Born: 04.04.1992, Cieszyn

Hobby: herpetology, classical music

e-mail: katarzyna.groborz@pwr.wroc.pl 

Phone: (+48) 71 320 2455

Education

PhD, 2021 Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland, "Mass Cytometry-Compatible Chemical Probes for the Investigation of Proteolytic Enzymes", supervisors: Marcin Drag and Marcin Poreba

Master of Science, 2016, Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland, “Substrate specificity profiling of Cathepsin G S3’pocket using natural and unnatural amino acids.”, supervisor: prof. Marcin Drag

Research projects

2018-2021 Grant PRELUDIUM from National Science Center in Poland „Opracowanie klasycznych oraz wykazujących cechy emisji indukowanej agregacją markerów chemicznych dla ludzkich kaspaz” Principal Investigator

2015-2017 Diamond Grant for the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland "Optymalizacja struktury substratu typu FRET dla katepsyny G” Principal Investigator

Publications

1. Groborz, K. M., Truong M., Stowe I., Lee B., Jones R., Levy E., Lee W.P., Zhang J., Nguyen J., Kalinka M., Drag M., Kayagaki N., Newton K., Poreba M., Dixit V. (2025). Delivery of caspase inhibitors through GSDMD pores to inhibit pyroptosis., bioRxiv,doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.11.637513
2. Horbach N., Kalinka M., Cwilichowska-Puslecka N., Mamun A.A., Mikolajczyk-Martinez A., Turk B., Snipas S., Kasperkiewicz P., Groborz K., Poreba M., Visualization and functional analysis of calpain-1 activation during cell death and its significance in GSDMD cleavage using targeted chemical probes. Cell Chemical Biology, 2025, accepted
3. Groborz, K. M., Kalinka, M., Grzymska, J., Kołt, S., Snipas, S. J., Poreba, M. (2023). Selective chemical reagents to investigate the role of caspase 6 in apoptosis in acute leukemia T cells. Chemical Science, 14(9), 2289-2302.
4. Poreba, M.*, Groborz, K. M.*, Rut, W., Pore, M., Snipas, S. J., Vizovisek, M., Turk, B., Kuhn, P., Drag, M., & Salvesen, G. S. (2020). Multiplexed probing of proteolytic enzymes using mass cytometry-compatible activity-based probes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142(39), 16704-16715. *co-first author
5. Groborz, K., Gonzalez Ramirez, M. L., Snipas, S. J., Salvesen, G. S., Drag, M., & Poreba, M. (2020). Exploring the prime site in caspases as a novel chemical strategy for understanding the mechanisms of cell death. Cell Death & Differentiation, 27(2), 451-465.
6. Groborz, K., Kołt, S., Kasperkiewicz, P., & Drag, M. (2019). Internally quenched fluorogenic substrates with unnatural amino acids for cathepsin G investigation. Biochimie, 166, 103-111.
7. de Vries*, L. E., Sanchez*, M. I., Groborz, K.*, Kuppens, L., Poreba, M., Lehmann, C., et al. (2019). Characterization of P. falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 specificity identifies differences in amino acid preferences between peptide-based substrates and covalent inhibitors. The FEBS Journal, 286(20), 3998-4023. *co-first authors
8. Rut, W., Groborz, K., Sun, X., Hilgenfeld, R., & Drag, M. (2024). Profiling of coronaviral Mpro and enteroviral 3Cpro specificity provides a framework for the development of broad-spectrum antiviral compounds. Protein Science, 33(9), e5139.
9. Balcerzak L., Surowiak A.K., Groborz K., Strozak S., Piekarska K., Strub D.J. (2023). Comparative evaluation of mutagenic, genotoxic, cytotoxic, and antimicrobial effects of flavour and fragrance aldehydes, ketones, oximes, and oxime ethers. Toxicology, 490, 153510.
10. Surowiak, A.K., Sowała, M., Talma, M., Groborz K., Balcerzak L., Lochynski S., Strub D.J. (2022). Cytotoxicity, early safety screening, and antimicrobial potential of minor oxime constituents of essential oils and aromatic extracts. Scientific Reports, 12, 5319.
11. Rut, W., Groborz, K., Zhang, L., Sun, X., Zmudzinski, M., Pawlik, B., Wang, X., Jochmans, D., Neyts, J., Młynarski, W., et al. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors and activity-based probes for patient-sample imaging. Nature Chemical Biology, 17(2), 222-228.
12. Stach, N.; Karim, A.; Golik, P.; Kitel, R.; Pustelny, K.; Gruba, N.; Groborz, K.; Jankowska, U.; Kedracka-Krok, S.; Wladyka, B.; et al. (2021). Structural Determinants of Substrate Specificity of SplF Protease from Staphylococcus aureus. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(4):2220.
13. Tholen, M., Yim, J. J., Groborz, K., Yoo, E., Martin, B. A., van den Berg, N. S., Drag, M., Bogyo, M. (2020). Design of Optical-Imaging Probes by Screening of Diverse Substrate Libraries Directly in Disease-Tissue Extracts. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 59(43), 19143-19152.
14. Rut W, Groborz K, Zhang L, Modrzycka S, Poreba M, Hilgenfeld R, Drag M, Profiling of flaviviral NS2B-NS3 protease specificity provides a structural basis for the development of selective chemical tools that differentiate dengue from Zika and West Nile viruses Antiviral Research 2020, 1. View at Publisher
15. Poreba M, Groborz K, Navarro M, Snipas SJ, Drag M, Salvesen GS, Caspase selective reagents for diagnosing apoptotic mechanisms Cell Death and Differentiation 2019, 26, 229. View at Publisher
16. Cogo F, Poreba M, Rut W, Groborz K, Smyth P, Johnston MC, Williams R, Longley DB, Burden RE, Salvesen GS, Drag M, Scott Ch., Development of an advanced nanoformulation for the intracellular delivery of a caspase-3 selective activity-based probe Nanoscale 2019, 11, 742. View at Publisher
17. Poreba M, Rut W, Groborz K, Snipas SJ, Salvesen GS, Drag M, Potent and selective caspase-2 inhibitor prevents MDM-2 cleavage in reversine-treated colon cancer cells Cell Death and Differentiation 2019, 26, 2695. View at Publisher
18. 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
19. de Vries LE, Sanchez MI, Groborz K, Kuppens L, Poreba M, Lehmann C, Nevins N, Withers-Martinez C, Hirst DJ, Yuan F, Arastu-Kapur S, Horn M, Mares M, Bogyo M, Drag M, Deu E, Characterization of P. falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 specificity identifies differences in amino acid preferences between peptide-based substrates and covalent inhibitors FEBS Journal 2019, 286, 3998. View at Publisher
20. Groborz K, Gonzalez-Ramirez ML, Snipas SJ, Salvesen GS, Drag M, Poreba M, Exploring the prime site in caspases as a novel chemical strategy for understanding the mechanisms of cell death: a proof of concept study on necroptosis in cancer cells Cell Death and Differentiation 2019, 1. View at Publisher
21. Poreba M, Groborz K, Vizovisek M, Maruggi M, Turk D, Turk B, Powis G, Drag M, Salvesen GS, Fluorescent probes towards selective cathepsin B detection and visualization in cancer cells and patient samples Chemical Science 2019, 10, 8461. View at Publisher
22. Poreba M, Groborz K, Rut W, Pore M, Snipas SJ, Vizovisek M, Turk B, Drag M, Salvesen GS, The Activome: multiplexed probing of activity of proteolytic enzymes using mass cytometry-compatible activity-based probes (TOF-probes) bioRxiv 2019, 1. View at Publisher
23. 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
24. Gonzalez-Ramirez ML*, Poreba M*, Snipas SJ, Groborz K, Drag M, Salvesen GS (* equal contribution), Extensive peptide and natural protein substrate screens reveal that mouse caspase-11 has much narrower substrate specificity than caspase-1 Journal of Biological Chemistry 2018, 293, 7058. View at Publisher
25. 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
26. 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
27. 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

