Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology

Brain activity is based on propagation of electrical impulses along the axons of nerve cells and synaptic transmission. Neurons connect with one another to form electrical circuits, which are further grouped into systems that finally make a neural network. One of the systems is the thalamocortical complex – the center of perception and a regulator of the attention and awareness levels. Improper functioning of the thalamo-cortico-thalamic loop may result in some psychotic and affective disorders.

Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology explores molecular mechanisms regulating thalamic identity and function. We are interested in transcriptional control over differentiation and maturation of thalamic neurons, and regulation of thalamic axon growth and guidance to the cerebral cortex. The effects of disturbed development and maintenance of thalamocortical circuits are also under our investigation. We work with primary neuronal cultures, organotypic cultures and in vivo models. We use a variety of molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology techniques. Collaboration with bioinformations, electrophysiologists and behaviorists is always welcome.

Prof. Marta Barbara Wiśniewska
email: m.wisniewska@cent.uw.edu.pl
phone: +48 22 55 43690
room: 05.51

ACADEMIC DEGREES AND EDUCATION

27/09/2013 – Habilitation degree in Biological Science, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw

6/10/2000 – PhD degree in Biological Science, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw

29/07/1994 – Master thesis in Genetics, University of Warsaw

 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2014 – present – Group Leader, Associate Professor (profesor UW), Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw

2013-2014 – Group Leader, Assistant Professor (adiunkt), Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw

2004-2013 – Senior Researcher, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw

2001-2004 – Postdoctoral Fellow, Pasteur Institute in Paris

1996 – Trainee, Pasteur Institute in Paris

1994-2000 – Research Assistant, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw

 

MEMBERSHIPS AND AWARDS

2016 and 2020 – elected an extraordinary member of the Neurobiology Committee of the Polish Academy of Science

2019 – elected a member of the Polish Neuroscience Society Board

2015 – elected a member of the Warsaw Scientific Society

2013 – award of the Division of Biological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, for a series of original research articles

2011 – Jerzy Konorski Prize for the best Polish publication in neurobiology in 2011, awarded by the Polish Neuroscience Society and Committee for Neurobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

 

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS IN PROFESSIONAL BODIES

2021 – Scientific Committee member of the 15th International Congress of the Polish Neuroscience Society and Regional FENS Meeting

2020-2024 – scientific secretary in the presidium of the Neurobiology Committee of the Polish Academy of Science

2019-2021 – member of the executive committee of the Polish Neuroscience Society

2019 – present – Associate Editor at the Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis

2014 – Scientific Committee member of the 1st Congress of the Polish Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Biophysics and Bioinformatics “BIO 2014”

2014 – Organising Committee member of the 1st Congress of the Polish Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Biophysics and Bioinformatics “BIO 2014”

2014 – present – Scientific Council member of the Postgraduate School of Molecular Medicine (SMM)

ad hoc reviewer for Neuroscience, Acta Biochimica Polonica, Journal of Neurochemistry, International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Scientific Reports, Translational Psychiatry, Current Drug Metabolism, Progress in Neurobiology, PLOS Biology, Molecular Neurobiology

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • Lipiec MA, Bem J, Koziński K, Chakraborty C, Urban-Ciećki J, Zajkowski T, Dąbrowski M, Szewczyk ŁM, Toval A, Ferran JL, Nagalski A, Wiśniewska MBWnt/β‐catenin signaling in brain development and mental disorders: keeping TCF7L2 in mind; TCF7L2 regulates postmitotic differentiation programmes and excitability patterns in the thalamus. Development 08/2020; 147

  • Bem J, Brozko N, Chakraborty C, Lipiec MA, Koziński K, Nagalski A, Szewczyk LM, Wisniewska MB Wnt/β-catenin signaling in brain development and mental disorders: keeping TCF7L2 in mind. FEBS Letters 07/2019; 593

