Barbara Ostanek was born in Ljubljana in 1972. After finishing secondary education at Gimnazija Bežigrad she applied for the study of pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, where she graduated in 1997. After gaining her M.Sc. in 2000, she continued with Ph.D. study. She gained her Ph.D. in 2002 under the supervision of Prof. Janja Marc with thesis: Molecular analysis and role of the osteoprotegerin gene in the development and treatment of osteoporosis.
Since 1997 she has been working at the Chair of Clinical Biochemistry, first as a young researcher, than an assistnat and since 2009 as an assistant professor in the field of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory biomedicine.
Her research is focused on molecular basis of diseases, identification of new diagnostic markers and new drug targets. So far, this included the identification of relevant DNA polymorphisms and changes in gene expression, mainly in osteoporosis, hyperbilirubinemia and diabetes. She is now complementing these approaches with the study of epigenetic changes. Another topic is also the development and optimisation of new genotyping tests. She is interested in pharmacogenetics of antiosteoporotic, anticoagulant and anticancer drugs.
She gives lectures for undergraduate students of Pharmacy and Laboratory Biomedicine in the following courses: Clinical Chemistry, Clinical Biochemistry, Biomedical Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics with Pharmacogenetics and Biomedical Analysis. In 2010 she received the licence for work in the field of Laboratory Medicine and is currently working in the Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics at the Chair of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy.
Membership: Slovenian Association for Clinical Chemistry, Slovenian Pharmaceutical Society |