Paulina Kasperkiewicz Ph.D.

Born: Legnica, Poland, December 09, 1986

Hobby: swimming, skiing

e-mail: paulina.kasperkiewicz@pwr.wroc.pl

Phone: (+48) 71 320 2455

Education

Ph.D., 2014 Wroclaw University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Division of Bioorganic Chemistry, Poland, supervisor: Prof. Marcin Drąg, PhD

M.Sc., 2010 Wroclaw University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Microbiology, Poland, “Synthesis of Human Neutrophil Elastase inhibitors with general structure R-NH-AlaP(OAr)2” supervisor: Ph.D. Marcin Sieńczyk

Research stays

2016-2017, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (La Jolla, California, USA), Dr. Salvesen Lab

2015, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (La Jolla, California, USA), Dr. Salvesen Lab

2014, University of Cambridge (Cambridge, United Kingdom), Short scientific training, Professor James Huntington Lab,

Awards and honours

2017 October, Scholarship by Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland for outstanding Young Investigators

2017 October, Travel Award The 10th General Meeting of the International Proteolysis Society, Banff, Canada

2015, May, START scholarship funded by the Foundation for Polish Science,

2015, February, Skills - STAŻE, Founded by FNP, Fellowship to prof. Guy Salvesen lab

2014, November , Award of President of Wroclaw University of Technology for PhD thesis,

2014, November, Award of Dean of Faculty of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Technology for outstanding scientific achievements,

2013, October, Pro-quality scholarship, 3rd edition,

2013, October, Scholarship from the programme „Internal grant” from University of Technology Wrocław,

2012, October, Pro-quality scholarship, 2nd edition,

2013, October, Scholarship from the programme GRANT plus. Human Capital Operational Programme European Union,

2013, April, Scholarship from the programme: „Rozwój potencjału dydaktyczno-naukowego Młodej Kadry Akademickiej Politechniki Wrocławskiej” (8th edition),

2012, October, Scholarship from the programme „Internal grant” from University od Technology Wrocław,

2011, October, Pro-quality scholarship, 1st edition,

2011, October Beneficiary of Enterprising graduate student – an investment in innovative development of the region. Human Capital Operational Programme European Union („Przedsiębiorczy doktorant”),

2011, 2012, October, Scholarship (twice) for the best PhD students at Wroclaw University of Technology,

2010, October, Individual scholarship from Foundation from Polish Science, Focus programme, laureate PhD Marcin Drąg,

Acknowledgments

PK lab is supported by HOMING Programme, a Grant Project of the Foundation for Polish Science, funded by the European Union under agreement No. 2016-3/24.

Publications (from ISI Master Journal List)

