Leszek Kaczmarek

Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology

The Nencki Institute, the oldest and largest non-university biological research Institution in Poland, is specialised in neuroscience. There are more than 40 principal investigators grouped into 5 departments. The Institute employs the greatest number of the most cited researchers in biology in Poland. It receives the greatest core grant from the Polish Ministry of Science across all research fields. The Nencki Institute has been home of two Centres of Excellence: Centre of Excellence for Studies on Neurodegeneration, supported by a recently completed PHARE Sci-Tech II grant, and the EU Centre of Excellence in Neurobiology, supported by an 5 FP-funded project BRAINS (Bringing Research Advances In Neurobiology to Society;). The Institute is fully equipped and offers cell culture, biochemistry, molecular biology, histology, imaging and animal care facilities including adenoviral and lentiviral production facilities and facilities for transgenic rats and mice.

Training and transfer of knowledge environment
The Nencki Institute has a long history of training and awarding PhD degrees. The graduate program includes ca. 100 Ph.D. students in neuroscience, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology. Its curriculum is based on regular lectures and workshops as well as seminars delivered by the students with major emphasis on individual research training in scientific laboratories. The enrolled PhD students are advised by working group leaders participating in the programme. The program lasts for 4 years and is finalized by fulfilling the national requirements for the Ph.D. degree – submitting the thesis, passing the foreign language and additional discipline (e.g. philosophy exams, the main discipline exam and finally the public defense of the thesis.

Leszek Kaczmarek    Lab Head    Molecular neurobiology, learning and memory
Katarzyna Kalita    Post-doc    Neuronal gene expression
Magdalena Dziembowska    Post-doc    Neuronal development, gene and protein expression

Relevant publications
1. Knapska E., Nikolaev E., Boguszewski P., Walasek G., Blaszczyk J., Kaczmarek L., Werka T. Between-subject transfer of emotional information evokes specific pattern of amygdala activation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 103: 3858-3862, 2006.
2. Nagy, V., Bozdagi, O., Matynia, A., Balcerzyk, M., Okulski, P., Dzwonek, J., Costa, R.M., Silva, A.J., Kaczmarek, L., Huntley, G.W. (2006) Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-9) is required for hippocampal late-phase LTP and memory. J. Neurosci., 26: 1923-1934.
3. Kowalczyk A., Filipkowski RK, Rylski M., Wilczynski G.M., Konopacki F.A., Jaworski J., Ciemerych M.A., Sicinski P., Kaczmarek L. The critical role of cyclin D2 in adult neurogenesis. J. Cell Biol., 167: 209-213, 2004.

The lab also collaborates with the Laboratory of Neuromorphology (Grzegorz Wilczynski)