Research visits

20.02.2018-20.08.2018 Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (La Jolla, California, USA), Dr. Salvesen Lab

30.08.2019-present Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (La Jolla, California, USA), Dr. Salvesen Lab

Awards and honors

2018, October, Rectors Award at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology for scientific achievements

2016, 2017, October, Pro-quality scholarship (Wroclaw University of Science and Technology)

2016, 2017, October, Scholarship for the best PhD students at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

2015 December Scholarship of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for scientific achievements

Conference Communications

1. K. Groborz, P. Kasperkiewicz, M. Drąg, Unnatural Amino Acids In Design of Proteases Probes, Chemical Probes: Exploring Avenues for Protein Investigation, Łodz, Poland, 25-26.04.2016 (oral presentation)
2. K. Groborz, P. Kasperkiewicz, M. Drąg; Fret substrates for cathepsin G investigation; XXXIV Winter School on Proteinases and Their Inhibitors, Tiers am Rosegarden, Italy, 08-12.02.2017 r. (oral presentation)
3. K. Groborz, M. Poręba, S. Snipas, G. Salvesen, M. Drąg, A set of reversible inhibitors to investigate apoptotic and inflammatory caspases, 24th Polish Peptide Symposium, Jastrzębia Góra, Poland, 03-07.09.2017 r. (oral presentation)
4. K. Groborz, Gonzalez-Ramirez ML, S. Snipas, G. Salvesen, M. Drąg, M. Poręba, A set of reversible inhibitors to investigate apoptotic and inflammatory caspases, Pacific Coast Protease Spring School, Miracle Springs Resort&Spa Desert Hot Springs, California, 29.04-02.05.2018 r. (oral presentation)