Highly specialized equipment which the laboratories of the Silesian Medical University in Katowice are equipped with include: transmission electron microscopes, scanning electron microscope, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, cytometers with cell sorters, mass spectrometer coupled with a gas chromatograph (triple quadrupole with vacuum ionization), mass spectrometer coupled with a Q-TOF/Orbitrap liquid chromatograph, bioprocess system (bioreactor), NGS sequencer, scanning laser confocal microscope, sunlight simulator with a point irradiator, atomic force microscope, etc.
Students work under close supervision of experienced researchers and technicians in modern and ergonomically designed conditions, and laboratory sessions are specifically designed to be integrated and support the development of practical skills relevant to the future physician, laboratory technician or diagnostician.
The research conducted in the university's laboratories, covers a variety of thematic aspects such as:
- Development of analytical methods for determining biomarkers of environmental exposure and immunological aspects in the pathogenesis of civilization diseases (neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, cancer, psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus),
- Evaluation of LTF gene expression in tumor tissue and margins in a group of patients with squamous cell carcinoma in the oral cavity and oropharynx,
- Transcriptional activity of interleukin 1-beta and subtilisin/kexin type 9 protein convertase genes in patients with acute myocardial infarction,
- Application of physicochemical research methods in the analysis of intermolecular interactions (at the molecular level) in the therapy of civilization diseases,
- Imaging, metabolic and microRNA studies in the diagnosis of cognitive disorders in elderly patients,
- Genetic modifications of stem cells to improve their transplantation properties,
- Properties of paramagnetic centers in melanin biopolymers and their role in biochemical processes,
- Evaluation of cytotoxic properties of selected flavonoids against prostate cancer cells in vitro.