  • Misztal K, Brozko N, Nagalski A, Szewczyk LM, Krolak M, Brzozowska K, Kuznicki J, Wisniewska MB; TCF7L2 mediates the cellular and behavioral response to chronic lithium treatment in animal models. Neuropharmacology 10/2016; 113
  • Nagalski A, Kozinski K, Wisniewska MB; Metabolic pathways in the periphery and brain: Contribution to mental disorders? Int J Cell Biol 2016; 80: 19-30
  • Szewczyk LM, Brozko N, Nagalski A, Röckle I, Werneburg S, Hildebrandt H, Wisniewska MB, Kuznicki J; ST8SIA2 Promotes Oligodendrocyte Differentiation and the Integrity of myelin and axins. Glia 2016; 65: 34-49
  • Nagalski A, Puelles L, Dabrowski M, Wegierski T, Kuznicki J, Wisniewska MB; Molecular anatomy of the thalamic complex and the underlying transcription factors. Brain Struct Funct 2016; 221: 2493-2510
  • Mills F, Bartlett TE, Dissing-Olesen L, Wisniewska MB, Kuznicki J, Macvicar BA, Wang YT, Bamji SX; Cognitive flexibility and long-term depression (LTD) are impaired following -catenin stabilization in vivo. PNAS 2014; 111: 8631-8636
  • Wisniewska MB; Physiological Role of β-catenin/TCF Signaling in Neurons of the Adult Brain. Neurochem Res 02/2013; 38: 1144-1155
  • Wisniewska MB, Nagalski A, Dabrowski M, Misztal K, Kuznicki J; Novel β-catenin target genes identified in thalamic neurons encode modulators of neuronal excitability. BMC Genomics 2012; 13; 635
  • Nagalski A, Irimia M, Szewczyk L, Ferran JL, Misztal K, Kuznicki J, Wisniewska MB; Postnatal isoform switch and protein localization of LEF1 and TCF7L2 transcription factors in cortical, thalamic, and mesencephalic regions of the adult mouse brain. Brain Struct Funct 2012; 218: 1531-1549
  • Misztal K, Wisniewska MB, Ambrozkiewicz M, Nagalski A, Kuznicki J; WNT Protein-independent Constitutive Nuclear Localization of -Catenin Protein and Its Low Degradation Rate in Thalamic Neurons. J Biol Chem 2011; 286: 31781-31788
  • Wisniewska MB, Misztal M, Michowski W, Szczot M, Purta E, Lesniak W, Klejman ME, Dabrowski M, Filipkowski RK, Nagalski A, Mozrzymas JW, Kuznicki J; LEF1/β -Catenin Complex Regulates Transcription of the Cav3.1 Calcium Channel Gene (Cacna1g) in Thalamic Neurons of the Adult Brain. J Neurosci 2010; 30: 4957-4969

Group Leader:
Prof. Marta Barbara Wiśniewska


Postdoctoral Fellows:
Suelen Baggio, PhD
Łukasz Szewczyk, PhD

PhD students:
Michael Oluwatosin Gabriel, MSc
Katarzyna Hryniewiecka, MSc

Students:

