What we do?





What tools do we employ?














Our ambition

Our group studies how purinergic signaling contributes to the interaction between neurons, glial cells, and peripheral immune cells in the development and progression of acute and chronic neuroinflammation. Specifically, we are investigating the involvement of ectonucleotidases, E-NTPDases 1-3 and ecto-5'-nucleotidase (eN/CD73) and their complex regulation in the neurovascular unit leading to the resolution of an acute neuroinflammatory response or the progression of chronic neuroinflammation.

We routinely use various animal models of human neuropathologies (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis - EAE, trimethyltin- or LPS-induced neurodegeneration, short-term ischemia/reperfusion model, 6-OHDA-induced model of Parkinson's disease) and in vitro systems (primary cell cultures and cell lines). We measure animal behavior using wide range of tests (open field, rota-rod test, novel object recognition test,  olfactory discrimination test, light-dark box, radial-arm maze, elevated-plus maze and sucrose preference test), we employ stereotactic surgery, dissection and cerebral open-flow microdialysis, isolation and purification of tissues and subcellular fractions (membrane, synaptic, gliosomes, cytosol and nuclear fraction), and molecular biology techniques (electrophoresis, Western blot, immunoprecipitation, dot blot, PCR, transfection, gene silencing), biochemical assays and intracellular signal transduction, and fluorescence and confocal microscopy. 

Our main ambition is to provide a supportive environment for the development and testing of new ideas that will expand our knowledge of the role of purinergic signaling in the pathology of neuroinflammatory disorders and open new possibilities for therapeutic approaches.