Ivana Jarak

Ivana Jarak obtained Ph.D. in the field of Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Croatia, where she became an expert in the methods of organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry, and gained insight into molecular biology approaches related to the research of drug activity mechanisms and developed a strong interest into an interdisciplinary approach to drug development. During her postdoc studies, she became interested in metabolism, especially in the application of metabolomics in disease mechanisms related to obesity and the inherited metabolic memory of a high-fat diet on male fertility. Her research interests in that period also lead to several relevant publications related to metabolic engineering in cancer cell metabolism and tumor growth, and toxicology of nanoparticles in cell and animal models. She has collaborated on several funded projects and contributed to numerous original research papers and communications. In 2018 she was given the opportunity to apply the expertise she gained in various research areas to the field of nanomedicine and dedicate her full research focus to the use of block copolymers and micellar systems in cancer pathologies related to osteosarcoma. Ivana Jarak has been an investigator at FF/UC for the past four years, developing research in the area of design of theranostic polymer-based nanosystems for combined drug and gene delivery focused primarily on cancer diagnosis and treatment. Her application and interest in this new field of research led to a new project (Multifunctional cell membrane-camouflaged polymeric micelles for combination therapy of colorectal cancer) funded by the FCT, Portugal, in whose preparation she actively participated and on which she is the co-PI. She is a peer-reviewer for several journals related to her various research fields.