Darko Cerne was born on 10 October 1962 in Ljubljana. He graduated in 1988 at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana. In the period from 1988 to 2005, he worked at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry, University Medical Centre Ljubljana. During this time he performed a 4-year professional training in the field of medical biochemistry and in 1993 at the Ministry of Health successfully passed an exam and became Specialist for Medical Biochemistry. In the field of Medical Biochemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy in 2002 defended his doctoral thesis entitled Relationship between the sialic acid content of low-density lipoprotein and development of atherosclerosis in coronary and carotid arteries, under the supervision of Honorary Prof. Dr. Jane Lukac Bajalo. An important part of the research work carried out at the Medical University of Graz with Prof. Dr. G?ntherj J?rgens. In 2003, at the Faculty of Pharmacy University of Ljubljana, he was elected to assistant professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Biomedicine. Other employment (2005 to 2008) was at the College of Health Care Izola, University of Primorska. Since 2008 he has been employed at the Chair of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy University of Ljubljana. In 2008 he was elected to associate professor and in 2013 to a full professor in the field of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Biomedicine. Major organizational tasks: While working at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry, University Medical Centre Ljubljana for seven years led Emergency Laboratory (emergency and 24-hour laboratory service for the needs of the University Medical Centre Ljubljana and Ljubljana region). While working at the College of Health Care Izola, University of Primorska was vice-dean of studies. Now is the Head of the Chair of Clinical Biochemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy University of Ljubljana. Teaching activities: at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana he is participating in four undergraduate courses (Clinical Biochemistry I – LBM UNI, Emergency laboratory diagnostics – LBM UNI, Clinical Chemistry – EMS Pharmacy and Selected topics in Clinical Biochemistry – EMS Pharmacy), in two graduate courses (Biomedical analytics – LBM MAG and Clinical and Biochemical diagnostics – LBM MAG) and in two courses in doctoral study (Stepwise Clinical Biochemical Diagnosis and Interpretation – Biomedicine and Selected Topics in Clinical Biochemistry – Biomedicine). Fields of research: The majority of scientific and research activities related to studying of ethiopathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its acute complications, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and atherosclerotic nephrovasculopathy. In the same field he carried out doctoral thesis in which he studied in vivo mechanisms of LDL desialisation, in conjunction with the oxidation, and its dependence on the auto-immune response of the organism. More clinically applied research aimed at studying the diagnostic and prognostic utility of existing laboratory risk indicators and finding new ones. Another area of research is the study of oxidative stress, ethiopathogenetic factor of many diseases, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, autoimmune diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and certain cancers. More recently he investigates the biochemical mechanisms that provide cancer cells with sufficient amount of cell constituents, energy and other essential biological molecules. The latest area of research is to study the applicability of quantitative and qualitative analysis of cell-free nucleic acids (DNA , RNA , mRNA) in various biological samples for the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer and atherosclerosis. |