Head of the group: Martin Sztacho
Email: martin.sztacho@img.cas.cz
About us
The spatiotemporal organization of biological matter is an important determinant of the efficacy and rate of cellular processes. In the newly established (February 2024) Laboratory of Cancer Cell Architecture, we will investigate the physicochemical aspects of the subcellular localization of biomolecular material during the malignant manifestations of cancer transformation. Understanding how the cellular subcompartmentalized environment is organized and maintained in health and disease is essential for early diagnosis and effective treatment of cancer. Therefore, the aim of our research is to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of pathophysiological changes in the cellular architecture during the oncogenesis. In particular, we are interested in the understanding of the principles of biomolecular condensation via the phase separation phenomenon driven by phosphoinositide and RNA molecules. For this purpose, we use in vitro and in vivo methodologies that combine biochemistry, molecular cell biology, microscopy, proteomics and bioinformatics. We will apply these approaches to a variety of cancer cell culture models, from glioblastoma to human papillomavirus-infected cell lines, and corroborate our basic research findings with patient-derived material in our translational projects.