GKALICKA-WOŹNIAK Krystyna

GKALICKA-WOŹNIAK Krystyna

Medical University of Lublin, Department of Natural Products Chemistry 

Prof. Krystyna Skalicka-Woźniak (PhD, DSc) studied pharmacy at the Medical University of Lublin, Poland and received her Master’s degree in 2002. She completed her PhD in pharmacognosy with Prof. Kazimierz Głowniak in 2008 at the Medical University, and her dissertation was awarded with a Prime Minister Award for the best Doctoral Dissertation. She obtained full Prof. title in 2019. Since 2019 she is the Head of Department of Chemistry of Natural Products, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Lublin. In 2019 she also became a visiting researcher at the University of Bern at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. 

She has received several awards for her research, including one for Outstanding Young Scientists for a period of three years or The Ministry of Health for outstanding achievements or a Ministry of Health Award for the best Habilitation – first degree. In 2022 she was awarded with the first prize of Ministry of Health for Scientific achievements. She has published more than 200 scientific papers, mostly in international journals.  

Prof. Skalicka-Woźniak participate in several grants from both national (The National Science Centre / The Ministry of Science and Higher Education) and international centers (Austrian Drug Screening Institute GmbH / TUBITAK). Her research interests include the discovery of bioactive compounds in plants, and the optimization of modern extraction and chromatographic techniques. The focus of her work for the past few years was the application of counter-current chromatography (CCC) for the isolation of natural products, particularly coumarins and terpenoids, and their biological evaluation for antimicrobial, antiviral, anticancer, spasmolytic, apoptotic, and antioxidant activities, as well as for Central Nervous System activity (epilepsy, anxiety and memory-related behavior – in vitro and in vivo with mice and zebrafish models). Her experience with CCC was acquired through a training period in a world-leading research center, the Brunel Institute of Bioengineering at Brunel University in London, and she is currently the leading practitioner of the applications of this technique in Poland.  

She was the General Secretary of Phytochemical Society of Europe, secretary, Organizing or Scientific Committee Member of International Symposia concerning natural products. She is currently serving as a Subject Editor of the journal Phytochemistry Letters (Elsevier) and Advisory Board Member of Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA). Since 2019 she serves as an expert in the National Science Center of Poland. She is a member of Committee of Therapy and Drugs, Polish Academy of Science.