PRELUDIUM prize for our doctoral student from the Faculty of Chemistry
Paulina Potok from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wrocław has received PLN 139 929 from National Science Centre’s PRELUDIUM competition to carry out her research project titled „Opracowanie biblioteki inhibitorów peptydowych ukierunkowanych na domenę wiążącą Zn(II) w metaloproteinazach macierzy pozakomórkowej (MMPs) w celu hamowania progresji nowotworów” (“The design and development of the peptide inhibitors library targeting Zn(II)-binding site of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) for cancer suppression”).
Paulina Potok is a doctoral student in the third year of the Doctoral College of the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wrocław. She is conducting research as a part of the Biological Inorganic Chemistry Group under the supervision of prof. Elżbieta Gumienna-Kontecka and dr. inż. Sławomir Potocki, who is an assistant supervisor.
The main goal of the prize-winning project is to develop a library of peptide-based inhibitors against extracellular matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) as a potential strategy for suppressing cancer spread. MMPs are zinc-dependent enzymes that play an important role in modifying the environment surrounding cancer cells, enhancing their growth and spread.
Our researcher explains:
“One promising strategy for suppressing these enzymes, and thus tumor progression, is to target therapeutics to the zinc ion and/or catalytic site of MMPs, which we plan to approach as part of the obtained award. As part of the research, I intend to expand my knowledge of the coordination chemistry of MMPs and their interaction with zinc ions, which I plan to achieve with the support of supervisors at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wrocław. The next phase of the project is to study the structure and thermodynamic parameters of ternane complexes between the catalytic domain of an MMP, a peptide inhibitor, and zinc ions.”
This will result in creating a library of potential inhibitors for effective interaction with the catalytic domain of metalloproteinases. The research will be conducted not only at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wrocław; it will also be a part of an international collaboration with the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain and the University of Catania in Italy.
The study of cancer and its spread is important to our researcher because of the enormous impact of the disease on human health and life.
Paulina Potok explains:
“It is the second most common cause of death in the world, which in 2020 was responsible for 9.6 million deaths. It is estimated that one in four people is at risk of developing cancer during their lifetime. For this reason, there is an urgent need to find new anti-cancer strategies that can precisely attack cancer cells, work more effectively and have fewer side effects, which is what I plan to explore in my research.”
Congratulations and best of luck with the research!
By Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz
Read here about which projects of the UWr scientists received financial support as a result of the Preludium competition, as well as the National Science Centre’s OPUS project: Grants for researchers from the University of Wrocław
Translated by Karolina Szmidla (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
