On 23 July 2021 Marta Pongrac successfully defended her master’s thesis titled: „In vitro regeneration of primary cell cultures of cortex from postnatal grey short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica“ in front of the committee composed of Assoc. Prof. Ivana Munitić, Assoc. Prof. Dinko Mitrečić, Prof. Miranda Mladinić Pejatović (co-mentor) and Assist. Prof. Jelena Ban (mentor).

All lab members participated in the online meeting “3D cell culture & organoids”. Jelena Ban presented our work entitled “Monodelphis domestica – derived neurospheres: new mammalian 3D in vitro cell model for CNS development and regeneration studies”. More information about this event can be found here.

Our master students Marta Pongrac and Matea Ivaničić participated at the 10th Student congress of Neuroscience NeuRi 2021 that took place in Rijeka, 23th – 25th April 2021. Their poster entitled “Research of neuroregenerative mechanisms on primary cortical cell cultures derived from Monodelphis domestica” by Marta Pongrac, Matea Ivaničić, Antonela Petrović, Ivana Tomljanović, Jelena Ban and Miranda Mladinić Pejatović was awarded as the best poster presentation. 

This year’s BAW Rijeka moved to online platforms due to unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. As in the previous year, our goal was to acquaint the public with the work of Department of Biotechnology’s neuroscientists through a series of lectures aimed at general public, with emphasis on younger audience. Benefits of such an arrangement is the ability to stream our lectures directly to the primary and middle schools, without any risk of health hazard.

More than 100 people joined in to listen to this year’s lecture schedule, which was held from 15. to 19. March.

Due to the unfavorable climate regarding COVID-19 cases, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), together with the British Neuroscience Association have created the first ever FENS Virtual Forum, that took place instead of the 12th Forum of Neuroscience, and was open from 11 to 15 July 2020.

Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiology participated with their poster, which was displayed in the virtual lobby, and awarded with a certificate.

The live version of the Brain Awareness Week will be held as soon as the circumstances allow major gatherings. Until that time, Department of biotechnology puts a paramount on safety and responsibility.

Department of biotechnology is proud to participate in this year’s Brain Awareness Week (BAW), an international movement sponsored by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) and DANA fundation.

This year’s BAW Rijeka will be held in Interpretacijski centar dr. Andrija Mohorovičić, also known as MOHO Center. Situated in Andrija Mohorovičić’s birthplace in Volosko near Rijeka, MOHO Center aims to bring both the scientific and cultural events to the broader audience.

The objective of this year’s BAW is to acquaint the public with the work of Department of Biotechnology’s neuroscientists through a series of events aimed at general public, with emphasis on younger audience:

Monday, 16. 3.

18:00-19:00 – „Od vinske mušice do ljudi“ („From fruit flies to humans“), interactive workshop, doc. dr. sc. Rozi Andretić Waldowski

19:00- 20:00 – „Da li i kako geni kontroliraju ponašanje“ (Do our genes control our behaviour), lecture, doc. dr. sc. Rozi Andretić Waldowski

Tuesday, 17. 3.

18:00-19:00 – „The love-hate relationship between the brain and the immune system“, interactive talk, doc. dr. sc. Ivana Munitić

Wensday, 18. 3.

18:00-20:00 – „What are mental illnesses, and where do they come from?“, interactive lecture, doc. dr. sc. Nick Bradshaw

Thursday, 19. 3. – children’s day

18:00-19:00 – „Što sve može moj mozak?“ („What exactly can our brains do?“), interactive play for children, doc. Dr. sc. Jelena Ban and mag. biotech. Zrinko Baričević

19:00-20:00 – „Mozgalice“ („Brainiacs“), interactive workshop for children by „Putujući znanstvenici“, Department of biotechnology’s student organization

Friday, 20. 3.

18:00-19:00 – „Neuroetika: od neuroznanosti do socijalne prakse“ („Neuroethics: from neuroscience to social practice“),  interactive talk, Associate professor Luca Malatesti (Department of philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka)

All lectures are designed as following: 30 min. lecture + 15 min. Q&A + 15 min. quiz with prizes.

Find out more at MOHO center and Department of biotechnology facebook page.

Department of Biotechnology’s Bachelor’s and Master’s graduation ceremony was held on Friday, February 21, 2020.
Congratulations to all our alumni, and in particular to our lab members:

Sanja Mikašinović, master in in Biotechnology in medicine, summa cum laude

Antonela Hršak, Bachelor of biotechnology and drug research

Matea Ivaničić, Bachelor of biotechnology and drug research, summa cum laude

Marta Pongrac, Bachelor of biotechnology and drug research, magna cum laude

A new Master of biotechnology in medicine emerged from the Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiology on 23rd September 2019. Sanja defended her thesis titled “Expression of stem cell markers in primary cell cultures and fresh-fixed tissue preparations deriving from nervous tissue of postnatal opossums” in front of the committee comprised of Assist. prof. Rozi Andretić Waldowski (head), Assist. prof. Nicholas Bradshaw, Assist. prof. Jelena Ban (co-mentor) and prof. Miranda Mladinić Pejatović (mentor).

Sanja graduated with flying colors, to the delight of the whole Laboatory.

Young Neuroscientist Meeting 2019 was held in Trieste, organized by the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA). The Young Neuroscientist Meeting is an international event involving research groups from Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Croatia and Serbia, whose main goal is to provide young researchers with the opportunity to present their work to the international commission and strengthen mutual cooperation between neighboring countries. The Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiology participated with two speakers, Ph.D. student Zrinko Baričević (“Identification and Quantification of Neural Stem Cells with the Isotropic Fractional Method”) and master student Sanja Mikašinović (“Expression of CNS Markers in Primary Neuronal Cultures of Neonatal Opossums”), and with two members of the scientific commitee, prof. Jelena Ban and prof. Miranda Mladinić Pejatović. More about YNM can be found HERE.

The 9th student neuroscience congres NeuRi took place in Rijeka, 24th – 26th April 2019. Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiology’s own doctoral students Antonela Petrović and Ivana Tomljanović, together with master student Sanja Mikašinović presented a science poster labeled “Identification of key molecules involved in neuroprotection and neuroregeneration using in vitro preparations of opossum Monodelphis domestica central nervous system”. The poster was made with supervision from doc. dr. sc. Jelena Ban and prof. dr. sc. Miranda Mladinić Pejatović.