Aaltonen N, Singha PK, Jakupović H, Wirth T, Samaranayake H, Pasonen-Seppänen S, Rilla K, Varjosalo M, Edgington-Mitchell LE, Kasperkiewicz P, Drag M, Kälvälä S, Moisio E, Savinainen JR, Laitinen JT, High-Resolution Confocal Fluorescence Imaging of Serine Hydrolase Activity in Cryosections - Application to Glioma Brain Unveils Activity Hotspots Originating from Tumor-Associated Neutrophils. Biological Procedures Online 2020, 22, 1. View at Publisher
Kołt S, Janiszewski T, Kaiserman D, Modrzycka S, Snipas SJ, Salvesen G, Dra G M, Bird PI, Kasperkiewicz P, Detection of Active Granzyme A in NK92 Cells with Fluorescent Activity-Based Probe. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2020, 1. View at Publisher
Groborz K, Kolt S, Kasperkiewicz P, Drag M, Internally Quenched Fluorogenic substrates with unnatural amino acids for cathepsin G investigation Biochimie 2019, 166, 103. View at Publisher
Babin BM, Kasperkiewicz P, Janiszewski T, Yoo E, Drag M, Bogyo M, Leveraging peptide substrate libraries to design inhibitors of bacterial Lon protease ACS Chemical Biology 2019, 1. View at Publisher
Anderson BM, Poole DP, Aurelio L, Ng GZ, Fleischmann M, Kasperkiewicz P, Morissette C, Drag M, van Driel IR, Schmidt BL, Vanner SJ, Bunnett NW, Edgington-Mitchell LE, Application of a chemical probe to detect neutrophil elastase activation during inflammatory bowel disease Scientific Reports 2019, 9, 13295. View at Publisher
Aaltonen N, Singha P, Jakupovic H, Wirth T, Samaranayake H, Pasonen-Seppanen S, Rilla K, Varjosalo M, Edgington-Mitchell L, Kasperkiewicz P, Drag M, Kalvala S, Moisio E, Savinainen JR, Laitinen JT, Tissue-ABPP enables high-resolution confocal fluorescence imaging of serine hydrolase activity in cryosections – Application to glioma brain unveils activity hotspots originating from tumor-associated neutrophils bioRxiv 2019, 1. View at Publisher
Poreba M, Rut W, Vizovisek M, Groborz K, Kasperkiewicz P, Finlay D, Vuori K, Turk D, Turk B, Salvesen GS, Drag M, Selective imaging of cathepsin L in breast cancer by fluorescent activity-based probes Chemical Science 2018, 9, 2113. View at Publisher
Poreba M, Kasperkiewicz P, Rut W, Drag M, Screening Combinatorial Peptide Libraries in Protease Inhibitor Drug Discovery Extracellular Targeting of Cell Signaling in Cancer: Strategies Directed at MET and RON Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Pathways, 1 2018, 1. View at Publisher
Rut W, Poreba M, Kasperkiewicz P, Snipas SJ, Drag M, Selective substrates and activity-based probes for imaging of the human constitutive 20S proteasome in cells and blood samples Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2018, 61, 5222. View at Publisher
Barry R, John SW, Liccardi G, Tenev T, Jaco J, Chen Ch, Choi J, Kasperkiewicz P, Fernandes-Alnemri T, Alnemri E, Drag M, Chen Y, Meier P, SUMO-mediated regulation of NLRP3 modulates inflammasome activity Nature Communications 2018, 9, 3001. View at Publisher
Kasperkiewicz P, Kołt S, Janiszewski T, Groborz K, Poręba M, Snipas SJ, Salvesen GS, Drąg M, Determination of extended substrate specificity of the MALT1 as a strategy for the design of potent substrates and activity-based probes Scientific Reports 2018, 8, 15998. View at Publisher
Rut W, Zhang L, Kasperkiewicz P, Poreba M, Hilgenfeld R, Drag M, Extended substrate specificity and first potent irreversible inhibitor/activity-based probe design for Zika virus NS2B-NS3 protease Antiviral Research 2017, 139, 88. View at Publisher
Kasperkiewicz P, Poreba M, Groborz K, Drag M, Emerging challenges in the design of selective protease substrates, inhibitors and activity-based probes for indistinguishable proteases FEBS Journal 2017, 284, 1518. View at Publisher
