professor in the scientific discipline of biotechnology
priority research area: MoleculeTech
Scientific achievements
Professor Edyta Gendaszewska-Darmach from the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences at Lodz University of Technology is a biotechnologist and molecular biologist specializing in research at the interface of cell biology, bioorganic chemistry, nutrigenomics, and tissue engineering. Her scientific output includes 62 publications indexed in the JCR database. The results of her research have been published in leading international journals, including Cell, Trends in Molecular Medicine, Scientific Reports, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and Biochimie.
Research profile and research directions
Her scientific interests focus on bioactive lipids, peptides, nucleotides, and protein inhibitors and degraders with therapeutic potential in metabolic and cancer-related diseases. Professor Gendaszewska-Darmach conducts research on ligands of G protein-coupled receptors, including GPR40, GPR55, GPR119, GPR120, and P2Y receptors, which regulate, among others, insulin and GLP-1 secretion, cell migration, angiogenesis, and inflammatory responses.
Another important area of her work involves inhibitors and degraders of enzymes prenylating small Rab GTPases, as well as biomaterials, especially bacterial nanocellulose, used in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. These studies have shown that subtle structural differences determine the selectivity of signal transduction and may be crucial for the design of targeted metabolic therapies and dietary prevention strategies for disorders of glucose and lipid homeostasis.
Honours and recognition from the scientific community
Professor Gendaszewska-Darmach has participated as a principal investigator or research team member in numerous projects funded, among others, by the National Science Centre (10 projects), the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (3 projects), and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB). Her scientific activity has a strong international dimension and includes collaboration with Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands as well as research partners in China, including Xi’an Jiaotong University.
She holds numerous scientific, expert, and organizational positions. She serves as Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences at Lodz University of Technology, is a member of the University Senate (terms 2020-2024 and 2024-2028), and serves on the Scientific Discipline Council for Food Technology and Nutrition. She is also actively involved in university bodies responsible for the development of research, education, and research infrastructure. Outside the university, she is an expert for the Accreditation Commission of Universities of Technology (KAUT) in the field of Biotechnology and a member of the Committee for Cooperation in Chemical, Biological and Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).