Scientific achievements
Dr. Paulina Gątarek of the Faculty of Chemistry at the Lodz University of Technology is an outstanding young specialist in the field of modern analytical chemistry methods, particularly chromatographic techniques and mass spectrometry, as well as in metabolomics and clinical bioanalytics. She is the author of 23 scientific papers published in renowned JCR-listed journals and scientific monographs.
Research profile and research directions
Her research focuses on the development and application of metabolomic and chromatographic methods for identifying biomarkers of neurological diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders. In her research, she has demonstrated the significance of changes in the metabolic profile, gut microbiota metabolites, TMAO, organic acids, and modified nucleosides in Parkinson’s disease and autism. Her findings have deepened our understanding of the gut-brain axis and support the development of biomarker-based diagnostics. Her research also includes studies on epilepsy, the ketogenic diet, and the integration of metabolomics and proteomics, advancing clinical bioanalytics and personalized medicine. She is currently developing non-targeted and targeted metabolomic analyses of body fluids using GC–MS, GC–TOFMS, LC–MS, and HPLC techniques. Of particular note are studies on the search for new biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease, conducted, among others, as part of the NCN MINIATURA 8 project, as well as research on drug-resistant epilepsy in children, focused on using metabolomic profiles to monitor and personalize interventions supporting pharmacotherapy. At the same time, she is involved in the development of nutrimetabolomics and research on functional foods, combining expertise in analytical chemistry, biomedical sciences, and nutrition. Collaboration with international researchers has resulted in publications on topics such as oxidative stress in autism, bacterial metabolites, modified nucleosides, and uremic toxins detected in biological samples from children with ASD. Another key aspect of the internationalization of her work is her membership in the CONEM Poland Chemistry and Nutrition Research Group, which fosters the exchange of knowledge and the development of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of analytical chemistry, metabolomics, nutrition, and biomedical sciences.
Honours and recognition from the scientific community
She is a member of the Food, Raw Materials, and Food Products Analysis Team of the Committee on Analytical Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences and participates in the international research group Poland Chemistry and Nutrition Research Group, which operates under the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM). She is actively involved in organizing international scientific conferences.