Justyna Kopecka-Pilarczyk, PhD Hab.

Curriculum Vitae

Born in Gdańsk, Poland, in 1977; citizen of Poland.

Spoken languages: Polish (native speaker), English (good), German (good), Russian (basic), Portuguese (basic, mainly passive).

Research interests

• effects of chemical pollution in marine environments
• ecotoxicological problems of the Baltic Sea
• biomarkers in fish and invertebrates
• changes in biomarkers induced by pollution and environmental factors
• effects of high hydrostatic pressure on biomarkers in fish
• influence of dietary conditions on biomarkers in fish

Education and Qualifications

15 March 2013: Habilitation in Earth Sciences in the field of Oceanology at the University of Gdańsk, Poland; dissertation: Effects of selected PAHs and high hydrostatic pressure on selected biomarkers in marine fish in laboratory experiments.

30 June 2005: PhD in Earth Sciences in the field of Oceanology (specialization: Marine Ecotoxicology) at the University of Gdańsk, Poland; PhD dissertation: The use of biomarkers in flounder (Platichthys flesus) and blue mussel (Mytilus trossulus) from the Baltic Sea for the assessment of pollution of the marine environment (in Polish); advisor: Prof. Dr. hab. Eng. J. Pempkowiak.

October 2000 – June 2005: PhD student in biology and oceanography at the University of Gdańsk, Poland, with laboratory and scientific work conducted at the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAS), Sopot, Poland

20 June 2000: MSc in Oceanography at the University of Gdańsk; master thesis: Factors influencing the distribution and properties of humic acids at selected deeps of the Baltic Sea (in Polish), completed at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot, Poland; supervisor: Prof. Dr. hab. Eng. J. Pempkowiak.

1998: Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung (Goethe-Institut)

1997: Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache (Goethe-Institut)

October 1996 – June 2000: MSc degree course in oceanography (physical oceanography, specializing in marine chemistry), Department of Biology, Geography and Oceanology, University of Gdańsk, Poland (the five year-long course completed in four years).

1992–1996: High School No. 2 in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz, Poland (a class with biological-chemical profile)

1984–1992: Elementary school in Gdańsk, Poland

1999: completed pedagogic course (at the University of Gdańsk) that entitles to teach biology and chemistry to children at primary and secondary school

Other courses, qualifications and activities

April 2014 – June 2015: German language course at IST Austria.

December 2005: First Aid Medical Course funded by the EU.

August 1998: German language Summer course at Freiburg University (Germany), funded by DAAD.

October 1997 – February 1998: German language course at the College of German Language at the University of Gdańsk (Zentralle Mittelstufenprüfung)

October 1996 – June 1997: German language course at English Unlimited in Gdańsk (ZDaF)

1994–2000: Volunteer on Summer and Winter holidays with disabled people

Employment History

December 2006 – November 2013: postdoctoral fellow at CIIMAR, Porto, Portugal, a unit of the University of Porto. Themes: Biochemical markers as a complementary tool in online marine biomonitoring oil spills (until August 2007) and The effect of high hydrostatic pressure on selected biomarkers in fish (since September 2007).

September 2005 – August 2006: teacher of Nature at a primary school in Gdańsk, Poland (part-time)

September 2002 – December 2004: research-technical associate at the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot, Poland

Career breaks

December 1, 2013 – present: parental leave

2013 (4 months): maternity leave

2011 (4 months): maternity leave

2008 (4 months): maternity leave

Laboratory Experience

Measurements of humic acids in sediments and age of sediment using the Pb²¹⁰ method.

Sampling and dissection of mussels, worms and fish; experience includes flounder, perch (also from Stockholm Archipelago), eelpout, cod from the Baltic Sea, Nereis diversicolor and Scrobicularia plana from the Cadiz Bay, and mussels from the Gulf of Finland.

Measurement of enzyme levels (biochemical markers): AChE, BChE, EROD, GST, GPx, SOD, CAT, Lipid Peroxidation, DT - diaphorase, POx, FOx, Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase, GSH:GSSG, using spectrophotometric and fluorimetric (for EROD) methods.

