowship, the
laureate will be running the interdisciplinary project “Neuroprotective properties of
theranostic lanthanide oxides nanoparticles against neurotoxin-induced cellular
models of Parkinson’s disease” (acronym
TheraLanOx). The
research will be conducted in the Department of Experimental Neuroendocrinology
IP PAS and in the Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Polish
Academy of Sciences (ICSC PAS, Supporting Institute) under the scientific
supervision of Dr. Danuta Jantas (Applicant’s Supervisor, IP PAS) and Prof. Piotr
Warszyński (Applicant’s Supporting Supervisor, ICSC PAS).
Miniatura 5 results
Dr. Natalia Malikowska-Racia has been awarded a grant from the National Science Centre (NCN) MINIATURA 5 for a project: "Pharmacotherapy
of apathy and motivation disorders: studying the effects of chronic naltrexone
treatment on motivation in rats". Apathy manifests as a lack of motivation and
decreased activity that may contribute to depressive disorders. Nowadays, the
effective and safe pharmacotherapy of motivation disorders is unavailable, yet
some observations suggest that treatment with naltrexone may benefit apathy.
Research indicates that this phenomenon involves mechanisms different than
opioid receptors antagonism that underlies the clinical use of naltrexone in
addictions therapy. The study “Pharmacotherapy of apathy and motivation
disorders: studying the effects of chronic naltrexone treatment on motivation
in rats” aims to evaluate the potential effect of chronic treatment with
naltrexone on motivation in rats and determine possible protein pathways
underlying driving this effect. Congratulations!
Miniatura 5 results
Dr
Katarzyna Rafa-Zabłocka has been awarded a grant from the National Science
Centre (NCN) MINIATURA 5 for a project entitled: “Exploiting of CRISPR/Cas9
gene-editing tool for the engineering of models with selective
double deletion CREB/CREM in chosen brain structure.”
Studies involving CREB deficient animals often neglected increase in expression
of CREM protein induced by the lack of CREB, which phenomenon could have been
partly responsible for unexpected results of these experiments. The new model
proposed in the MINIATURA project by utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 system will enable
selective and simultaneous deletion of both genes CREB and CREM in a chosen
brain structure. Animals with CREB/CREM deletion may become a new tool in
studies on CREB function not only in the pathogenesis of depression, but also
in drug addiction, anxiety, learning and memory etc. Congratulations!
Marta Kędziora awarded a National Science Centre (NCN) PRELUDIUM 20 grant
Marta Kędziora has been awarded a grant from the National Science Centre (NCN) PRELUDIUM 20 for a project entitled "Novel hope for diseased joints: a polymer-based treatment to promote regenerative strategies for patients with osteoarthritis". Osteoarthritis is increasingly diagnosed among
adults and elderly people, while most currently available therapeutic
strategies do not treat the cause of the disease, but only temporarily mask its
symptoms such as pain and mobility difficulties. In preliminary studies, novel
synthetic polymers have shown analgesic and inhibitory properties against
articular cartilage degeneration in an animal model of osteoarthritis.
Therefore, the aim of this project is to investigate the exact mechanism of
action of the newly synthesized polymers in an in vitro model of osteoarthritis
and to determine the role of joint building cells (chondrocytes and
synoviocytes) in the protective effect of polymers. Congratulations!