Poreba M, Szalek A, Rut W, Kasperkiewicz P, Rutkowska-Wlodarczyk I, Snipas SJ, Itoh Y, Turk D, Turk B, Overall CM, Kaczmarek L, Salvesen GS, Drag M, Highly sensitive and adaptable fluorescence-quenched pair discloses the substrate specificity profiles in diverse protease families Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 43135. View at Publisher
Kasperkiewicz P, Altman Y, D'Angelo M, Salvesen GS, Drag M, A toolbox of fluorescent probes for parallel imaging reveals uneven location of serine proteases in neutrophils Journal of the American Chemical Society 2017, 139, 10115. View at Publisher
Poreba M, Solberg R, Rut W, Lunde NN, Kasperkiewicz P, Snipas SJ, Mihelic M, Turk D, Turk B, Salvesen GS, Drag M., Counter Selection Substrate Library Strategy for Developing Specific Protease Substrates and Probes Cell Chemical Biology 2016, 23, 1023. View at Publisher
Lechtenberg, B. C.; Kasperkiewicz, P.; Robinson, H.; Drag, M.; Riedl, S. J., The Elastase-PK101 structure: Mechanism of an ultrasensitive activity-based probe revealed ACS Chem. Biol. 2015, 10, 945. View at Publisher
Rut, W.; Kasperkiewicz, P.; Byzia, A.; Poreba, M.; Groborz, K.; Drag, M., Recent advances and concepts in substrate specificity determination of proteases using tailored libraries of fluorogenic substrates with unnatural amino acids Biol. Chem. 2015, 396, 329. View at Publisher
Bekes, M.; Rut, W.; Kasperkiewicz, P. Mulder, M. P.; Ovaa, H.; Drag, M.; Lima, C. D.; Huang, T. T., SARS hCoV papain-like protease is a unique Lys48 linkage-specific di-distributive deubiquitinating enzyme. Biochem. J. 2015, 468, 215. View at Publisher
Kasperkiewicz P, Poreba M, Snipas SJ, Lin SJ, Kirchhofer D, Salvesen GS, Drag M., Design of a Selective Substrate and Activity Based Probe for Human Neutrophil Serine Protease 4. PLoS One 2015, 10, 1. View at Publisher
Galiullina RA, Kasperkiewicz P, Chichkova NV, Szalek A, Serebryakova MV, Poreba M, Drag M, Vartapetian AB, Substrate Specificity and Possible Heterologous Targets of Phytaspase, a Plant Cell Death Protease. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2015, 290, 24806. View at Publisher
Poreba M, Szalek A, Kasperkiewicz P, Rut W, Salvesen GS, Drag M, Small Molecule Active Site Directed Tools for Studying Human Caspases Chemical Reviews 2015, 115, 12546. View at Publisher
Kasperkiewicz, P.; Poreba, M.; Snipas, S. J.; Parker, H.; Winterbourn, C. C.; Salvesen, G. S.; Drag, M., Design of ultrasensitive probes for human neutrophil elastase through hybrid combinatorial substrate library profiling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2014, 111, 2518. View at Publisher
Poręba, M.; Szalek, A.; Kasperkiewicz, P.; Drąg, M., Positional Scanning Substrate Combinatorial Library (PS-SCL) Approach to Define Caspase Substrate Specificity. Methods Mol. Biol. 2014, 1133, 41. View at Publisher
Poreba, M.; Kasperkiewicz, P.; Snipas, S. J.; Fasci, D.; Salvesen, G. S.; Drąg, M., Unnatural amino acids increase sensitivity and provide for the design of highly selective caspase substrates Cell Death & Differentiation 2014, 21, 1482. View at Publisher
Hachman, J.; Snipas, S. J.; Van Raam, B. J.; Cancino, E. M.; Houlihan, E. J.; Poręba, M.; Kasperkiewicz, P.; Drąg, M.; Salvesen, G. S., Mechanism and specificity of the human paracaspase MALT1. Biochem. J. 2012, 443, 287. View at Publisher
Kasperkiewicz, P.; Gajda, A. D.; Drąg, M., Current and prospective applications of non-proteinogenic amino acids in profiling of proteases substrate specificity. Biol. Chem 2012, 393, 843. View at Publisher
Sieńczyk M, Winiarski Ł, Kasperkiewicz P, Psurski M, Wietrzyk J, Oleksyszyn J., Simple phosphonic inhibitors of human neutrophil elastase Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2011, 21, 1310. View at Publisher

