Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek

Biography:

Graduated in 1985 from the University of Warsaw; did Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1991) at the Nencki Institute and postdoctoral training in 1994-1996 at the McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She returned to lead a research group at the Nencki Institute where she has been ever since. In 2001-2002 was a visiting scientist at the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, USA. In 2003 she received a national Professorship and became a head of the Laboratory of Transcription Regulation; in 2013 created a new Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology.

Research Interest:

Kaminska's group is focused on understanding molecular mechanisms of neuroinflammation and cancer related inflammation, in particular the role of chromatin modifications in transcription and their involvement in cancer. Her laboratory discovered the protumorigenic role of glioma infiltrating microglia and identified factors driving this process. Recent work focuses on transcription regulation, chromatin modifications and an "epigenetic memory" in tumor cells and infiltrating immune cells. First links between epigenetic changes, chromatin modifications and protumorigenic polarization of microglia have been demonstrated by her group. Currently, her group studies a therapeutic potential of epigenetic and short interfering peptide inhibitors for the treatment of gliomas.

Professional Activities:

Prof. Kaminska promoted 23 PhD students. She is an elected member of 3 Polish Academy of Science Committees: Neurobiology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry and Biophysics.

Member of the Editorial Boards:

  • Glia

  • Journal of Neuroscience Research

  • International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience

  • International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology

  • Current Signal Transduction Therapy.

Awards:

  • The Prime Minister Award for the best habilitation (1998)

  • Foundation for Polish Science SCHOLAR GRANT (2004)

  • Polish Academy of Sciences Biology Division Award 2014 for scientific achievements

  • Nomination for Academia Net in 2014

Funding: PI in more than 44 national and international research grants, including 6th FP EU, NATO collaborative project, twice bilateral Polish-German grants in Neurology, twice bilateral Polish-French grants in Cancer Biology, National Science Center MAESTRO and Symfonia3 grants,
3 R&D grants; hosted two FP7 Marie Curie Reintegration grants, is a member of FP7 EU Initial Training Network NeuroInflammation.

Published more than 105 publications in PUBMED journals, and 11 book chapters; 3010 citations, H-index = 32 (source ISI).

She is the initiator and co-organizer of the Brain Tumors: from biology to therapy conference, 2012, 2014, 2016 in Warsaw.