Research

Field of research

• Stem cell biology: mechanisms of cellular reprogramming and differentiation.
• Medical biotechnology: gene and cell therapy in modulation of neovascularization and inflammation.
• Vascular and muscle biology: mechanisms of angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, differentiation of satellite cells.
• Cancer biology: mechanisms of tumor initiation, growth, metastasis and resistance to therapay.
• Molecular mechanisms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy – role of heme oxygenase-1 and microRNAs.
• Role of microRNAs in cardiovascular disorders, kidney fibrosis and tumor development.
• Role of hypoxia, anti-oxidant genes and microRNAs in regulation of gene expression.

Scientific achievements

• Demonstration of the novel mechanisms of myoblasts differentiation: role of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in regulation of microRNAs expression.
• Demonstration of the opposite effect of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF-1 and HIF-2) on the angiogenic genes expression.
• Demonstration of the involvement of nitric oxide (NO) and HO-1 in regulation of expression and activity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
• Demonstration of the significance of HO-1 in tumor growth and resistance to therapy.
• Demonstration of the importance of HO-1 in wound healing.
• Demonstration of the crucial role of HO-1 in stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) mediated neovascularization and endothelial progenitor cells function.
• Demonstration of the angiogenic effect of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarylo- coenzyme A inhibitors (statins).
• Demonstration of PPAR-γ independent activity of prostaglandin J2 (PGJ2) in regulation of angiogenic genes expression.

Specialized equipment

Modern animal facility - operating in SPF standard; houses several strains of knockout and transgenic mice and rats, kept in individually ventilated cages (IVC). The facility is equipped in:

• Laser Doppler System for blood flow measurement in animals
• Vevo 2100 (VisualSonics) - micro-ultrasound system for high-resolution imaging of small animals
• IVIS© Lumina II (Caliper Life Science) - imaging system for both fluorescent and bioluminescent imaging in vivo
• scil Vet abc - hematology analyzer (different animal species can be analyzed)

Flow cytometry laboratory, equipped in:

• BD LSRFortessa flow cytometer
• MoFloTMXDP (Beckman Coulter) - high-speed cell sorte
• ImageStreamX (Amnis Corporation) – system which integrates the features of flow cytometry and fluorescent microscopy combined with a modern system of image analysis

Histological laboratory, equipped in:

• automated tissue processor
• automated tissue embedding system
• paraffin & crytostat microtome
• automated staining system for paraffin sections
• Laser Microdissection LMD7000 (Leica) for cutting specific structures form frozen and paraffin-embedded sections

Other equippments:

• Chambers for hypoxic conditions/hypoxic incubator for cells culturing in low oxygen concentration
• Bioanalyzer 2100 (Agilent) for checking the RNA integrity
• Real-time PCR StepOnePlus (Applied Biosystem) for analysis of a gene expression profile on mRNA level, as well as microRNAs analysis
• AmpliSpeed slide cycler (Beckman Coulter) for RT-PCR reaction from very small amount of samples (even one cell)
• FlexMap3D (Luminex) for measurement of a dozen or so of cytokines/growth factors in small volume of sample (serum/plasma/medium)

Animal models, kept in modern animal facility (SPF)

• miR-146a knockout mice;
• miR-378a knockout mice;
• mdx mice (dystrophin knockout);
• HO-1 knockout mice;
• Nrf2 knockout mice;
• diabetic db/db mice;

Selected techniques

• Flow cytometry & cell sorting.
• Molecular in vivo imaging (Vevo 2100, IVIS© Lumina II, Laser Doppler).
• Laser microdissection method.
• Regulated gene expression: hypoxia-induced and tetracycline-induced expression systems, establishing of stably-transfected cell lines.
• siRNA techniques & microRNAs technology.
• Angiogenic assays in vitro: tube formation on matrigel, ring aortic assay, spheroid assay.
• In vivo models: hind limb ischemia, wound healing, tumor inoculation, chemical carcinogenesis, mouse model of myocardial infarction.
• iPS technology.
• Gene cloning, construction of plasmids and viral vectors: retroviral, lentiviral, adenoviral, AAV.
• Isolation and culture of primary cells: satellite cells, hematopietic stem cells, mesenchymal stromal cells, endothelial cells, renal proximal epithelial cells.