Publications (in polish)

Kasperkiewicz, P., Ludzkie neutrofilowe proteinazy - podobieństwa i różnice Nowe trendy w naukach przyrodniczych – monografie 2012 tom V, 176-182.
Bieniek K., Kasperkiewicz P., Drąg M., Zastosowanie nienaturalnych aminokwasów do badania specyficzności substratowej proteaz serynowych','Prace Naukowe Wydziału Chemicznego Politechniki Wrocławskiej. Prace Badawcze Studentów 2012; Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Wrocławskiej; 2012, z.10, pp 19-24
Poreba, M.; Kasperkiewicz, P., Narzędzia chemii biologicznej w badaniu proteaz. Nowe trendy w naukach przyrodniczych – monografie. 2011 tom II, 112.
Kasperkiewicz, P.; Poreba, M., Ludzka neutrofilowa elastaza (HNE) – przegląd. Nowe trendy w naukach przyrodniczych – monografie. 2011, tom II, 187.
Paulina Kasperkiewicz, Marcin Sieńczyk, Synteza inhibitorów Ludzkiej Neutrofilowej Elastazy o strukturze ogólnej R-NH-AlaP(OAr)2; Prace Naukowe Wydziału Chemicznego Politechniki Wrocławskiej. Prace Badawcze Studentów 2010; Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Wrocławskiej; 2010, z.8, pp 60-65

Conference communications (to be completed)

1) Co-author of an oral: Sieńczyk M, Podgórski D., Błażejewska A., Kasperkiewicz P., Winiarski Ł., Oleksyszyn J., “Combinatorial synthesis of phosphonic peptide-mimetics as human neutrophil elastase inhibitors”; The 18th International Conference on Phosphorus Chemistry (ICPC2010), Wrocław University of Technology, Poland. 11-15, July, 2010

2) Co-author of an oral: Poreba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Gajda A., Drąg M.; “Combinatorial substrate library as a tool for investigation of important human proteases. Studies on substrate specificity of cathepsin C”; 21st Polish Peptide Symposium, Suprasl, Poland, 4-8.09.2011

3) Co-author of an oral: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba, M., Gajda A., Drag M; “Positional-scanning fluorogenic substrate library for human neutrophil elastase”; 21st Polish Peptide Symposium, Suprasl, Poland, 4-8.09.2011

4) Co-author of an oral: Gajda A., Poreba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Drag, M.; “Substrate specificity of medicinally important human aminopeptidase”; 21st Polish Peptide Symposium, Suprasl, Poland, 4-8.09.2011

5) Co-author of an oral: Poręba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Drąg M., “Initiator caspases can be distinguished by small molecule substrates containing unnatural amino acids”, 30th Winter School on Proteinases and Inhibitors, Tiers, Italy, 27.02-03-03.2013

6) Co-author of an oral: Kasperkiewicz P., Poręba M., Drąg M.; “Substrate specificity of HNE and ABP design”, 30th Winter School on Proteinases and Inhibitors, Tiers, Italy, 27.02-03-03.2013

7) Co-author of an oral: Poręba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Drąg M.; "Fluorogenic substrate libraries with unnatural amino acids as tools for investigation of important human cysteine proteases"; Proteolytic Enzymes & Their Inhibitors; Gordon-Merck Research Seminar, Lucca (Barga), Italy, 16-17.06. 2012

8) Co-author of poster: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Drąg M.; "Positional-scanning combinatorial fluorogenic substrate HYBRIDE library with unnatural amino acids for investigation of serine proteases – proof of concept with human neutrophil elastase"; Proteolytic Enzymes & Their Inhibitors; Gordon-Merck Research Seminar, Lucca (Barga), Italy, 16-17.06.2012

9) Co-author of poster: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Drąg M.; "Positional-scanning combinatorial fluorogenic substrate HYBRIDE library with unnatural amino acids for investigation of serine proteases – proof of concept with human neutrophil elastase"; Proteolytic Enzymes & Their Inhibitors; Gordon Research Conference, Lucca (Barga), Italy, 17-22.06.2012

10) Co-author of poster: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Drąg M.; " Fluorogenic substrate libraries with unnatural amino acids as tools for investigation of important human cysteine proteases" ; Proteolytic Enzymes & Their Inhibitors; Gordon Research Conference, Lucca (Barga), Italy, 17-22.06, 2012

11) Co-author of poster: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Drąg M.; “HYBRID Positional-scanning combinatorial fluorogenic substrate library with unnatural amino acids for investigation of SERINE PROTEASES. Proof of concept with human neutrophil elastase”, XIIIth Symposium on Proteases Inhibitors and Biological Control, 09.2012

