Personal Data
Born on April 27, 1975 in Bratislava, Slovakia; married (Lucia)
Position
Assistant Professor
Comenius University in Bratislava
Faculty of Natural Sciences
Department of Biochemistry
Mlynska dolina CH-1, Ilkovicova 6
842 15 Bratislava 4
Slovak Republic
Phone: +421-2-60296-398
Fax: +421-2-60296-452
E-mail: mentel@fns.uniba.sk
Education
- PhD., 1998-2005, Biochemistry, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
- RNDr., 2001, Biochemistry, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
- MSc., 1993-1998, Biochemistry, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Research and Experience
- 2007-2008 One year postdoc stay at the Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Institute of Botany III in the group of Prof. William Martin. Study of hydrogenosomal protein targeting in the human pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis and contemplation about origin of eukaryotes in the context of oceans geochemistry during Proterozoic eon.
- 2006 Short term official visits at the Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Institute of Botany III in the group of Prof. William Martin and at the Universite Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Institute of cellular biochemistry and genetics in the laboratory of Dr. Stéphen Manon in June and November, respectively.
- 2006 One-month visiting scientist at the Lund University in Sweden, Department of Cell and Organism Biology in the laboratory of Prof. Jure Piskur. Study of the Candida glabrata clinical isolates diversity and of a possible genetic material transfer between C. glabrata and Saccharomyces species S. cerevisiae and S. bayanus.
- 2005 PhD. thesis defense – title: Triplication of the genes coding the mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier in the dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica in context of hemiascomycetous yeasts evolution. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Slovakia; supervisor: Prof. Jordan Kolarov.
- 2005 Master degree student thesis supervisor of Miroslava Baculikova, project: Effect of the growth conditions on the viability of dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica and the observation of phenotypic markers of apoptosis, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Slovakia.
- 2004 One and a half-month visiting student at the Technical University of Denmark, Section of Molecular Microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Jure Piskur, phylogenetic study of Candida glabrata strains and study of lateral gene transfer between Candida glabrata species and Saccharomyces genus.
- 2003 Master degree student thesis supervisor of Gabriela Cellengova, project: Identification and characterization of the isogenes coding ADP/ATP carrier in the dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica and viability and morphology dependence on the growth conditions, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Slovakia.
- 2002 Three-month visiting student at the Technical University of Denmark, Section of Molecular Microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Jure Piskur. Study of the lateral gene transfer between Candida glabrata species and Saccharomyces genus.
- 2001 Academic degree exam (RNDr., doctor of natural sciences), Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
- 2000 Four-month visiting student at the Technical University of Denmark, Section of Molecular Microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Jure Piskur, phylogenetic study of Candida glabrata strains and study of lateral gene transfer between Candida glabrata species and Saccharomyces genus.
- 1999 Academic dissertation exam - subjects: biochemistry and molecular biology, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
- 1998 Academic leaving exam - subjects: biochemistry, molecular biology and organic chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
- 1998 Master degree project: Identification and characterization of 461 bp length fragment of the gene coding ADP/ATP carrier in the yeast Candida parapsilosis, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; supervisor: Prof. Jordan Kolarov.
Awards
- Dean praise for excellent master degree study results, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Research Interests
- Subject of my PhD study was mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier (Aac) playing an important role in the energy metabolism of eukaryotes. We identified three paralogous genes coding the Aac isoforms in the dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, discussed their phylogeny in the context of hemiascomycetous yeasts evolution and studied expression of the paralogs under different environmental conditions.
- During my stays at the Technical University of Denmark and at the Lund University in Sweden we studied the phylogeny and chromosomal diversity of the opportunistic pathogen Candida glabrata clinical isolates from Danish hospitals and the possibility of gene transfer between this pathogenic yeast and food technology-associated yeast species belonging to the Saccharomyces genus.
- Topic of my post doc stay was protein targeting to the hydrogenosomes of the human pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis. We discovered that thioredoxin reductase proteins bear both N-terminal presequences and internal protein targeting sequences helping them to be delivered to this mitochondria homologous organelle and that though being processed, N-terminal presequence can be dispensable for protein import to the hydrogenosomes. We were also interested in evolutionary questions concretely on energetic metabolism of anaerobic eukaryotes in the context of eukaryotes origin and evolution during Proterozoic eon.
- Currently we are working on the mechanisms by which proteins from the Bcl-2 family regulate programmed cell death, using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the model organism. The aim is to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying the action of specific BH3-only proteins by examining the consequences of their expression on the activity of the different Bcl-2 family members.