Ivana Vrhovac Madunić

Zagreb, 12 May 1984

• 2009 – BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (MOLECULAR BIOLOGY), FACULTY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB, CROATIA
• 2015 – PHD IN NATURAL SCIENCES, FIELD OF BIOLOGY (2011-2015), FACULTY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB, CROATIA

• 2010 (DECEMBER) – 2015 => PHD STUDENT/RESEARCH ASSISTANT, INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, ZAGREB, CROATIA
• 2015–2017 => POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW, INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, ZAGREB, CROATIA
• 2019 (SEPTEMBER)–2020 (SEPTEMBER) => UNIVERSITY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, DEPARTMENT OF RECONSTRUCTIVE SCIENCES, CENTRE FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE AND SKELETAL DEVELOPMENT, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT HEALTH CENTRE (UCONN), FARMINGTON, CONNECTICUT, USA
• 2017–2022 => RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, ZAGREB, CROATIA
• 2022–PRESENT => SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, ZAGREB, CROATIA
• 2022 (JANUARY)–2022 (FEBRUARY) => VISITING RESEARCHER, DEPARTMENT OF GENETIC TOXICOLOGY AND CANCER BIOLOGY, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGY (NIB), LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
• 2023 (APRIL)–2023 (DECEMBER) => VISITING RESEARCHER, INSTITUTE FOR PHARMACOLOGY, CENTRE OF DRUG ABSORPTION AND TRANSPORT (C_DAT), UNIVERSITY MEDICINE, GREIFSWALD, GERMANY

• Research in biomedicine – physiology and toxicology, with a focus on membrane transporters in health and disease. Specific interests include the in vitro and in vivo study of glucose transporters, organic anion and cation transporters, and related transport systems, as well as toxicological processes and cellular responses to endogenous and exogenous compounds.

• Methodological Courses in Biology and Medicine: DNA and RNA (Ruder Boskovic Institute, Croatia, 2010)
• Methodological Courses in Biology and Medicine: Cells and Proteins (Ruder Boskovic Institute, Croatia, 2010)
• Free Radicals in Chemical Biology Workshop (Ruder Boskovic Institute, Croatia, 2011)
• FEBS Biochemistry Education Workshop (Slovenia, 2011)
• Workshop: Fundamentals of Designing and Communicating Scientific Research, UMNA (Croatia, 2013)
• Innomol Bioimaging Workshop (Ruder Boskovic Institute, Croatia, 2014)
• Innomol Proteomics Workshop (Ruder Boskovic Institute, Croatia, 2014)
• Skeletal Muscle Research – from Cell to Human Workshop (Slovenia, 2019)
• ICGEB Course: Mouse Genetics; Models for Human Diseases (Italy, 2019)
• IACUC/CCM Animal User Training: Regulations, Safety and CCM Procedures (UConn Health, USA, 2019)
• Laboratory Safety Training (UConn Health, USA, 2019)
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration Bloodborne Pathogen Disease Training (UConn Health, USA, 2019)
• FELASA – Laboratory Animal Science Course-Number of certificate HR/191/02 (Croatia, 2024)
• Workshop: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a Model Organism in Biological, Biomedical, and Environmental Research (IMROH, Croatia, 2024)

• Rector’s Award by University of Zagreb, Croatia (2006)
• Award “Student of the year” by European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) for Scientific Research, Lisbon, Portugal (2007)
• Grant by Federation of the European Biochemical Societies (FEBS), Opatija, Croatia (2012)
• Grant by World Sciences Forum for Young Researchers, Baku, Azerbaijan (2014)
• Grant Award by The International Society for Ethnopharmacology (ISE), Puerto Varas, Chile (2014)
• Grant by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), Vancouver, Canada (2016)
• Annual Award to Young Scientists for Scientific Achievements in 2015 by the Croatian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (HDBMB) (2016)
• Grant by Federation of the European Biochemical Societies (FEBS), Prague, Czech Republic (2018)
• The “Željko Trgovčević” Award for Scientific Achievements in 2017 by the Croatian Genetic Society (2018)
• Grant by the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy (2019)
• Award for Scientific Achievements in 2018 by the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia (2019)
• Grant by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), Melbourne, Australia (2024)

• Croatian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Croatian Society of Toxicology
• Croatian Association for Cancer Research

Principal investigator (PI)

• 2021-2022 Oximes as Potential Inhibitors of Glucose Transfer in Prostate Cancer Cells, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
• 2022-2023 Identifying Interactions of Renal and Hepatic Organic Cation Transporters (OCTs) with Oximes, Antidotes in Treatment of Organophosphate Poisoning, Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• 2023-2024 Application of hepatic 3D cell model (HepG2) for safety evaluation of newly synthesised oximes, antidotes in treatment of organophosphate poisoning (OximeSafe3D)

Associate

• 2025-2026 Toxicity Assessment in 2D vs 3D cultures of Zebrafish liver cells (ZebTox3D)
• 2024-2028 Targeting Cell Senescence to Prevent Age-Related Diseases (SENESCENCE2030)
• 2022-2026 Evidence Driven Indoor Air Quality Improvement (EDIAQI), HORIZON (HLTH-2021-ENVHLTH-02-02)
• 2022-2026 Personalized Medicine in Chronic Kidney Disease: Improved Outcome Based on Big Data (PerMediK), COST EU project CA21165
• 2022-2026 3Rs Concepts to Improve the Quality of Biomedical Science (IMPROVE), COST EU project CA21139
• 2022-2024 On Science Through Sport – STEMSPORT, EU project
• 2020-2023 Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Toxicity of Antidotes and Potential Drugs (CellToxTargets), Croatian Science Foundation (UIP-2017-05-7260)
• 2019-2022 Changes in the Muscle Cell Viability Under the Influence of Oxime Analogue, Croatian-Slovenian project, Ministry of Science and Education in Croatia
• 2019-2020 Mechanisms Underlying Commitment and Differentiation of Progenitor Cells During Bone Healing, National Institutes of Health (NIH, 5R01AR055607-04) i National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
• 2019-2020 Generating New RGS5 Mouse Model for Lineage Tracing, Research Excellence Program funds, University of Connecticut, UConn Health, USA
• 2018-2022 Correlated Multimodal Imaging in Life Sciences (COMULIS), COST EU project CA17121
• 2014-2019 Aging-Related Expression of Membrane Transporters in Rat (AGEMETAR), Croatian Science Foundation (IP-2013-11-1481)
• 2010-2013 Mammalian Renal Transporters; Gender Differences and Effects of Toxic metals, Ministry of Science and Education in Croatia (022-0222148-2146)

TEACHING

• 2017-present Teaching Assistant – Methods in Immunology, Programme: Experimental Biology (module: Immunology and Physiology), Faculty of Science, Zagreb, Croatia