Leszek Kaczmarek#

Address: Nencki Institute, Pasteura 3, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland, PHONE +48 22 659 3001, FAX +48 22 822 5342

Professional experience and education

• 2003-2007: Chair, Division for Biological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences
• 2001-2002: Visiting Senior Fulbright Scholar, Department of Neurobiology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 1997-2003: Chairman, Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Nencki Institute
• 1996-now: Professor and Head, Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiology, Nencki Institute
• 1994-1996, 1998: Visiting Professor, Dept. Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
• 1987,1988,1990, 1992: Contract Professor, University of Catania, Italy.
• 1986-1988: Assistant Professor, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute
• 1984-1986: Postdoc, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA (mentor: R. Baserga)
• Dr (Ph.D.), Cell biology, 1983
• Mgr (M.Sc.), Molecular biology, 1981, Warsaw University

Major Distinctions

• 2001 – Elected member of Academia Europaea
• 2000 – FNP (Foundation for Polish Science) Prize '2000
• 2000 – Elected member of EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization)
• 1998 – Elected corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• 1998 – Polonia Restituta (by the President of the Republic of Poland)

25 promoted PhDs.

Principal investigator/partner on more than 40 national and international research grants, including 5th, 6th & 7th FP EU, ERA-NET Neuron, The Wellcome Trust.

Invited lecturer at more than 100 international and national meetings and congresses, including 10th European Neurochemistry Society Meeting (Jerusalem, 1994); 17th Annual Meeting of the European Neuroscience Association (Wien, 1994); XXXIII International Congress of Physiological Sciences (St. Petersburg, 1997); Congresses of International Society for Neurochemistry, ISN: Boston, 1997 & Cancun 2007; Federation of European Biochemical Societies, FEBS Lisbon 2001, Warsaw 2004, Prague 2009; Federation of European Neuroscience Societies FENS 2006 (Wien), Society for Neuroscientists of Africa, SONA, Nairobi 2001, Cape Town, 2005 & Sharm-El-Sheikh, 2009; plenary talks at Polish, Slovenian. Russian & Croatian Neuroscience Meetings. Over 200 seminar & other invited talks. More than twenty memberships of program committees or session chairs during the international scientific meetings, including Program Committees for ISN 1999 & 2005, FENS 2004 & 2008, FEBS 2004.

Participation in International Professional Organizations: 2010-now: EMBO Council: member; 2009-now: Section Editor "molecular neuroscience", Neuroscience journal; 2006-now: European Research Council: Member of the Neuroscience Starting Grants Panel; 2006-now: Academia Europaea: Member of the Medicine and Physiology Section; 2003-2007: EMBO: member of the Fellowship Committee; 2003-2005: International Brain Research Organization, IBRO: Member of the Executive Committee and Chair, Central and Eastern Europe Regional Committee; 1995-1999: International Society for Neurochemistry, ISN: Member of the Council; 1997-1999 Chair, Committee for Aid in Neurochemistry.

Major research achievements:

• Discovery of c-Myc role in regulation of the cell cycle
• Discovery of the learning-related gene expression in the mammalian brain
• Revealing apoptotic component of excitotoxicity in the adult brain
• Discovery of specific role of cyclin D2 in the adult brain neurogenesis
• Discovery of involvement of matrix metalloproteinaes in neuronal plasticity, learning and memory