{"id":87988,"date":"2025-07-15T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/?p=87988"},"modified":"2025-12-16T15:03:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T14:03:02","slug":"miniatura-grant-for-dr-daria-hajka-for-innovative-als-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/miniatura-grant-for-dr-daria-hajka-for-innovative-als-research\/","title":{"rendered":"MINIATURA Grant for Dr. Daria Hajka for Innovative ALS Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The MINIATURA competition, organized by the National Science Centre, is a program aimed at researchers at an early stage of their careers. It represents a first step toward scientific independence and applying for larger national or international grants. In the latest edition of the competition, the research of  Dr. Daria Hajka  from  the Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration Group<\/a>, led by Dr. Agnieszka Krzy\u017cosiak, was recognized and funded. The awarded project is titled \u201cValidation of a novel human research model for ALS in the context of energy metabolism.\u201d  <\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a rapidly progressing, incurable neurodegenerative disease that leads to paralysis and death within a few years. The condition is widely associated with Stephen Hawking \u2013 the renowned physicist who lived with ALS for decades, making his case highly exceptional. For most patients, the disease progresses much more quickly. Symptoms include muscle weakness, difficulties with speech, swallowing, and breathing. Only 5\u201310% of ALS cases are genetically based \u2013 in the remaining ones, causes are believed to include environmental or stress-related factors. <\/p>

Dr. Daria Hajka joined \u0141ukasiewicz \u2013 PORT at the end of her university studies and has since developed her passion for molecular neurobiology here. She earned her PhD at the University of Wroc\u0142aw in the Department of Physiology and Molecular Neurobiology. Her research interests center on cellular energy metabolism and the role of mitochondria, which regulate key life processes within the cell. <\/p>

As part of the grant<\/a>, Dr. Hajka focuses on an innovative method of directly reprogramming patients\u2019 skin cells (fibroblasts) into motor neurons. This approach preserves the unique cellular characteristics resulting from the patient\u2019s age and disease status. Consequently, researchers can analyze cells \u201cin the moment of disease,\u201d rather than in the epigenetically \u201creset\u201d state that occurs during classical stem cell reprogramming. <\/p>

\u201cSo far, human models used in ALS research rely on reprogramming induced pluripotent stem cells into neuronal cells. However, stem cells lose the epigenetic background of the donor \u2013 as if they were returned to a birth-like state. We are one step ahead: we reprogram neurons directly from patients\u2019 skin cells, retaining their complete genetic and epigenetic context. This allows us to study the patient during the course of the disease,\u201d explains Dr. Hajka. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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A more realistic ALS model enables the analysis of energy metabolism disturbances in patient-derived neurons. The study uses cells obtained from biobanks such as the Coriell Institute and NINS, but Dr. Hajka hopes to expand cooperation with hospitals in Wroc\u0142aw. This would enable the team to conduct research not only on ALS, but also on other \u2013 including rare \u2013 neurodegenerative diseases, which are often linked to mitochondrial dysfunction. <\/p>

The results of the project may contribute to a better understanding of ALS mechanisms and the development of more effective therapies \u2013 not only for this particular condition, but also for other disorders related to impaired neuronal function and disturbed cellular metabolism.

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The MINIATURA competition, organized by the National Science Centre, is a program aimed at researchers at an early stage of their careers. It represents a first step toward scientific independence and applying for larger national or international grants. In the latest edition of the competition, the research of Dr. Daria Hajka from the Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration Group, led by Dr. Agnieszka Krzy\u017cosiak, was recognized and funded. The awarded project is titled \u201cValidation of a novel human research model for ALS in the context of energy metabolism.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":81145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"%%post_excerpt%%","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[796],"class_list":["post-87988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-successes"],"acf":{"czas_czytania":"3"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 14:27:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87988"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95642,"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87988\/revisions\/95642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}