Date of birth: June 2nd, 1973, Wroclaw, Poland. Married, two children.   

Education:

2011 Ph.D Medical University of Bialystok, advisor prof. R. Bucki
2000 M.D. Medical University of Warsaw

Scientific focus areas:  I am interested in a fresh approach to uncover steps in wild-type protein folding – process that is actually the most relevant one for patients, as majority of them do not have mutations in disease-causing proteins. I am developing a group working with these fundamental aspects of protein folding and form a technological platform that is specialized but disease-generic and thus widely applicable to similar types of research.

Employment:                   

2019-present   Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, U. of Copenhagen, Denmark

2015-2018      Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, U. of Copenhagen, Denmark

2010-2014       Research Associate II, Cell and Molecular Biology, Abramson  Pediatric Research Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA

2006-2009    Research Associate, Cancer Biology, U. of Pennsylvania, USA

2001-2006    Visiting Scholar, Cancer Biology, U. of Pennsylvania, USA

Grants and Awards (Principal Investigator):

total founding 2011-2019 >11mln DKK

2020                EFSD/Lilly Programme to study proinsulin folding 670.000 DKK

2019                Magda Sofie og Aase Lütz Mindelegat to study proinsulin folding hotspot 150.000DKK

2019                Final round Excellence Emerging Investigator NovoNordisk Fonden 10.000.000 DKK (not funded)

2018                Augustinus Fonden to study proinsulin folding complex 100.000 DKK

2018                Private Foundations for purchase of lab equipment (OMIX application) 3.400.000 DKK

2018                DFF FTP Project 1 (Prof. Gourdon PI) to study GRP94/proinsulin complex

2017                Final round ERC Starting grant 10.000.000DKK (not funded)

2017                Vissing Fonden to study proinsulin folding 195.000DKK

2017                Bjarne Jensen Fonden to study the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes 100.000DKK

2017                Poul og Erna Sehested Hansens Fond: pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes 75.000DKK

2017-2018       EFSD/Lilly Programme to study the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes 600.000 DKK

2017                Eva og Hans Carl Holms Mindelegat to study proinsulin folding 30.000DKK

2016-2017       Kirsten og Freddy Johansens Fond: GRP94 role in type 1 diabetes 200.000 DKK

2016                A.P. Møller Fond to study proinsulin folding 40.000DKK

2016                Dagmar Marshall Fond to study hyperinsulinism 50.000DKK

2015-2016       Augustinus Fonden to study GRP94 role in type 1 diabetes 100.000DKK

2015-2017       DFF Marie Curie Mobilex, 2 year award to study proinsulin folding 2.600.000DKK

2011-2016      National Institute on Aging, NIH award: GRP94 regulation and variants  4.000.000DKK

2011-2013      CTRC Junior Investigator Pilot Grant Program University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2 year award: IGF-1 production 90.000DKK

Management and Leadership:

Group members: I have been a PI on two linked but separate projects in my laboratory for last 5 years with total funding at 11 mln DKK. Currently they are spearheaded by a PhD and 3 master students.

Courses:

PhD supervision: Advice, tools, and practices 2021 UCPH

PhD supervision: Rules and regulations 2020 UCPH

Universitetspædagogikum (Higher Education) course 2017 at UCPH

Postdoctoral Research Leadership Course, May 2015 at Copenhagen Business School

Laboratory Animal Science Course, March 2015 at UCPH

Professional Services: Member of Editorial board of journal Biology and a grant reviewer for Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and US-Israel Binational Science Foundation. Reviewer for the journals of Diabetes, Diabetologia, PlosOne, Blood, Cell Discovery, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, Laboratory Investigation, Leukemia, Oncogene.

Teaching:

Course leadership: Kursus i medicinsk fysiologi og patofysiologi. Odontology.

Teaching: Pathophysiology of Males and Females. Lectures for non-clinicians

Sygdomslære for ikke-klinikere, Sundhed og Informatik, Kvantitativ biologi og sygdomsmodellering courses.

Professional Services: Reviewer for Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, journals of Cell Discovery, Diabetes, Blood, Laboratory Investigation, Leukemia and Oncogene. 

Memberships in Professional and Scientific Societies: Danish Society for Immunology, European Association for the Study Diabetes, Danish Diabetes Academy, Penn/CHOP Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy, International Society for IGF Research, American Society of Cell Biology.

International and national relations: Prof. Peter Arvan U. of Michigan, USA, Prof. Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen, UCPH, Denmark, Prof. Anders Tengholm, Uppsala University, Sweden, Prof. Micheal Davies, UCPH, Denmark, Prof. Pontus Gourdon, Per Amstrup Pedersen and Kamil Godfryd, UCPH, Denmark, Prof. Flemming Pociot Herlev-Gentofte Hospital, Denmark, Prof. Ewa Gurgul-Convey Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.

