Dr Barbara Kutryb-Zając, assistant professor at the Department of Biochemistry of the Medical University of Gdańsk (MUG), received a grant as part of the “SONATA 15” competition organized by the National Science Center (NCN). Project “Ecto-enzymes in interactions of vascular endothelium with blood circulating cells in physiology, pathology and therapy; could cells exchange their ecto-enzymes?” will beimplemented for the next 3 years at the Department of Biochemistry at MUG in a consortium with the Jagiellonian Centre for Experimental Therapeutics (JCET) of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and in cooperation with the Department of Biology at the University of Pisa in Italy.
The goal of the awarded project is to demonstrate the role of ecto-enzymes in direct contact between cells. Ecto-enzymes are proteins located on the surface of cells, metabolizing a wide spectrum of substrates, which mediate intercellular communication in physiology and pathology. As part of the project, changes in ecto-enzyme activity induced by the interaction of vascular endothelium with blood cells that can stimulate the formation of an adverse endothelial cell phenotype will be demonstrated. In addition, the role of ecto-enzymes as adhesion molecules and the therapeutic possibilities of compounds modulating their properties in vascular pathologies and cancer will be investigated.
- The grant amount is PLN 1 498 740.