Measurement of the concentration of metals in organs of fish and mussels using the atomic absorption spectrometer method.

Conducting laboratory experiments with mussels and fish.

Set-up of a complete biochemical laboratory: While conducting research at IO PAS in 2000-2004, I organized (from scratch) a laboratory for conducting biochemical analyses. This included choosing and ordering laboratory equipment (spectro-fluorimeter, homogenizer, pipettes), furniture, and organizing various small laboratory utensils and consumables.

Awards

2014: Dual Career Grant (2000 €), awarded by Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG).

2006: Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Porto (Portugal), awarded by the Portuguese National Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT grant ref. SFRH/BPD/32125/2006) for six years in total.

November 2002 – March 2003: a 5 month-long Marie Curie Trainingsite Fellowship "Application of in vitro cellular approaches in aquatic ecotoxicology" at UFZ in Leipzig (Germany).

October 2000 – June 2004: PhD student scholarship.

October 1997 – June 2000: student scholarship for good achievements during the MSc degree course; the scholarship for the 5th year of the degree course was paid in full in June 2000.

1998: German language Summer course at Freiburg University (Germany), awarded by DAAD.

Research projects

2013: member of the team in the research project "Ion and iron regulatory physiology in the marine lamprey (Petromyzon marinus): a parasitic feeder" (ref. FCT PTDC/MAR/098035/2008), financed from the EU funds and Portuguese national funds, through the FCT; principal investigator: Dr. Jonathan Wilson.

2011-2012: research grant for bilateral cooperation between Portugal (CIIMAR in Porto - Justyna Kopecka-Pilarczyk as the Responsible Investigator) and Poland (National Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Gdynia - Henryka Dąbrowska as the Responsible Investigator) [Cooperação Transnacional: Acordo de Cooperação Científica entre Portugal e a Polónia]: "Comparison of organic contaminant levels and selected biomarkers in flounder from the Douro and Vistula".

Autumn 2010 – 2012: participant in the work conducted in the framework of the research project "ECOPISCIS – Waste Management in Fish Production for the Benefits of SMEs", funded by the Portuguese Agência de Inovação (ADI) through QREN; investigator responsible for the CIIMAR part of the project: Dr. Rodrigo Ozorio.

2007 – 2012: participant in the work conducted in the framework of the research project "Life under pressure: transcriptomics of the hydrostatic pressure acclimation in a shallow water teleost" (ref. FCT PTDC/MAR/64016/2006) financed from the EU funds and Portuguese national funds, through the FCT; principal investigator: Dr. Jonathan Wilson.

December 2006 – August 2007: participant in the considerable part of work conducted in the framework of the research project "BIOTEST   Marine biotest-systems for real time oil toxicity detection" (ref. FCT POCI/MAR/56964/2004) funded from the EU and Portuguese national funds, through the FCT; principal investigator: Dr. Ana D. Correia; I did most biomarker measurements in the experiments conducted in the framework of this project, and I wrote several papers on my own.

February 2001 – January 2004: active participant and main contractor in the project BEEP (Biological Effects of Environmental Pollution, EU FP5 Program; Contract no. EVK3-CT-2000-00025) in Work Package 2 - Baltic Sea, site 4 - the Gulf of Gdańsk: participation in workshops and meetings; sampling and lab measurements; preparation of reports. I did the whole laboratory work conducted at Site 4 and also AChE measurements from 3 stations in Lithuania from 4 seasons and CAT analyses from 3 German stations from 3 seasons; I actively participated in the praparation of many publications emerging from this project.

Various professional activities

Member of Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of BioScience and Biotechnology

Reviewer for Central European Journal of Biology, Marine Pollution Bulletin, and Harmful Algae.

Member of the Examining Board at the PhD Thesis Defense of Samuel Koenig, Barcelona (Spain), October 29, 2012.

Member of the European Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry (ESCPB)

Participation in the organization of "IV Conference – Chemistry, Geochemistry and Protection of Marine Environment" (Sopot, February 16, 2000), and in the work of the organizing committee of "III Conference on Trace Metals – Effects on Organisms and Environment" (Sopot, June 6-8, 2000).