Supervision of students: The main supervisor for PhD, six Master students (UCPH), three ERASMUS Master students and four BA students (U. of Groningen, UCPH, U. of California and U. of Michigan, USA)

Bibliometrics:Research Publications, peer reviewed: 36, 5 as a senior author, 12 as the first author

H-index: 22 (Google scholar)

i10-index: 26 (Google scholar)

Average Citations per Article: 54 (Researcher ID)

Citations: 2570 (Google scholar), 1710 (Web of Science)

Six latest publications:

Muhammad Saad Khilji, Sophie Emilie Bresson, Danielle Verstappen, Celina Pihl, Phillip Alexander Keller Andersen, Jette Bach Agergaard, Tina Dahlby, Tenna Holgersen Bryde, Kristian Klindt, Christian Kronborg Nielsen, Anna Walentinsson, Dusan Zivkovic, Marie-Pierre Bousquet, Björn Tyrberg, Sarah J Richardson, Noel G Morgan, Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen, Michal Tomasz Marzec. The inducible β5i proteasome subunit contributes to proinsulin degradation in GRP94 deficient β-cells and is overexpressed in type 2 diabetes pancreatic islets. American Journal of Physiology -Endocrinology and Metabolism. 25^th March 2020. Accepted.

Muhammad Saad Khilji, Danielle Verstappen, Tina Dahlby, Michala Cecilie Burstein Prause, Celina Pihl, Sophie Emilie Bresson, Tenna Holgersen Bryde, Phillip Alexander Keller Andersen, Kristian Klindt, Dusan Zivkovic, Marie-Pierre Bousquet-Dubouch, Björn Tyrberg, Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen, Michal Marzec. The intermediate proteasome is constitutively expressed in pancreatic beta cells and upregulated by stimulatory, low concentrations of interleukin 1 β. PloS One, 2020/2/13

E. Pinheiro-Machado, TO Milkewitz Sandberg, C Pihl, PM Hägglund, Michal Marzec. In silico approach to predict pancreatic β-cells classically secreted proteins. Bioscience Reports 40 (2), 2020/2/28.

E. Pinheiro-Machado, E. Gurgul-Convey, M. Marzec Immunometabolism in T2DM: tissue-specific interactions. Archives of Medical Science, September 30^th 2019

Ghiasi SM, Dahlby T, Hede Andersen C, Haataja L, Petersen 1, Omar-Hmeadi M, Yang 3, Pihl C, Bresson SE, Khilji MS, Klindt K, Cheta O, Perone MJ, Tyrberg, Prats C, Barg S, Tengholm A, Arvan P, Mandrup-Poulsen T, Marzec M. Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone Glucose-Regulated Protein 94 Is Essential for Proinsulin Handling. Diabetes. 2019 Apr; 68(4):747-760.

M. Marzec, CP. Hawkes, D. Eletto, S. Boyle, R. Rosenfeld and V. Hwa, J-M. Wit, H A. van Duyvenvoorde, W. Oostdijk, M. Losekoot, LuCamp, BB. Yeap, L. Flicker, G. Atzmon, N. Barzilai, A. Grimberg, Y. Argon. A human variant of GRP94 that supports IGF production inefficiently. Endocrinology 2016.

Michal Marzec graduated as MD from the Medical University of Warsaw in 2000 and took his PhD in 2011 from the University of Bialystok. He was a visiting scholar and later Research Associate at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA (2001-2010).

He subsequently moved to the Abramson Pediatric Research Centre, Children’s Hospital, Pennsylvania, where within his 5 year NIH K01 grant he investigated the role of endoplasmic reticulum chaperones and their human variants in the context of hormone production.

Dr. Marzec has published 36 scientific publications of which 34 are original papers in high impact peer-reviewed international journals including Diabetes, PlosOne, American Journal of Physiology, PNAS, Blood, Oncogene, Cancer Res, J Immunol and J Biol Chem, 4 as a senior author, 13 as 1st author. He has an H-index of 22; total citations: 2460; citations since 2016: 1150.

Dr. Marzec is a Member of Editorial board of journal Biology and a grant reviewer for Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and US-Israel Binational Science Foundation.

He is also a reviewer for the journals of Diabetes, Diabetologia, PlosOne, Blood, Cell Discovery, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, Laboratory Investigation, Leukemia, Oncogene.

Over the years, Michal's research interest has shifted from understanding oncogenic pathways to providing answers to why and how organisms differ in their susceptibility to diseases. Recent massive sequencing of thousands of individuals made it possible to study the impact of human variations on pathological processes underlying multiple diseases. He joined prof. Argon’s laboratory, to work on the involvement of GRP94 in the maturation and secretion of IGF molecules. Subsequently, he described the first human variant of GRP94 and its role in the pathogenesis of Primary IGF Deficiency.

Currently he is applying his expertise into diabetes pathology where he recently identified GRP94 chaperone as a molecule indispensable for proper proinsulin handling. In addition he is exploring the possible link between population genetic variability of protein chaperones and the susceptibility to diabetes.