National projects

The aim of the proposed project is to develop safe theranostic lactic acid bacteria (ProbioTheranostics) that will be engineered with the ability to specifically target colorectal cancer cells, localize the tumor position using fluorescence imaging, and treat the colorectal cancer by exerting anti-inflammatory activity and modulating the composition of microbiota. P...

A variety of processes essential to living organisms involve ligand-protein binding, where the ligands are switching proteins between different functional states. The atomic resolution structures of ligand-protein complexes provide the basis for the understanding of ligand-protein interactions. However, it is becoming obvious that dynamic processes are playing an im...

(slovene) Pandemija Covid-19 predstavlja eno največjih groženj svetu v zadnjem stoletju tako za zdravstvo kot za vse segmente družbe od ekonomskih do socialnih. Kaže, da bo učinkovita in trajna rešitev le zdravilo, s katerim bi lahko preprečili virusno razmnoževanje, in predvsem cepivo, ki bi povzročilo dolgotrajno zaščito in s pomočjo katerega bi lahk...

The project is focused on the search for neurotoxic compounds in a group of chemicals that are used in industry in large quantities, using in silico methods. It is divided into four main tasks: setting up a set of chemicals, arranging their toxicological profiles, selecting candidates (one to five) by reviewing and comparing existing data and presenting a dossier fo...

The development of drug‑resistant bacteria is an unavoidable outcome of widespread antibacterial chemotherapy of infectious diseases. Drug discovery programs directed against proteins considered essential for in vivo bacterial viability have yielded few new therapeutic classes of antibiotics, therefore treatment options for combating bacteria resistant to multiple d...

The effectiveness of conventional therapeutic modalities, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is limited due to drug resistance acquired by tumor cells during systemic treatment. Moreover, convenient antitumor drugs are practically ineffective against cancer stem cells, which represent a dormant pool of cells able to induce tumor recurrence. Cancer immunotherap...

Forest-based industries, especially pulp and paper industries, produce huge quantities of bark during primary processing activities. In 2017 alone, the European pulp and paper industry used close to 149 million cubic meters of wood. The bark reduces the quality of wood products and is removed and mainly burned for energy production. In pulp and paper industries, a w...

Computer intensive methods and applications is extremely propulsive area of scientific research in which the use of supercomputers and computer clusters is used to solve the most demanding computational problems in theoretical and applied research in natural and technical sciences. We deal with solving of various types of problems, such as, structure and dynamics of...

The cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria is composed of proteins and peptidoglycan with the protruding secondary polysaccharides, which differ in the chemical composition and structure among various species. The cell wall secondary polysaccharides are covalently attached to the peptidoglycan and can account for more than a half of the total cell wall mass. They form ...

Blue Growth (BG) and sustainable blue strategy, including Marine (blue) biotechnology (MBT), are the long-term strategies to support sustainable growth. The global market for MBT has the potential to reach €5.5 Billion by 2025 and Europe is recognised as a high-potential region with largely unexplored marine resources. Since the global population`s median age i...