University of Rijeka, Croatia

Description of organizationuniversity of rijeka logo

University of Rijeka (UoR) has 16500 students, over 1600 employees and almost 1000 researchers. UoR is comprised of 10 faculties, 4 departments including the Department of Biotechnology, University Library and Students' Centre. The Department of Biotechnology involved in the ITFoM was founded in July 2008 by the Senate of the UoR. The first and current Dean of the Department is Professor Krešimir Pavelić, M.D. PhD. The Department is located in the newly constructed campus building with 24 employees. More than 1550 square meters of laboratory space are available for biobanking and high-throughput analytical platforms in translational medicine research in cooperation with regional and national Clinical Centres. Department of Biotechnology has already developed a strong research infrastructure in the field of modern high-throughput methodology for biomarker identification and validation in human diseases, including genomics analyses of polymorphisms and transcriptomics profiles, proteomics and glycoproteomics profiling, and in vitro models.

 

Previous experience

Involved experts have a strong expertise in translational medicine, pharmacological screenings for SMEs, clinical expertise in sample collection, proteomics and glycomics, genomics and transcriptomics, pharmacological screening, analytical chemistry and project coordination and management.

In particular, Kresimir Pavelic is the Secretary General of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), Croatian delegate at the European Science Foundation and the president of the National Scientific Board of the Republic of Croatia. He also coordinated the Technology Related Research and Development Project of the Republic of Croatia (TEST) (Centre for Integrative Genomics, Program Core, Ministry of Science, Educations and Sports, Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, Project No J-1/2004) as well as the ESF initiative "Forward look on personalized medicine for the European Citizen – towards more precise medicine for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease". Jasna Peter-Katalinic is also the member of the same ESF initiative. She was the board member of the German Society for Mass Spectrometry and currently a member of the board in the Human Glycoprotein Initiative (HGPI by HUPO). She participated in several EU FP6 projects including Nano2Life (Network of Excellence Nanobioanalytics), GLYFDIS (Glycans in Body Fluids - Potential for Disease Diagnostics) and LOCCANDIA (Lab-on-Chip based protein profiling for CANcer DIAgnosis).

 

Profile of staff members

Prof. Jasna Peter Katalinić has expertise in the methods and instrumentation concerning biological mass spectrometry, mapping and sequencing of glycoconjugates, separation methods for at- and on-line ESI and MALDI MS. Her research results are published in more than 300 manuscripts in journals and books. Prof. Krešimir Pavelić is recognized expert in experimental oncology, cancer genetics and molecular and translational medicine. He published more than 300 scientific papers cited over 4000 times. Sandra Kraljević Pavelić, associate professor is expert in the fields of tumour gene therapy and chemotherapy, study of molecular mechanisms underlying cancer and Dupyutren's disease by use of proteomics and transcriptomics methods. She published more than 35 scientific and professional papers.

 

Webpage

Department of Biotechnology, University of Rijeka

 

 

Five recent publications relevant to the project

1) WADA Y. AZADI P, COSTELLO CE, DELL A, DWEK RA, GEYER H, GEYER R, KAKEHI K, KARLSSON NG, KATO K, KAWASAKI N, KHOO KH, KIM S, KONDO A, LATTOVA E, MECHREF Y, MIYOSHI E, NAKAMURA K, NARIMATSU H, NOVOTNY MV, PACKER NH, PERREAULT H, PETER-KATALINIĆ J, POHLENTZ G, REINHOLD VN, RUDD PM, SUZUKI A, TANIGUCHI N (2007) Comparison of the methods for profiling glycoprotein glycans: HUPO HGPI (Human Proteome Organisation Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative) multi-institutional study. Glycobiology 17: 411-422

 

2) ZECK A, POHLENTZ G, SCHLOTHAUER T, PETER-KATALINIĆ J, REGULA JT (2011) Cell type-specific and site directed N-glycosylation pattern of FcγRIIIa. J Proteome Res. 10(7):3031-3039

 

3) VAKHRUSHEV, S.Y., DADIMOV, D., PETER-KATALINIĆ, J. Software platform for high-throughput glycomics (2009) Analytical Chemistry, 81 (9), pp. 3252-3260.

 

4) KRALJEVIĆ PAVELIĆ S, SEDIĆ M, HOCK K, VUČINIĆ S, JURIŠIĆ D, GEHRING P, SCOTT M, SCHLAPBACH R, ČAČEV T, KAPITANOVIĆ S, PAVELIĆ K: An integrated proteomics approach for studying the molecular pathogenesis of Dupuytren's disease. J. Pathol. 217:524-533, 2009

 

5) PAVELIC K, DEDIVITIS RA, KAPITANOVIC S, CACEV T, GUIRADO CR, DANIC D, RADOSEVIC S, BRKIC K, PEGAN B, KRIZANAC S, KUSIC Z, SPAVENTI S, BURA M (2006) Molecular genetic alterations of FHIT and p53 genes in benign and malignant thyroid gland lesions. Mutation Res. 599: 45-57