EDUCATION

2015 - PhD in Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology (FB), University of Belgrade (UB) (Thesis: Pharmacogenetics of 6-mercaptopurine and methotrexate in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia)
2009 - Diploma (equivalent to M.Sc.) in Molecular biology and physiology, FB, UB

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2015 - Research Associate at Laboratory for Molecular Biomedicine, IMGGE
2012 - Research Assistant at Laboratory for Molecular Biomedicine, IMGGE
2011 - Research Trainee at Laboratory for Molecular Hematology, IMGGE

RESEARCH INTEREST

The focus of my research is pharmacogenetics of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in children. Backbone therapy for these patients consists of methotrexate and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) drugs, whose efficacy and toxicity is dependent on genetic variants in genes encoding enzymes and transporters in metabolic pathways of these drugs. The aim is to find genetic variants that influence therapy related toxicity in ALL patients in order to personalize therapy dosage according to genetic signature of a patient.

Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) is a 6-MP clearing enzyme. The goal is to explain influence of 6-MP drug in context of architecture of VNTR region in TPMT promoter on transcription of TPMT gene. Better understanding of TPMT transcription will contribute to 6-MP therapy improvement toward safety and efficacy.