MUDr. Marta Kostrouchová, CSc.
Marta Kostrouchová is a senior researcher of the First Faculty of Medicine, CharlesUniversity in Prague and the Biotechnological center Biocev. She is a Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetics which specializes in the biology of Caenorhabditis elegans and other Rhabditidae. The laboratory focuses on nuclear receptors and their cofactors.
The nematodes evolved a complex regulatory network of nuclear receptors that include almost 300 nuclear receptor genes, six times more than mammals and 14 times more than insects. The genomes of the nematode species include nuclear receptors that are conserved between animal phyla and a large number of these nuclear receptors are diversified in their sequence and are found only in nematodes. The nematode nuclear receptors represent the result of a large number of natural experiments made during the evolution of this phylum. Our laboratory studies conserved nuclear receptors with the aim to uncover regulatory levels that may be shared between nematodes and mammals, but also looks at the diversified nematode nuclear receptors with the aim to uncover the regulatory potential of specifically modified nuclear receptors.The laboratory also studies several other protein families and genes potentially involved in human diseases.
Group Profile (Home Institution): Institute of Inherited Metabolic Disorders (Charler University Prague)