group

Our Team

We are a group of young enthusiasts actively involved in a research aimed at understanding of the mechanisms of chronic pain. These mechanisms are focused on pain modulation processes and characteristics of endogenous system involved in the transmission of pain stimuli with particular attention to endocannabinoid system.

Enthusiasm is absolutely necessary if you ever want to accomplish anything of value and it just so happens that PAIN LAB members are young, enthusiastic scientists, combining a good understanding of the research ideas with a solid university experienceand very strong motivation for scientific work.

PAIN LAB was established in June 2013 by the IF PAN Scientific Council thanks to the National Science Centre (NCN) funding.

Katarzyna Starowicz

The Head of Pain Lab is a neuropharmacologist leading a research group based at the Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences (www.if-pan.krakow.pl). Katarzyna (see full CV) has a longstanding interest in the area of pain and analgesia, particularly in understanding of the functional significance of endovanilloid involvement in nociceptive transmission at supraspinal and spinal level. Her interests focus on bridging large gaps in the field of pain neurobiology concerning the pathomechanisms of chronic pain with the aim to pinpoint novel targets for the development of new pain therapies. READ MORE

Jakub Mlost

Jakub is our PhD student, who graduated from Jagiellonian University, where he studied neuroscience. He is working with both in vivo and in vitro models of Osteoarthritis using molecular, histological and behavioral techniques. He is drawn to the pharmacological research on Endocannabinoid system and its role in inflammatory events. Beyond the scientific interests, he also enjoys boardsports like skateboarding or snowboarding, spending time in nature and analog devices.

Marta Bryk

Marta is a PhD student. She prepared her Master’s Thesis concerning the role of enndocannabinoid CB2 receptor ligands in osteoarthtitis treatment. Her current work is focused on the role of inflammation in osteoarthritis development in both: animal model of osteoarthritis and in vitro human synoviocytes cultures. Apart from laboratory work, she prefers to spend her free time active, especially enjoys cycling and long-distance walking excursions

Jakub Chwastek

Jakub is a post-doc in our team. He got his PhD in neuropsychopharmacology at Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences in 2018 and his PhD thesis was focused on the role of ATM kinase in neuroprotection in Parkinson’s Disease in in vitro models. Currently, he is working on determination of synoviocytes role in progression of Osteoarthritis. He is using molecular and cellular biology techniques to study inflammation and metabolic changes in vitro and in vivo models. In free time he is a homebrewer, a certificated beer judge and enthusiast of culinary experiments.

Undergraduate

Aleksandra Pędracka Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, Jagiellonian University (Academic year 2019/2020)
Przemysław Kac, Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, Jagiellonian University (Academic year 2018/2019)
Katarzyna Dudek, Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, Jagiellonian University (Academic year 2015/2016)

Visiting Students

Pilar Martinez Albaladejo, University of Murcia (Fall Semester 2018/2019)
Adrian Kobiela, University College London (Summer 2015)

Former Members

Magdalena Kostrzewa (2013-2017)
Mateusz Kucharczyk (2013-2015)
Natalia Małek (2011-2017)
Agnieszka Pająk (2013-2016)