Curriculum vitae

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Sciences
  Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology
  Gdansk, Poland
  2017 – 2022
  Specialty: Biotechnology
  
  Title of doctoral dissertation: Chemical and biological evaluation of antioxidant activity of endogenous redox-active compounds compared to plant-derived exogenous antioxidants
  PhD studies conducted under the supervision of Prof. Agnieszka Bartoszek
  
  Realization of doctoral studies was supported by International PhD “InterPhD2” program funded by the National Centre for Research and Development, Poland (POWR.03.02.00-IP.08-00-DOK/16).
  
  
• Master of Science in Biotechnology
  Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology
  Gdansk, Poland
  2016 – 2017
  Specialty: Technology, biotechnology, and analysis of food
  
  
• Bachelor of Engineering in Biotechnology
  Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Lodz University of Technology
  Lodz, Poland
  2012-2016
  Specialty: Technical biochemistry and molecular biotechnology

Reserch projects

• Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology
  Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
  
  Since 2023
  Postdoctoral Researcher in the OPUS+LAP project The role of impaired autophagy and peroxisome function in NAFLD development and their targeted recovery for improved efficacy of n-3 fatty acids led by Prof. Mariusz R. Wieckowski (funded by National Science Centre, Poland)
  
  2022-2023
  Postdoctoral Researcher in the OPUS project The role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease led by Prof. Mariusz R. Wieckowski (funded by National Science Centre, Poland)
  
  Involvement in other projects:
  I am sharing my expertise to the execution and promotion of the project PAS GRAS: de-risking metabolic, environmental and behavioral determinants of obesity in children, adolescents and young adults (funded by the HORIZON-Research and Innovation Actions program)
  
  Additionally, I am sharing my expertise to the execution of projects aiming to elucidate the pathodevelopment of rare diseases (NBIA and PACS2)
  
  
• Gdansk University of Technology
  Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk, Poland
  2017-2022
  
  Doctoral research conducted in the framework of the MAESTRO project “Antioxidant Power Series as a tool for rational design and assessment of health promoting properties of functional food based on antioxidant phytochemicals” led by Prof. Jacek Namieśnik (funded by National Science Centre, Poland)

Research internships

• University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
  august – september 2023 (1 month)
  Prof. Francesco Di Virgilio group
  Supervision by Dr Elena Adinolfi
  
  During my stay, I investigated the expression and activity of P2X7 receptor in hepatocarcinoma cells with induced steatosis. The obtained results showed that these cells (not subjected to steatosis induction), despite their cancerous origin, do not exhibit expression of the purinergic receptor P2X7. During the internship, the conditions for treating HepG2 cells with a fatty acid mixture (to induce steatosis) were optimized, leading to a significant increase in the expression of the splice variant B of the P2X7 receptor. This optimized cell model can be used for further in vitro studies on the role of P2X7 receptor activity in the development of MASLD or hepatocellular carcinoma associated with MASLD, i.e., in inflammation-related diseases (data not published).
  
  
• University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
  january – july 2021 (6 months)
  Protein Chemistry, Proteomics and Epigenetic Signalling (PPES) group
  Supervision by Prof. Wim Vanden Berghe
  
  My work was focused mainly on investigating (i) anticarcinogenic activities of antioxidants and (ii) changes in the gene expression of mitochondrial proteins involved in the metabolism of fatty acids, which contributed to the publication of results in Frontiers in Pharmacology (IF = 5.51). I was also trained on the measurement of mitochondrial respiration using Seahorse (Agilent Technologies), and DNA methylation analysis by pyrosequencing (Qiagen).
  
  
• Institute for Biological Research „Siniša Stanković”, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  october-december 2018 (2 months)
  Dr Melita Vidaković group
  Supervision by Dr Melita Vidaković
  
  My stay was focused on investigating the impact of catechins on the DNA methylation profile in the promoter of the sulfiredoxin-1 gene. The obtained results laid the grounds for a first-authored publication in the journal Antioxidants (IF = 7.675).
  
  
• Institute for Biological Research „Siniša Stanković”, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  march 2018 (1 month)
  Dr Melita Vidaković group
  Supervision by Dr Melita Vidaković
  
  My stay was focused on learning PCR-based techniques of DNA methylation analysis (methylation-specific PCR, methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting). The obtained results were published in the form of Proceedings of CA16112 – Luxemburg 2019 meeting in Proceedings.
  
