Odjel za tehniku u medicini i biologiji (EMB18)
Hrvatske sekcije IEEE-a
pozivaju Vas na predavanje:
Using electromyography to study the nature's deadliest toxins
koje će održati dr. sc. Ivica Matak, dipl. ing. biol.
Predavanje će se održati uživo na Fakultetu elektrotehnike i računarstva Sveučilišta u Zagrebu u
utorak 19. prosinca 2023. godine u 11.15 sati u D-160-2.
Predavanje je na engleskom jeziku i predviđeno trajanje predavanje s raspravom je 45 minuta.
Predavanje je otvoreno za sve zainteresirane, a posebno pozivamo studente.
Sažetak predavanja i kratki životopis predavača su dostupni u opširnijoj obavijesti.
Using electromyography to study the nature's deadliest toxins
Presynaptic toxins and venoms are nature's most potent toxins that target the vital process enabling appropriate motor nerve communication with muscle. While botulinum toxin type A (better known as „botox“) is an invaluable therapeutic for different neurological disorders with muscle overactivity, mechanisms of its benefical actions that are not fully elucidated are a subject of our ongoing research at the School of Medicine in collaboration with Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. We also employ other neurotoxins such as tetanus toxin and black widow spider toxins, as well as different antitoxins as important tools to dissect different aspects of tetanus and botulinum toxin mechanisms of action. As a straightforward method ideal for studying the toxin immediate and long-term effects on nerve-muscle communication, we employ electromyography in small laboratory animals. The aim of present lecture is to give an overview of our experience with measurement of EMG signals in muscles of rats. This, along with other behavioral and neurochemical techniques, facilitate the preclinical study of actions of presynaptic toxins, with important implications for their patophysiology and clinical use.
Acknowledgement: The research is funded by Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ UIP-2019-04-8277).
Brief CV
Ivica Matak is a research associate (2019-) and a PI at the Department of Pharmacology, University of Zagreb School of Medicine. He graduated at the Faculty of Science (Molecular Biology) in 2008. The subject of its ongoing research is the mechanisms of actions of botulinum toxin type A on pain and movement that resulted in pioneering discoveries regarding its beneficial activities in the central nervous system. His current research interest as a PI is the interaction of BoNT-A with disinhibited circuits of ventral horn and its motor actions, as well as the effect of tetanus toxin in the central motor regions by employing behavioral, kinematic, and electromyographic measurements. He is currently a mentor/co-mentor of two PhDs