Szymon Ławicki

Dorota Malicka


Alumni:
Chaitali Chakraborty, PhD
Tomasz Zajkowski, PhD
Andrzej Nagalaski, PhD
Kamil Koziński, PhD
Impaired Generation of Transit-Amplifying Progenitors in the Adult Subventricular Zone of Cyclin D2 Knockout Mice
Rafał Płatek, Piotr Rogujski, Jarosław Mazuryk, Marta B. Wiśniewska, Leszek Kaczmarek, Artur Czupryn
Cells 2022, 11(1),135
Genoarchitecture of the Early Postmitotic Pretectum and the Role of Wnt Signaling in Shaping Pretectal Neurochemical Anatomy in Zebrafish
Nikola Brożko, Suelen Baggio, Marcin A. Lipiec, Marta Jankowska, Łukasz M. Szewczyk, Michael O. Gabriel, Chaitali Chakraborty, José L. Ferran, Marta B. Wiśniewska
Front. Neuroanat., 09 March 2022
The hunt for ancient prions: Archaeal prion-like domains form amyloid-based epigenetic elements
Zajkowski T, Lee MD, Mondal SS, Carbajal A, Dec R, Brennock PD, Piast RW, Snyder JE, Bense NB, Dzwolak W, Jarosz DF, Rothschild LJ.
Mol Biol Evol. 2021
Spreading Depressions and Periinfarct Spreading Depolarizations in the Context of Cortical Plasticity
Sadowska, M., Mehlhorn, C., Średniawa, W., Szewczyk, Ł. M., Szlachcic, A., Urban, P., ... & Jabłonka, J. A
Neuroscience, 453, 81-101, 2021
PTD4 Peptide Increases Neural Viability in an In Vitro Model of Acute Ischemic Stroke
Mazuryk J., Puchalska I., Koziński K., Ślusarz M.J., Ruczyński J., Rekowski P., Rogujski P., Płatek R., Wiśniewska M.B., Piotrowski A., Janus Ł, Skowron P.M., Pikuła M., Sachadyn P., Rodziewicz-Motowidło S., Czupryn A., Mucha P.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22(11), 6086
Synthetic cells in biomedical applications
Wakana Sato, Tomasz Zajkowski, Felix Moser, Katarzyna P. Adamala
Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol, e1761
MLK4 regulates DNA damage response and promotes triple-negative breast cancer chemoresistance
Dawid Mehlich, Michał Łomiak, Aleksandra Sobiborowicz, Alicja Mazan, Dagmara Dymerska, Łukasz M Szewczyk, Anna Mehlich, Agnieszka Borowiec, Monika K Prełowska, Adam Gorczyński, Paweł Jabłoński, Ewa Iżycka-Świeszewska, Dominika Nowis, Anna A Marusiak
Cell Death & Disease, Vol. 12, Art. No. 1111 No. 1111
Variable-temperature NMR spectroscopy for metabolite identification in biological materials
Ewa K. Nawrocka, Mateusz Urbańczyk, Kamil Kozińskia , Krzysztof Kazimierczuk
RSC Advances, 2021,11, 35321-35325
TCF7L2 regulates postmitotic differentiation programmes and excitability patterns in the thalamus
Lipiec M.A., Bem J., Koziński K., Chakraborty C., Urban-Ciećko J., Zajkowski T., Dąbrowski M., Szewczyk Ł.M., Angel Toval A., Ferran J.L., Nagalski A., Wiśniewska M.B.
Development (2020)
Mechanisms of astrocyte development
Sardar D., Cheng Y-T., Szewczyk L.M., Deneen B., Molofsky A.V.
Patterning and Cell Type Specification in the Developing CNS and PNS- Second Edition, 2020
Wnt/β‐catenin signaling in brain development and mental disorders: keeping TCF7L2 in mind
Bem, J., Brożko, N., Chakraborty, C., Lipiec, M. A., Koziński, K., Nagalski, A., ... & Wiśniewska, M. B.
FEBS letters, 593 (13), 1654-1674
Krzywo, prosto, byle ostro – wzrost i naprowadzanie aksonów wzgórzowo-korowych
Lipiec, M. A., & Wiśniewska, M. B.
Postępy Biochemii, 65(2), 135-142
Identification of prion protein-derived peptides of potential use in Alzheimer’s disease therapy
Nieznanska, H., Bandyszewska, M., Surewicz, K., Zajkowski, T., Surewicz, W. K., & Nieznanski, K. (2018).
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Molecular Basis of Disease, 1864(6), 2143-2153
TCF7L2 mediates the cellular and behavioral response to chronic lithium treatment in animal models.
Misztal, K., Brozko, N., Nagalski, A., Szewczyk, L. M., Krolak, M., Brzozowska, K., ... & Wisniewska, M. B. (2017).
Neuropharmacology, 113, 490-501.
ST8SIA2 promotes oligodendrocyte differentiation and the integrity of myelin and axons.
Szewczyk, L. M., Brozko, N., Nagalski, A., Röckle, I., Werneburg, S., Hildebrandt, H., ... & Kuznicki, J. (2017).
Glia, 65(1), 34-49.
Metabolic pathways in the periphery and brain: Contribution to mental disorders?
Nagalski, A., Kozinski, K., & Wisniewska, M. B. (2016).
The international journal of biochemistry & cell biology, 80, 19-30.
Molecular anatomy of the thalamic complex and the underlying transcription factors.
Nagalski, A., Puelles, L., Dabrowski, M., Wegierski, T., Kuznicki, J., & Wisniewska, M. B. (2016).
Brain Structure and Function, 221(5), 2493-2510.