Laboratory of Transcription Regulation
Head : Bożena KAMIŃSKA-KACZMAREK
Staff: Iwona Ciechomska, Michał Dąbrowski, Aleksandra Ellert-Miklaszewska, Paweł Gajdanowicz, Beata Kaza, Magdalena Kijewska (PhD student), Michał Kloss (PhD student), Marta Kocyk (PhD student), Dorota Kulesza (PhD student), Marta Maleszewska, Jakub Mieczkowski (PhD student), Piotr Przanowski (PhD student), Kavita Ramji (PhD student), Małgorzata Sielska (PhD student), Karolina Świątek-Machado (PhD student), Justyna Ulańska (PhD student), Bartosz Wylot, Małgorzata Zawadzka
Research profile:
The principal focus of the laboratory is the functional analysis of key events (signalling pathways, transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms) controlling gene expression. Of particular interest are the mechanisms that regulate and determine gene expression underlying neuroinflammation, remyelination and brain tumour pathogenesis. We study the molecular and cellular characteristics of the key transcrip- tion factors (of the STAT, NFkB, Id and Myc families), including discovery of their target genes using functional genomics, analysis of protein-DNA interactions in vitro and in vivo, combined with DNA microarray and high-throughput chIP- sequencing technologies. The high-quality transcription factor binding profile and epigenetic modification database of human, rat and mouse genomes is being developed as the Nencki Regulatory Genomics Portal. We wish to apply our findings to develop novel (RNAi or short interfering peptide-based) therapeutics applicable to human diseases.
Methods:
• cellular and animal models of inflammation and tumour- host interactions
• molecular biology and computational methods to study signalling pathways
• chromatin immunoprecipitation and reporter gene assays
• gene expression
• construction of cells expressing shRNA or recombinant proteins
Current research activities:
• deciphering mechanisms of gene expression patterns crit- ical for the initiation of inflammation in brain injury and brain tumour pathogenesis, in particular, the contribution of “master switch” STAT, NFkB, Id and Myc transcription factors and epigenetic modifications to distinct phenotypes/ functions of the innate immunity and tumour cells
• development of RNAi – and recombinant interfering peptide-based molecules to study tumour-host interactions and invasion in vitro and in vivo
Selected publications:
Gabrusiewicz K., Ellert-Miklaszewska A., Lipko M., Sielska M., Frankowska M., Kamińska B. (2011) Characteristics of the alterna- tive phenotype of microglia/macrophages and its modulation in experimental gliomas. PLOS One, 6: e23902.
Kwiatkowska A., Kijewska M., Lipko M., Hibner U., Kamińska B. (2011) Down-regulation of Akt and FAK phosphorylation reduces invasion of glioblastoma cells by impairment of MT1-MMP shuttling to lamellipodia and down-regulates MMPs expression. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1813: 655-667.
Dąbrowski M., Dojer N., Zawadzka M., Mieczkowski J., Kamińska B. (2010) Comparative analysis of cis-regulation following stroke and seizures in subspaces of conserved eigensystems. BMC Systems Biology, 4: 86.
Wesołowska A., Kwiatkowska A., Słomnicki L., Dembiński M., Master A., Śliwa M., Franciszkiewicz K., Chouaib S., Kamińska B. (2008) Microglia-derived TGF-beta as an important regulator of glioblastoma invasion-an inhibition of TGF-beta-dependent effects by shRNA against human TGF-beta type II receptor. Oncogene, 27: 918-930.
Śliwa M., Markovic D., Gabrusiewicz K., Synowitz M., Glass R., Zawadzka M., Wesołowska A., Kettenmann H., Kamińska B. (2007) The invasion promoting effect of microglia on glioblastoma cells is inhibited by cyclosporine A. Brain, 130: 476-489
