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Malgorzata Wygrecka is a full professor for diffuse parenchymal lung diseases of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL) at the Center for Infection and Genomics of the Lung in Giessen. Malgorzata studied Biotechnology in Cracow and Amsterdam and received her PhD at the Department of Internal Medicine of the JLU. After finishing her postdoctoral training in the Institute of Biochemistry of the JLU in the lab of Prof. Klaus T. Preissner, she established her independent research group focusing on the role of hemostatic factors in the development of acute inflammatory and chronic fibroproliferative lung diseases. Malgorzata is a member of the editorial board of several journals including: AJP-Cell Physiology, Matrix Biology, and Cellular Signaling and serves as a reviewer of numerous funding agencies and scientific articles. She has received several national and international awards for her scientific achievements. She has published over 100 research articles in well-renowned scientific journals, including Circulation, Circulation Research, Blood, Blood Advances, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, European Respiratory Journal, Nature Communications, Matrix Biology, and Kidney International. Malgorzata holds patents for protease inhibitors in chronic lung and kidney diseases and is a member of the Scientific and Standardization Subcommittee "Factor XI and the Contact System" of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
It is increasingly recognized that carbohydrates and their intermediates are integral components of biological systems. They affect all aspects of cell life including survival, adhesion, and migration, regulate inflammation and blood coagulation and provide a "sugar code" that categorizes each cell and provides it with a unique function and immunological identity. In addition, proteoglycans are a major constituent of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and glycosoaminoglycans (GAG) help to link the cells to the ECM and the neighbouring cells. In recent years, we demonstrated that carbohydrates and their intermediates drive a plethora of biological processes ranging from tissue injury, hemostasis and host defense, to maladaptive tissue remodelling and fibrosis (Wygrecka, et al. Blood Adv. 2021; Schulz, et al. Matrix Biol. 2021; Schnieder, et al. Matrix Biol. 2020; Roedig, et al. Semin Cancer Biol. 2020; Poluzzi, et al. Kidney Int. 2019; Wujak, et al. J Biol Chem.). Destruction of carbohydrates significantly contributes to many clinical manifestations and makes them an attractive targets for therapeutic interventions (Stahl K, et al. Intensive Care Med Exp. 2021, Wygrecka, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017). The increasing ability to manipulate carbohydrates on multiple levels, ranging from synthetic efforts to reproduce GAG components of the ECM to the metabolic glycoengineering offers bright prospects for engaging sugars in regenerative medicine. The goal of the Wygrecka lab is in-depth characterization of glycan roles in many aspects of lung pathologies and translation of this knowledge into therapies for pulmonary diseases.
Prof. Dr. Malgorzata Wygrecka
Member of the German Center of Lung Research (DZL)
Center for Infection and Genomics of the Lung (CIGL)
Faculty of Medicine, Justus Liebig University
Aulweg 132
35392 Giessen
Tel: +49 (0)641 99 36 460
Email: malgorzata.wygrecka@innere.med.uni-giessen.de
