Participant 4. University of Gdańsk (UG), Gdańsk, Poland

The University of Gdańsk (http://www.ug.edu.pl/pl), with almost 33,000 students in the eleven faculties and 1,700 academic staff members, is the largest institute of higher education in the Pomeranian region of Poland. The great advantage of the University of Gdansk is its orientation towards the sea. In the period from 2002 to the end of August 2009, the University of Gdańsk participated in over one hundred and thirty European and international projects. The largest number of projects was realised within the 5^th and the 6^th Framework Programmes, including three European Centres of Excellence: the Research and Education Centre for Urban Socio-Economic Development (RECOURSE), the Centre of Excellence for Baltic Development, Education and Research (BALTDER), and the Centre of Excellence in Bio-safety and Molecular Biomedicine (BioMoBil). Two of the realised projects constituted a so-called excellence network: Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MARBEF) and the European Vigilance Network for the Management of Antiviral Drug Resistance (VIRGIL). In MAREX, scientists from two UG faculties will participate: Faculty of Biology (Department of Molecular Biology) and Faculty of Oceanography and Geography (Department of Marine Biology and Ecology).

Role in the project

• Collection of tissues of marine organisms and cultivation of marine cyanobacteria (WP1)
• Construction of gene libraries of marine organisms using metagenomic methods (WP2)
• Screening of gene libraries for biological activities (WP3)
• Isolation and characterization of active compounds (WP2)

Prof. Grzegorz Wegrzyn, Ph.D., DSc.

Professor of Molecular Biology

Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology

Email: wegrzyn(at)biotech.ug.gda.pl

Expertise: Regulation of gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, control of DNA replication, molecular cloning and biotechnology, plasmids and bacteriophages.

More information: http://www.biology.ug.gda.pl/kbm/dmb/staff/gw.htm

Dr. Hanna Mazur-Marzec, Ph.D., D.Sc

Associate Professor

Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography

Email: biohm(at)ug.edu.pl

Expertise: chromatography, mass spectrometry and bioactivity screening of metabolites produced by microalgae and cyanobacteria

More information: http://www.sinice.pl

Dr. hab. Marcin Łoś, Ph.D.,

Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology

Email: mlos(at)biotech.ug.gda.pl

Expertise: biology and biotechnology of bacteriophages, metagenomics, genetic engineering

More information: http://www.biology.ug.gda.pl/kbm/dmb/staff/ml.htm

Anna Toruńska, MSc.

Email: annat(at)ocean.univ.gda.pl

Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography

Expertise: microalgae and bacteria isolation and cultivation; biological and biochemical assays

More information: http://www.sinice.pl