Department of Systems Biology and Engineering

Assistant Professor at the Department of Systems Biology and Engineering, Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science, Silesian University of Technology

Contact details

e-mail: Monika.Kurpas@polsl.pl
Gliwice, stret  Akademicka 16
telephone: 32 2372198
room: 627
Schedule
Publications

Silesian University of Technology-A knowledge and research potential platform 
ORCIDE:0000-0001-7635-8437
Profil Scopus

Biography:

• 2012 – B.Sc. in Biotechnology, specialization: Bioinformatics, Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science, Silesian University of Technology
• 2013 – M.Sc. in Biotechnology, specialization: Bioinformatics, Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science, Silesian University of Technology
• 2019 - PhD in technical sciences - discipline: Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, specialization: Systems Biology, Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science of the Silesian University of Technology, distinction granted by the Faculty Council

since 2019 - Assistant Professor at the Department of Systems Biology and Engineering, Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science, Silesian University of Technology

Research area:

• modeling of the cell cycle and DNA damage detection and repair signaling pathways; simulation and sensitivity analysis
• building and analyzing stochastic models of clonal evolution in cancer; studying the dynamics of driver and passenger mutations and also selection and genetic drift patterns on the basis of genomic data
• phylogenetic and bioinformatic analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 genomes and closely related bat coronaviruses genomes; application of population genetics methods in the study of the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns

 Educational activity:

Conducting classes:

• laboratory exercises: Molecular Biology and General Genetics, Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering, Functional Genomics and Proteomics, Signal Transduction and Regulation in Biological Systems, Modeling and Regulation of Intracellular Processes, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks, Systems Biology, Population Genetics (for Biotechnology students), Neural Networks (for Automatic Control and Robotics students) and Bioinformatics (for Biotechnology students from Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering).
• Systems Biology (exercises for Biotechnology students)

Scientific Projects:

Participation in grants funded by the National Science Centre:

• 2013-2014 - contractor in the N N518 287540 grant (Biological and simulation analysis of the ATM signaling pathway as an activator of the p53 and NF-kB modules, PI: Krzysztof Puszyński, Ph.D., Prof. at SUT)
• 2017-2019 - PhD student in the OPUS DEC-2016/21/B/ST7/02241 grant (System engineering approach to modeling, analysis and prediction of outcome of combined anticancer therapies, PI: Prof. Andrzej Świerniak)
• 2019-2020 - post-doc in the OPUS UMO-2018/29/B/ST7/02550 grant (Systems approach to cancer progression and prognosis: New models and statistics for analysis of genomic data, PI: Prof. Marek Kimmel)
• since 2022 - contractor in the OPUS UMO-2021/41/B/NZ2/04134 grant (Evolutionary genomics: Modeling and prediction of progression of breast and lung cancer, PI: Prof. Marek Kimmel)

International cooperation:

Trainings and internships:

• Spring school, CELOD: Cellular effects of low doses and low dose rates with focus on molecular radiation carcinogenesis, Stockholm, Sweden, 11-22.04.2016. Organizing institutions: CONCERT (European Joint Program for the Integration of Radiation Protection Research), University of Stockholm
• Tenth q-bio Summer School, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, 10-23.07.2016. Organizing institutions: New Mexico Consortium, Colorado State University
• Internship at Rice University, Houston, USA. Supervisor: Prof. Marek Kimmel, 24.07-02.08.2016.
• Internship at Rice University, Houston, USA. Supervisor: Prof. Marek Kimmel, 01.10-22.12.2019.

International collaboration:

• Columbia University, Department of Systems Biology, New York, USA - study of SARS-CoV-2 genomes evolution (Prof. Simon Tavaré)
• Columbia University, Department of Statistics, New York, USA - study of the clonal evolution of cancer (Khanh Dinh Ph.D.)

Prizes and awards:

• Laureate of the competition for increasing of the doctoral scholarship from the subsidy for co-financing pro-quality tasks at full-time doctoral studies at the Silesian University of Technology in the academic years 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019.
• Laureate of the competition for a scholarship for the best doctoral students at the Silesian University of Technology in the academic years 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017.
• The winner of the competition for the best presentation during the International Conference on Man-Machine Interactions, 2015. The award was granted for the presentation entitled: The resection mechanism promotes cell survival after exposure to IR.

Organizational activities:

• Participation in organization of the international conference Gliwice Scientific Meetings in 2015-2018
• Member of the Department of Systems Biology and Engineering image promotion team in 2021-2022