Darja Klementová, talented high-school student working in our laboratory, has been awarded “Česká hlavička” Award for young gifted students in technical and natural sciences. Congratulations! 🍀

Darja has been awarded for her work focused on casein kinases. Her work was entitled “Preparation of an experimental system for the analysis of CK1a and CK1a-like kinases in vitro and its use for determining the substrate specificity of these kinases” and the results of this work contribute specifically to the understanding of the biology of CK1α kinase.

The reason for the insufficiently effective treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia in some cases is the inaccuracy of the inhibitors designed so far, which are not very specific to CK1α.

At the same time, this is the first study that deals with the hitherto unknown CK1α-like kinase. Further research could therefore be aimed at identifying external factors that determine the unique substrate specificity of CK1α and CK1α-like in vivo with the aim of improving the treatment of the mentioned cancer diseases with innovative inhibitors of these kinases.

Interview with Darja: https://www.sci.muni.cz/en/current-news/darja-klementova-winner-of-the-ceske-hlavicky-little-czech-mind-award-visited-the-university-laboratory-for-the-first-time-at-the-age-of-13

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