prof. dr hab. Jarosław Dziadek

 

 

• Head of the Institute of Medical Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences

• Group leader of Mycobacterium Genetics and Physiology Laboratory

 

Presentation title:

 

Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis and molecular determinants of virulence.

 

 

Research topic:

Molecular study of fast and slow growing Mycobacteria including leading bacterial couse of human mortality Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

 

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the leading bacterial cause of human mortality in the world. According to WHO one-third of the world's population is considered to be exposed to this pathogen and 5 % of those people develop an active disease during life-time resulting in 3 million death sannually. Our group study molecular mechanisms of basic celular processes in mycobacteria including cell wall biosynthesis, cell division and DNA repair. By using gene replacement we identify genes required for viability as potential new drug targets. M. tuberculosis is an intracellular pathogenable to survive in human macrophages. We are interested in the mechanisms of virulence of M. tuberculosis especially in the enzymes of cholesterol metabolism and their role in uptake and persistence of tuberclebacilli in human macrophages. Moreover in the cooperation with The Reference Centre for Tuberculosis and LungDiseases (ITLD in Warsaw) we use molecular methods to characterize M. tuberculosis clinical isolates and determine the genetic basis of drug resistance.

 

List of recent publications:

• Ewelina A. Wojcik, Anna Brzostek, Albino Bacolla, Pawel Mackiewicz, Karen M. Vasquez, Malgorzata Korycka-Machala, Adam Jaworski, Jaroslaw Dziadek Direct and inverted repeat selicit genetic instability by both exploiting and eluding DNA double-strand break repair systems in mycobacteria PLoS One. 2012 accepted (IF=4,351).

• Brzostek A, Rumijowska-Galewicz A, Dziadek B, Wojcik EA, Dziadek J. ChoD and HsdDcan be dispensable for cholesterol degradation in mycobacteria. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2012 Oct 11. pii: S0960-0760(12)00196-3. doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2012.09.028 (IF=3,053).

• Pawelczyk J, Brzostek A, Kremer L, Dziadek B, Rumijowska-Galewicz A, Fiolka M,Dziadek J. 2011 AccD6, a key carboxyl transferase, essential for mycolicacid synthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is dispensable in a non-pathogenicstrain. J. Bacteriol. 193(24):6960-72. (IF=3,94)