The moderator of the meeting, organized as part of the series of PSNC open seminars “Challenges for the IT infrastructure of science in the era of digital transformation”, will be Ariel Oleksiak, PhD Eng. from PSNC.
We invite you to the seminar on the Webex platform on February 7, 2022 at 2:30 PM.
Maciej Figiel, PhD
Maciej Figiel received his PHD in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology of the University of Ulm, Germany (2001) for the discovery of regulation of glial glutamate transporters which control glutamatergic signaling. These works, also partly carried out at the University of Leipzig, have recognized the control of transporters by neural and glial factors and gap junctions. After returning to Poland, he joined the team of prof. Włodzimierz Krzyżosiak at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań where he managed to produce the first knock-in mouse model of SCA3/MJD disease which is a polyglutamin disease. The mouse model reflects the neurodegenerative nature of SCA3 / MJD and is very similar to disorders in patients. He obtained his habilitation in 2015 at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology.
Since 2017, he runs the Department of Molecular Neurobiology at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry PAS in Poznań. As an independent researcher, he discovered early molecular phenotypes of Huntington’s disease related to p53 protein, MAPK and WNT pathways in induced pluripotent stem cells. He is currently working on identifying the mechanisms of neurodegeneration in SCA3 / MJD by discovering both the early pre-symptomatic and symptomatic mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease. Recently obtained extended Ki150 SCA3/MJD mouse model (unpublished). Also works to define the neurodevelopmental mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders.
Maciej Figiel is an expert and reviewer at the National Center for Research and Development in STRATEGMED, INOMED and other programs. Reviewer for the Polish National Science Centre and Israel Science Foundation. Reviewer at Brain Research Bulletin, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, Glia, Molecular Neurobiology, Experimental & Molecular Medicine and others. He is an expert at The Jackson Laboratory and CHDI Foundation where he reviewed “A Field Guide to Working with Mouse Models of Huntington’s Disease”. An expert in the field of polyglutamin diseases, mouse models, in vivo studies, neurobiology and stem cells. Member of the European Huntington’s Disease Network. Principal investigator of several scientific projects, including therapeutic E-Rare projects in European and international consortia.