  
• Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology of University of Gdansk and Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
  july 2015 (1 month)
  Laboratory of Molecular Bacteriology
  Supervision: Dr Krzysztof Hinc
  
  During my stay I was working on improving my molecular biology skillset (PCRs, Western blots, bacterial transformation etc.)

Conferences

• Mitochondria in Aging, Cancer and Cell Death
  November 2023, Coimbra, Portugal
  POSTER PRESENTATION: The pattern of autophagy-related proteins in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  
  
• Free Radicals in Biology, Medicine, Sport and Nutrition
  October 2023, Gdansk, Poland
  POSTER PRESENTATION: Oxidative stress status and autophagy alterations in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  
  
• 57th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation
  June 2023, Prague, Czech Republic
  POSTER PRESENTATION: Hepatic manifestation of oxidative stress in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  

• ROS Roundabout – Many Exit Options, Final Meeting Of The Nutredox COST Action 16112
  September 2021, Gdańsk, Poland
  ORAL PRESENTATION: Antioxidant vs. nutrigenomic activity of ascorbic acid and its derivatives
  

• XLV Sesja Naukowa Komitetu Nauk o Żywności i Żywieniu PAN (ang. XlV Scientific Session of the Committee on Food And Nutrition Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences)
  July 2021, Gdańsk, Poland
  ORAL PRESENTATION: Porównanie wpływu endogennych i egzogennych związków redoks-aktywnych na komórkową homeostazę w modelu komórkowym ludzkiego jelita (ang. Comparison of the impact of endogenous and exogenous redox-active compounds on redox homeostasis in cellular model of human gastrointestinal tract)
  

• 4th European Summer School On Nutrigenomics
  June 2021, Jesi, Italy
  POSTER PRESENTATION: Redox vs. nutrigenomic activity of ascorbic acid and its derivatives
  

• XXVIII Ogólnopolskie Sympozjum Bromatologiczne (ang. XXVIII Polish National Bromatology Symposium)
  September 2020, Gdańsk, Poland
  ORAL PRESENTATION: Właściwości przeciwutleniające kwasu L-askorbinowego i jego pochodnych (ang. Antioxidant properties of L-ascorbic acid and its derivatives)
  Awarded with 3rd place for the best oral presentation
  
  
• 21st ISANH International Conference on Oxidative Stress Reduction, Redox homeostasis & Antioxidants, World Redox Congress
  June 2019, Paris, France
  ORAL PRESENTATION: Modulation of DNA methylation profile of SRXN1 gene promoter in HT29 cells exposed to catechins of different redox activity
  
  
• Natural Products and the Hallmarks of Chronic Diseases – COST Action 16112 Meeting
  March 2019, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  ORAL PRESENTATION: DNA methylation changes induced by redox-active compounds – choosing the right PCR-based method
  
  
• Congress BIO 2018
  September 2018, Gdansk, Poland
  ORAL PRESENTATION: Catechins as potential epigenetic modulators
  
  
• IX Kongres Technologii Chemicznej (ang. IX Congress of Chemical Technology)
  September 2018, Gdansk
  POSTER PRESENTATION: Wpływ procesów utrwalania mleka kobiecego na profil cząsteczek mikroRNA (ang. The impact of human breastmilk processing on its microRNA profile)
  
  
• 3rd European Summer School on Nutrigenomics
  June 2018, Jesi, Italy
  POSTER PRESENTATION: Catechins as potential epigenetic modulators
  
  
• 6th Central European Congress of Life Sciences Eurobiotech
  September 2017, Cracow, Poland
  ORAL PRESENTATION: The impact of processing on human milk microRNA composition
  Awarded with 3rd place for the best oral presentation during Student Session

Lab techniques

• Culturing of mammalian cells & performing cell-based assays: determinations of cytotoxicity, cellular antioxidant activity, cell migration, mitochondrial respiration, metabolic activity of cells, generation of reactive oxygen species
  
• Genotoxicity evaluation by comet assay
  
• Protein extraction, SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, Western blot
  
• Nucleic acids extraction, agarose gel electrophoresis, PCR, RT-qPCR, multi-gene expression analysis using microarrays, DNA methylation analysis: methylation-specific PCR, methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting, pyrosequencing
  
