Ewelina Weglarz-Tomczak

About me

Research

My research focuses on investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying pathologies such as cancer and neurodegeneration, with particular emphasis on how external factors influence transcriptional regulation, physicochemical balance, and enzymatic activity, especially that of proteases. This work seeks to elucidate how external cues modulate enzymatic processes, gene expression, cellular metabolism, and overall cellular homeostasis and develop precision medicine and personalised approaches.

The main goal of proteolyis line is to understand molecular principles of the regulatory mechanism(s) of medically-relevant proteases and develop novel highly selective and safe drug candidates. The proteolysis instigates irreversible changes to a set of protein/peptide substrates that alters their function and generates the demanded biological event. The elevated activity of higly specialized proteases is associated with various pathological disorders including neurodegeneration. However, at the same time, they play physiological roles. Interestingly, the same principles govern the invasion of pathogens such as coronaviruses. I am creating an innovative pipeline that leads to the obtaining of the new generation proteases inhibitors therapeutics.

The pipeline is based on my conceptual approach that the etiological factors of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease extend beyond genetic mutations and include deficiencies or imbalances of specific cellular components that regulate biochemical networks. These alterations affect regulatory mechanisms and, importantly, may be reversible to a certain extent. By identifying and characterizing these regulatory mechanisms, I design selective molecules that modulate cellular processes through proteolytic pathways. My current primary research focus is on proteases that play pivotal roles in the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases.

Another major branch of my research interests focuses on genome-scale modeling of cancer cell metabolism, with particular emphasis on gene expression regulation and systematic target identification. I am deeply fascinated by the dynamic nature of gene expression responses and by how shifts in cellular physiology can fundamentally alter cell fate—driving processes such as proliferation, differentiation, cell death, or the emergence of therapy resistance. I have led a project that resulted in the first simultaneous integration of gene expression profiles and nutrient availability into a human genome-scale metabolic reconstruction. This work enabled a more physiologically relevant representation of cancer cell metabolic states and provided a powerful framework for identifying metabolic vulnerabilities and regulatory nodes that can be exploited for therapeutic intervention.

By training, I am a medicinal chemist, biochemist, and systems biologist with extensive experience spanning organic synthesis, enzyme kinetics and structural studies, and protease research, through gene expression analysis and genome-scale systems modeling, to the development and application of advanced cellular models for studying diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. This multidisciplinary background enables me to lead research projects comprehensively—from in silico design and molecular synthesis to advanced pre-clinical evaluation.

Teaching

Teaching is a rewarding aspect of my professional career and forms the core of my identity as a university researcher. I believe that education is about engaging the mind that involves a collaborative and synergistic relationship between students and an instructor.

I see my role as a mentor and a guide, therefore, my primary goal in teaching is to take ownership of the development and education of my students. In every class and student project, I aim to include a mixture of guidelines, reading, lab assignments, and discussions to actively engage students with the material.

I was fortunate to have served as teaching staff for various courses on, among others, biochemistry, organic chemistry, biology, and systems biology, and a supervisor for B.Sc. and M.Sc. projects, and a co-supervisor of a Ph.D. project.

Grants

2024: Principal Investigator, Faculty of Impact Grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) & Innovation Exchange Amsterdam, 225,000€

2023: Principal Investigator, PoC Grant from the Innovation Exchange Amsterdam (IXA), 100,000€

2022: Principal Investigator, Venture Challenge Grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for NatInLab, 15,000€

2020: Co-Principal Investigator, Physics2Market from Innovation Exchange Amsterdam (IXA), 35,000€

2018: Principal Investigator, Personal grant Mobility Plus from the Ministry of Science andHigher Education Poland co-financed by the EU from the European Social Fund, ~150,000€

2013: Principal Investigator, Personal grant Preludium 3 from the National Science Centre Poland, ~50,000€

2012: Principal Investigator, Personal grant Grant Plus from the EU from the European Social Fund, ~20,000€

2011: Principal Investigator, Personal grant for best Ph.D. students from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Poland, ~10,000€

2010: Principal Investigator, Personal grant Entrepreneurial Ph.D. financed by the EU from the European Social Fund, ~15,000€

Awards

2023: Pre-finalist of the Amsterdam Innovation Award

2015: The Rector of Wroclaw University of Technology Award for the outstanding achievements for the University

2014: The Faculty Council Award for best PhD thesis, Wroclaw University of Technology

2013: Scholarship for the development of young researchers co-financed by the EU

2009-2014: Multiple individual scholarships, Wroclaw University of Technology