12) Co-author of poster: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Drąg M., “Hybrid combinatorial library of flurogenic substrates as a new tool for profiling active site specificity of human caspases”, XIIIth Symposium on Proteases Inhibitors and Biological Control, 09.2012

13) Co-author of poster: Poreba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Gajda A., Drag M.; “Protease based drug discovery. Studies on substrate specificity of cathepsin C”. Young Scientists Forum, Warsaw, Poland, 30.06-1.07.2011

14) Co-author of poster: Gajda A., Poreba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Drag M.; “Substrate specificity of medicinally important human aminopeptidase”; Young Scientists Forum, Warsaw, Poland, 30.06-1.07.2011

15) Co-author of poster: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Gajda A., Drag M.; Positional-scanning fluorogenic substrate library for human neutrophil elastaseę; Young Scientists Forum, Warsaw, Poland, 30.06-1.07.2011

16) Co-author of poster: Drag M., Gajda A., Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Pawelczak M., Marschner A., Zervoudi E., Papakyriakou A., Georgiadou D., Evnouchidou I., Hattori A., Swevers L., Vourloumis D., Stratikos E., Klein Ch., Bogyo M., Ellman J.A., Salvesen G.S.; “Application of natural / unnatural amino acids fluorogenic substrate libraries approach for profiling of aminopeptidases”; Proteinase - From Molecule To Medicine; Bazylea; Switzerland; 04.2011

17) Co-author of poster: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Snipas S., Salvesen G., Drag M., Human Neutrophile Serine proteases - so similar yet so different, IPS, Cape Town, 20-14. 10. 2013.

18) Co-author of poster: Stróżyk A. Poręba M., Rut W., Kasperkiewicz P., Snipas S., Salvesen G., Overall C., Mihelic M., Turk D.,Drag M., New and sensitive donor/acceptor pair for internally quenched Fluorescent Peptide Substrates of Proteases, IPS, Cape Town, 20-14. 10. 2013.

19) Co-author of poster: Poręba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Rut W., Snipas S., Mihelic M., Turk D., Salvesen G., Drag M., The use of unnatural amino acids in peptide fluorogenic substrates reveals unexpected active site preferences of human caspases and legumain, IPS, Cape Town, 20-14. 10. 2013.

20) Co-author of presentation: Drag M., Poreba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Rut W., Snipas S., Parker H., Winterbourn C., Salvesen G., Hybrid combinatorial substrate libraries for profiling endoprotease substrate specificity, IPS, Cape Town, 20-14. 10. 2013.

21) Co-author of presentation: Hachmann J., Snipas S., VanRaam B., Cancino E., Houlihan E., Poreba M., Kasperkiewicz P., Drag M., Salvesen G., Activity and specificicty of the human paracaspase, MALT1, IPS, Cape Town, 20-14. 10. 2013.

22) Co-author of poster: Snipas S., Kasperkiewicz P., Parker H., Velazquez C., Suares L., Winterbourn C.,Drag M., Salvesen G., Probing Neutrophil NETosis, IPS, Cape Town, 20-14. 10. 2013.

23) Co-author of an oral: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Snipas S., Parker H., Winterbourn C., Salvesen G, Drag M.,.; “Investigation of specific activity based probes for Human Neutrophil Serine Proteases, Tiers, Italy, 26.02-02-03.2014

24) Author of a presentation: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Snipas S., Parker H., Winterbourn C., Salvesen G, Drag M.,Hybrid Combinatorial Substrate Library as a tool in design of substrates and ABPs for Neutrophil Serine Proteinases, Pacific Coast Protease Spring School Miracle Springs Resort & Spa Desert Hot Springs, California, April 29 – May 2, 2014

25) Author of a presentation: Kasperkiewicz P., Poreba M., Snipas S., Salvesen G, Drag M.,Design of a highly selective substrate and activity based probe for human neutrophil serine protease 4 , Pacific Coast Protease Spring School Miracle Springs Resort & Spa Desert Hot Springs, California, May 3-6, 2015

Department of Chemical Biology and Bioimaging