Marta Kulik

Biological and Chemical Research Centre

Faculty of Chemistry

University of Warsaw

I am interested in the structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules at different scales, starting from the electron density and electrostatic potential distributions of the single atoms, up to the large macromolecular complexes. I find the systems containing RNA and proteins particularly interesting as they are built from repetitive building blocks but at the same time serve many functions.

A variety of computational and experimental methods helps me to get an insight into those molecules. I am an expert in molecular dynamics simulations with enhanced sampling, also with flexible fitting to the Cryo-EM density maps. I performed many calculations of electrostatic interaction energies using advanced aspherical models of electron density and calculations of the electrostatic potential density maps. I have also experience in X-ray crystallography of small molecules, circular dichroism, UV-VIS spectroscopy with measuring the temperatures of melting and isothermal titration calorimetry.

Research positions and degrees

2021-nowAssistant Professor (Adiunkt), Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw
2019-2022 Post-doctoral researcher, Electron Density Modelling Group, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Poland
2017-2019 Post-doctoral researcher, Theoretical Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN, Japan
2016-2017 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, Theoretical Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN, Japan
2011-2016PhD student, Centre of New Technologies and Laboratory of Crystalochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw
2008-2011BSc Student, Faculty of Chemistry, Laboratory of Radiochemistry
2005-2010MSc Student, Interfaculty Studies in Environmental Protection, University of Warsaw, Master’s Thesis at the Faculty of Biology and Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics (graduated with honors)

Fellowships/scholarships

Postdoctoral Fellowship in OPUS NCN grant, PI: Prof. Paulina Dominiak, Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, 2019-2022
Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Dynamic Structural Biology project, PI: dr. Yuji Sugita, RIKEN, Japan, 2017-2019
FY2016 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship (Short-Term) for North American and European Researchers (fellowship awarded to a non-PhD degree holder), 2016-2017
Interdisciplinary Theoretical Science Research Group (iTHES) Fellowship for a 3-month-long internship in Japan, 2014
KNOW Scholarship at Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, 2013/2014
Foundation for Polish Science PhD Fellowship, TEAM program, 2011 – 2013
PhD Fellowship at Faculty of Chemistry 2011 – 2014
Student’s Scientific Scholarships, 2006 – 2011

Awards

Contributed Talk selected for the Best Poster Presentations with an additional support from the conference budget at the Gordon Research Conference: Three Dimensional Electron Microscopy – Visualizing Biological Complexity Across Scales in 3DEM Microscopy, Waterville Valley, NH, USA, 2021,
Travel Grant, EMBO Practical course CEM3DIP 2020: Single particle cryoEM of macromolecular-assemblies and cellular tomography, Kolkata, India, 2020
Travel Fellowship, RNA Society Meeting, Kraków, Poland, 2019,
Best Short Talk Award, Computational Advances in Structure-Based Drug Discovery, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2015,
Contributed Talk Award, 8th Symposium of the Polish Bioinformatics Society, Lublin, Poland, 2015,
Best Poster Award, Biomolecules and Nanostructures 5, Jaroszowice, Poland, 2015, 
Conference Grant, 19th Annual International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology, Warsaw, Poland, 2015, 
Conference Grant for a PhD Student, IV EURO WG Conference on Operational Research in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics and Medicine, Poznan, Poland, 2014, 
Contributed Talk Award, From Computational Biophysics to Systems Biology, Gdansk, Poland, 2014, 
Conference Grant for a PhD Student, Computer Aided Drug Design, Gordon conference, Mount Snow, USA  2013, 
Best Poster Award, JCF Frühjahrssymposium, Berlin, Germany, 2013, 
Best Bachelor Thesis in Nuclear Chemistry Award , Canberra Packard Sp. z o.o., 2011.