Research area

The main goal of the Department of Molecular Neurooncology is the complex research of the basics of development and progression of brain tumors, especially glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Our interests include mainly:

• the identification and characteristics of the regulatory RNAs crucial for the cancer development, such as miRNA, lncRNA and circRNA, especially their importance for cancer stem cells and processes like: unlimited cell divisions, ability to form secondary tumors, or eventually resistance to chemotherapy,
• the establishing the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in metastases, resistance to treatment and processes associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition,
• the identification of RNA molecules with potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic significance.

In our experimental approach we use a combination of molecular biology tools, in vivo imaging techniques with functional studies using clinical tissue samples, human cell lines (including primary tumor cells isolated from patients) and syngeneic mouse tumor models.