Excellence

Research group from UL FFA, Department of Clinical Biochemistry (Peter Vrtačnik, Janja Zupan, Vid Mlakar, Tilen Kranjc, Janja Marc, Barbara Kern & Barbara Ostanek) published their study on two age-related diseases, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in a well-established journal Scientific Reports. This study is one of the first to show the association between epigenetic enzymes and the quality and quantity of bone tissue.

Abida Zahirović, PhD student, first author; Mojca Lunder, head of the project and corresponding author and Borut Štrukelj) in collaboration with University Clinic for Lung Diseases and Allergy, Golnik, Slovenia (Peter Korošec, Peter Kopač and Ana Koren) published an article with the title:« Identification of bee venom Api m 1 IgE epitopes and characterization of corresponding mimotopes”, in which they identified for the first time two IgE epitopes of Api m 1.

On 26th September 2018, eight best ideas in Slovenia were presented at the final selection of the international competition Falling Walls Lab at the Center of innovative entrepreneurship in Ljubljana (FallingWalls- Ljubljana). The six-member commission selected Davide Benedetto Tiz, a PhD student from UL FFA, as the winner. He will travel to Berlin on 8th November for the international final event (FallingWalls.com) where he will present his strategy for overcoming antibacterial resistance.

Due to expertise in the field of epigenetics and bone diseases, the research group from the Department of Clinical Biochemistry led by prof. Janja Marc was invited to contribute a chapter entitled Epigenetic Mechanisms in Osteoporosis in a book Epigenetics of Aging and Longevity-Translational Epigenetics Vol 4. Barbara Ostanek, Tilen Kranjc, Nika Lovšin, Janja Zupan and Janja Marc reviewed the current understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms in osteoporosis.

A paper published in Nature Communications reveals a deeper understanding of how D-cycloserine binds to the D-alanine-D-alanine ligase enzyme and becomes chemically modified on the enzyme. The chemical species formed here has never been seen before and it opens up possibility of development of new antibiotic drugs that will be devoid of unwanted side effects.