• Spectrophotometric assessment of antioxidant activity in cell-free systems (e.g. Total Antioxidant Activity and DPPH tests)

Additional scientific training

• 2024
  Completion of online course Drug Development Product Management Specialization affiliated by University of California San Diego (USA), Coursera.org
  
  Completion of Project Management in a Scientific Environment using the Agile method workshops organized by Inprogress group (Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS, Warsaw, Poland)
  
  Completion of Data Analysis and Visualization in R workshops organized by Data Carpentry (Warsaw, Poland)
  
  
• 2022
  Received basic training in working with laboratory animals (permission to work as a participant), Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS (Warsaw, Poland)
  
  
• 2019
  Completion of workshops on cell migration, food metabolites, and gut microbiota (16S rRNA sequencing and data analysis) organized by Lusófona University (Lisbon, Portugal) in the framework of the NutRedOx COST Action
  
  
• 2017
  Completion of workshops on Introduction to analysis and processing of NGS data and NGS in gene regulation studies organized by Ideas4Biology (Poznań, Poland)

Scientific supervision of students

• Since October 2024
  Scientific supervision of Warsaw4PhD Doctoral School PhD student, Joanna Rubczyńska, MSc, as part of the PAS GRAS project
  
  
• Since October 2023
  Scientific supervision of Warsaw4PhD Doctoral School PhD student, Barbara Pakuła, MSc, as part of the OPUS-LAP project
  
  
• 2018
  1) Lab & writing supervision of Erasmus MQAL Master’s Student, Muhammad Asaduzzaman. Master’s thesis The correlation between antioxidant activity of vitamin C derivatives and their biological effects under the supervision of Prof. Agnieszka Bartoszek, Gdansk University of Technology
  
  2) Lab supervision of Masters’ students Joanna Sikorska and Klaudia Kwaterska. Master’s thesis Wpływ działania wybranych elicytorów na zawartość substancji bioaktywnych w liściach kapusty stanowiących odpady pouprawowe (ang. The effect of selected elicitors on the content of bioactive substances in cabbage leaves, which are crop residues) under the supervision of Prof. Agnieszka Bartoszek, Gdansk University of Technology

Teaching experience

• 2024
  Lecture organized in the framework of the PhD course integrated in the doctoral programme in experimental biology and biomedicine “One health: a metabolic approach from the cell to society”: The role of autophagy in the development of metabolic diseases, 26th April, Coimbra, Portugal
  
  
• 2023
  Lecture organized in the framework of workshops organized for highly-gifted schoolchildren by The Polish Children’s Fund and Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS: Stres oksydacyjny vs. przeciwutleniacze – najważniejszy jest balans (ang. Oxidative stress vs. antioxidants – balance is the key), 12th June, Warsaw, Poland
  
  Lecture organized in the framework of the PhD course integrated in the doctoral programme in experimental biology and biomedicine “One health: a metabolic approach from the cell to society”: NAFLD – complex, common and underdiagnosed condition, 4th April, Coimbra, Portugal
  
  
• 2022
  Preparation of a video material that was published as a multimedia presentation accompanying the exercise titled Wyznaczanie masy cząsteczkowej białek z wykrozystaniem elektroforezy SDS-PAGE w warunkach denaturujących (ang. Determination of Protein Molecular Weight Using SDS-PAGE Electrophoresis Under Denaturing Conditions) in the collective work Biochemia. Materiały do zajęć laboratoryjnych (ang. Biochemistry. Laboratory Course Materials), Editor: Ewa Augustin, published by Gdansk University of Technology Press, Gdansk
  
  
• 2019
  Teaching practical classes during Comet assay course organized for early-career researchers in the framework of the COST Action 16112 at Gdansk University of Technology, 5th-7th February, Gdansk, Poland
  
  
• 2017-2022
  Around 200 hours of bilingual (PL/ENG) teaching experience during laboratory courses for students (e.g. biochemistry, biotechnology, food chemistry) at Faculty of Chemistry of Gdansk University of Technology

Membership in Scientific Societies

• Society for Redox Biology and Medicine
  since 2024
  
  
• PRESTO COST Action CA21130
  since 2023
  
  
• European Society for Clinical Investigation
  since 2023
  
  
• Polskie Towarzystwo Technologów Żywności
  2017-2022