Head: Katarzyna Piwocka

Degrees:
2013 DSc Habil, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS
2001 PhD in Biology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS
1994 MSc in Biology, Biology Department, University of Warsaw

Research trainings:
2003-2004 Postdoctoral training, BioSciences Institute, University College Cork, Ireland
2008, 2013 Shorter trainings, Lady Davis Research Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
2002, 2005 Shorter trainings, BioSciences Institute, Cork Cancer Research Centre, University College Cork, Ireland

Professional employments:
2018-present  Professor of the Institute, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS
2010- present Head of the Laboratory of Cytometry, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS
2010-2018 Associate Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Cytometry, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS
2004-2010 Assistant Professor, Laboratory of Molecular Bases of Aging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS
2003-2004 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Development and Disease Laboratory, BioSciences Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
1995-2002 Assistant, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS

Honors and fellowships:
2018-present  V-ce Head of the ISAC Marylou Ingram Scholars Program Committee
2016-2018 Member of the ISAC Marylou Ingram Scholars Program Committee
2012-2016 ISAC Scholar fellowship by the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
2007 Team Scientific Award of Division II of Polish Academy of Sciences
2007 Team Scientific Award of Minister of Health

Lab members: Bac Viet LE (PhD Student), Marta BREWIŃSKA-OLCHOWIK, Piotr CHROŚCICKI, Zofia DĄBROWSKA, Wioleta DUDKA, Marta KOLBA (PhD Student), Agata KOMINEK, Paulina PODSZYWAŁOW-BARTNICKA, Julian SWATLER (PhD Student), Laura TUROS-KORGUL, Milena WIECH, Magdalena WOŁCZYK

The Laboratory of Cytometry has been established in June 2010 to provide high quality expertise, equipment and multicolor flow cytometry service. Our vision is to offer service and scientific collaboration to meet researchers' specific needs by dedicated help with design of experiments, acquisition and advanced data analysis.

Our research is dedicated to cancer biology. The goal is to understand mechanisms of disease progression and development of resistance and discover potential molecular targets in leukemia to develop and propose potential therapies, with special interest in intercellular interactions and the role of leukemia microenvironment.

More information about laboratory on the web page: http://piwocka-lab.nencki.edu.pl

Equipment

BD LSR Fortessa Analyser – equipped in the 355 nm, 405 nm, 488 nm and 635 nm lasers
Cell sorter BD FACSAriaII – equipped in the 405nm, 488 nm and 635 nm lasers
Cytometer BD FACSCalibur – equipped in the 488 nm laser and red diode 635 nm
Cytometer BD FACSCalibur – equipped in the 488 and 635 nm lasers
Capillary cytometer Merck Millipore Guava easyCyte – equipped in the 488 nm and 640 nm lasers

Core-facility activities:

1. The Laboratory provides the core-facility service for investigators from the Nencki Institute and other scientific and R&D institutions;
2. We offer expertise and technical assistance in flow cytometry and cell sorting. We provide the expert consultation for experiment design, fluorochrome selection and data analysis;
3. The Laboratory is involved in the basic research and innovative projects;
4. Education – we organize lectures, training courses and hands-on workshops for beginners and advanced researchers.

Methods/Applications in flow cytometry

- cell sorting
- immunophenotyping
- analysis of cell survival and various parameters of apoptosis
- PrimeFlow – detection of RNA by cytometry
- DNA damage analysis
- analysis of cell cycle and proliferation
- measurement of mitochondrial membrane potential
- cytometric analysis of signaling pathways
- immunocytochemical staining of intracellular and membrane proteins
- measurement of ROS production
- determination of cytokines
- cytometry based FRET- assessment of protein-protein interaction using fluorescent tags

In our research we apply a broad spectrum of cellular and molecular biology as well as bioimaging methods

Research - currently we investigate:

• mechanisms promoting leukemia progression and therapy resistance in leukemia; looking for potential therapeutic targets and strategies
• integrated Stress Response pathways in leukemia
• non-classical mechanisms of BRCA1/2 deficiencies in leukemia and sensitivity to personalized therapy by PARP inhibitors
• the leukemia-bone marrow stroma interactions
• direct intercellular connections within leukemia microenvironment by tunneling nanotubes (TNTs)
• leukemic extracellular vesicles and influence on immunosuppression
• protein markers for BRCA1/2 deficiency and PARP1 inhibitors in cancer

Selected publications

Szymańska E, Nowak P, Kolmus K, Cybulska M, Goryca K, Derezińska-Wołek E, Szumera-Ciećkiewicz A, Brewińska-Olchowik M, Grochowska A, Piwocka K, Prochorec-Sobieszek M, Mikula M, Miączyńska M. Synthetic lethality between VPS4A and VPS4B triggers an inflammatory response in colorectal cancer. EMBO Mol Med. 2020 Jan 13:e10812.

Swatler J, Dudka W, Bugajski L, Brewinska-Olchowik M, Kozlowska E, Piwocka K. Chronic myeloid leukemia-derived extracellular vesicles increase Foxp3 level and suppressive activity of thymic regulatory T cells. Eur J Immunol. 2019 Nov 23.

Kolba MD, Dudka W, Zaręba-Kozioł M, Kominek A, Ronchi P, Turos L, Chroscicki P, Wlodarczyk J, Schwab Y, Klejman A, Cysewski D, Srpan K, Davis DM, Piwocka K. Tunneling nanotube-mediated intercellular vesicle and protein transfer in the stroma-provided imatinib resistance in chronic myeloid leukemia cells. Cell Death Dis. 2019 Oct 28;10(11):817.

Podszywalow-Bartnicka P, Maifrede S, Le BV, Nieborowska-Skorska M, Piwocka K, Skorski T. PARP1 inhibitor eliminated imatinib-refractory chronic myeloid leukemia cells in bone marrow microenvironment conditions. Leuk Lymphoma. 2019 Jan;60(1):262-264.

Maifrede S, Nieborowska-Skorska M, Sullivan-Reed K, Dasgupta Y, Podszywalow-Bartnicka P, Le BV, Solecka M, Lian Z, Belyaeva EA, Nersesyan A, Machnicki MM, Toma M, Chatain N, Rydzanicz M, Zhao H, Jelinek J, Piwocka K, Sliwinski T, Stoklosa T, Ploski R, Fischer T, Sykes SM, Koschmieder S, Bullinger L, Valent P, Wasik MA, Huang J, Skorski T. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor-induced defects in DNA repair sensitize FLT3(ITD)-positive leukemia cells to PARP1 inhibitors. Blood. 2018 Jul 5;132(1):67-77.

Nieborowska-Skorska M, Sullivan K, Dasgupta Y, Podszywalow-Bartnicka P, Hoser G, Maifrede S, Martinez E, Di Marcantonio D, Bolton-Gillespie E, Cramer-Morales K, Lee J, Li M, Slupianek A, Gritsyuk D, Cerny-Reiterer S, Seferynska I, Stoklosa T, Bullinger L, Zhao H, Gorbunova V, Piwocka K, Valent P, Civin CI, Muschen M, Dick JE, Wang JC, Bhatia S, Bhatia R, Eppert K, Minden MD, Sykes SM, Skorski T. 18. Gene expression and mutation-guided synthetic lethality eradicates proliferating and quiescent leukemia cells. J Clin Invest. 2017 Jun 1;127(6):2392-2406.

Wolczyk M, Podszywalow-Bartnicka P, Bugajski L, Piwocka K. Stress granules assembly affects detection of mRNA in living cells by the NanoFlares; an important aspect of the technology. Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj. 2017 May;1861(5 Pt A):1024-1035.