Partnership

European Vascular Genomic Network

Department of Medical Biotechnology has been a member of the European Vascular Genomic Net­work since 2006 till end of 2008. EVGN was a consortium of European leading scientists from public bodies, private institutes and private com­panies working in the field of vascular research. EVGN aimed to maximise the impact of the post-genome era on vascular biology so as to optimise the conversion of research results into concrete health, social and economic benefits. EVGN promoted multidisciplinary interactions by uniting 30 world-leading basic and clinical institutions from 11 European countries in a network project of the European Commission FP6 research funding programme.

4^th EVGN (European Vascular Genomic Network) Summer School

The 4^th EVGN Summer School for PhD students took place in Przego­rzaly from the 15^th to the 19^th of September. This year its keynote was 'From endothelial formation to endothelial dysfunction – (EV) genomics approach'. The summer school was organized by the Department of Medical Biotechnology, which is a member of EVGN. About seventy PhD students and twenty excellent speakers took part in the summer school. The participants had an opportunity to attend lectures about various aspects of vascular biology, like endothelium physiology, mechanisms of new blood vessels formation, molecular mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction, gene therapy in leg ischemia and cell therapy in myocardial infarction. Direct interactions between the speakers and the students were very beneficial and important. They took place during heated discussions after the lectures as well as throughout many, less formal meetings during the permanent poster session and several social attractions. The poster session attracted a lot of attention… Undoubt­edly, the interesting results presented in the posters and the 'poster award' prospect, were very incentive for the audience. Each summer school participant (including both the students and speakers) secretly voted for their favorite poster. One of the awarded posters was prepared in the Department of Medical Biotechnology and concerned the role of heme oxygenase-1 in cutaneous wound healing. Despite the 'winter' weather during the summer school, the atmosphere of the conference was very warm, contributing to the integration of the speakers and students. Next year, the EVGN summer school will take place in Nice.

COST Action

Department of Medical Biotech­nology is involved in a COST Action CM0602: Inhibitors of angiogenesis: design, synthesis and biological exploi­tation (AngioKem) (2007-2011). The COST Action focuses on net­work­ing of interdisciplinary oriented chemistry and biology researchers who are actively involved in rationale designing and development of small organic compounds with anti-angiogenic properties. Exchanges of infor­ma­tion and presentations of experiences and skills from chemical and biological research will be performed for effective introduction, ex­ploi­ta­tion and improvement of modern methods for development of new angiogenic inhibitors. In relation to this project the Department has been recently awarded the grant 'Role of heme oxygenase-1 in pro-angiogenic activity of thymidine phosphorylase, its significance in anti-angiogenic anti-tumor therapy'.

Scientific cooperation

National

• Dr Michał Zembala, Silesian Center for Heart Diseases in Zabrze;
• Prof. Stanisław Szala, Center for Translational Research and Molecular Biology of Cancer, Gliwice;
• Prof. Elżbieta Pyza, Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow;
• Prof. Krzysztof Sładek, prof. Marek Sanak, dr Rafał Niżankowski, dr Roman Nowobilski, dr Piotr Mika, 2^nd Clinic of Internal Medicine, Collegium Medicum

International

• Prof. Claudine Kieda, prof. Chantal Pichon, dr Patrick Midoux, CNRS & University of Orleans, France;
• Prof. Libor Vitek, dr Lucie Muchova, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic;
• Prof. Anupam Agarwal, University of Alabama, Birmingham, USA;
• Prof. Henry Fechner, Technical University, Berlin, Germany;
• Prof. Rudolf Jaenisch – Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, USA;
• Prof. Christine Mummery – Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands;
• Prof. Irv Weissman - Stanford University, USA;

Industrial cooperation

Current:

• Selvita, Krakow, Poland – anti-cancer drugs;
• Adamed, Czosnow, Poland: anti-diabetic drugs & anti-cancer drugs;
• Biovico, Gdynia – anti-inflammatory drugs;

Grants in cooperation:

• The National Centre Research and Development - Applied Research Programme - New inhibitors of heme oxygenase-1 as potential anticancer drugs - HemOx 2014-2017 - consortium composed of: Department of Medical Biotechnology JU and Selvita.


• The National Centre Research and Development - STRATEGMED Programme - Mesenchymal stem cells and MSC-enriched scaffold as an alternative therapy for myocardial insufficiency - PHOENIX 2015-2017 – consortium composed of: Silesian Center for Heart Diseases in Zabrze, Professor Zbigniew Religa Cardiac Surgery Development Foundation, Kardio-Med Silesia, American Heart of Poland, Adamed, The University of Dublin Trinity College and Department of Medical Biotechnology JU.


• The National Centre Research and Development - STRATEGMED Programme - Epigenetic Therapies in Oncology - EPTHERON 2015-2017, consortium composed of Selvita, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAN, Department of Medical Biotechnology Faculty BBB and Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology JU, Wrocław University of Technology.