Experience as a scientific adviser

1. Emilia Kmieciak, the University of Gdańsk. Master dissertation: Changes in the AChE activity in flounder (Platichthys flesus) in the Gulf of Gdańsk [in Polish]. Completed in 2004. Co-supervised with J. Pempkowiak (IO PAS).

2. Monika Pućko, the University of Gdańsk. Master dissertation: Measurements of contamination of benthic organisms in the Gulf of Gdańsk with selected organic pollutants [in Polish]. Completed in 2004. Co-supervised with K. Pazdro (IO PAS).

3. Ewelina Kopańska, the University of Gdańsk. Master dissertation: Distribution of organic contaminants in the soft tissue of mussels (Mytilus trossulus) and fish (Platichthys flesus) of the Gulf of Gdańsk [in Polish]. Completed in 2004. Co-supervised with K. Pazdro (IO PAS).

Professional training

June 2004: a 4 week-long training at ICMAN CSIC (Cadiz, Spain): "Biomarkers of pollution in two invertebrate species and fish from a litoral ecosystem in the Cadiz Bay (SW Spain). Recovery of an ecosystem after the construction of a sewage treatment plant", in the framework of a Polish-Spanish bilateral cooperation project, ref. 2003PL0002; supervisor: Dr. Montserrat Solé Rovira.

March 2004: Participant of the Workshop on PhagoBIM: "Phagocytosis assays as immunotoxicological tools for assessing environmental stress in mollusks" in LEMAR (Institut Universitaire Européenne de la Mer, Plouzane – FRANCE).

June 2003: a 3 week-long training at ICMAN CSIC (Cadiz, Spain) - "Seasonal variation of selected biomarkers in the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus from the Guadalquivir estuary (SW Spain)", in the framework of a Polish-Spanish bilateral cooperation project, ref. 2003PL0002; supervisor: Dr. Montserrat Solé Rovira.

November 2002 – March 2003: a 5 month-long Marie Curie Trainingsite Fellowship "Application of in vitro cellular approaches in aquatic ecotoxicology" at UFZ in Leipzig (Germany); RT-PCR in flounder liver collected in Gdańsk Bay in Autumn 2002 with specific primers: CYP1A and Metallothionein; supervisor: Dr. Kristin Schirmer

October 2002: a 1 week-long training at the Institute of Ecology in Vilnius (Lithuania): "Micronuclei in mussels gills measurements", in the framework of a bilateral cooperation project between Poland and Lithuania; supervisor: Prof. Dr. hab. Janina Baršiene.

12 May 2002: Participant of the SETAC Short Course at the 12th Annual SETAC Meeting - "Predicting the Toxicity of Metals to Aquatic Organisms. An Introduction to the Biotic Ligand Model", Vienna.

27–28 February 2001: Participant of the Workshop on AChE & EROD activities measurement (in the framework of the BEEP project) in IFREMER in Nantes (France)

Participant in 8 sampling cruises aboard r/v "Oceania" (cruise leader at 2 of these cruises), and participant in 3 cruises aboard r/v "Walther Herwig III" (at the Baltic sea), 2001–2004.

November 2000: a 4 week-long training at CID/CSIC in Barcelona (Spain): "Biomarkers in fish", in the framework of the project: "Uso integrado de marcadores químicos y bioquímicos para la vigilancia de la contaminación en la franja costera de Polonia", in the framework of a Polish-Spanish bilateral cooperation project, ref. 99PL0015; supervisor: Dr. Cinta Porte Visa.

1999–2000: a course "Content-related and methodological basis for teaching nature at the 20th century school", organized by the Centre of Education for Teachers (CEN) in Poland.

1998–2000: three 2 week-long training cruises on chemical oceanography at the Gdańsk Deep at the Navy hydrographic ship ORP "Kopernik".

1999–2000: two 2 week-long ichthyologic internships at the Marine Station of the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Gdańsk at Hel.

Research visits

September 2011: National Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Gdynia, Poland; a visit in the framework of the bilateral cooperation Poland-Portugal.

July 2010: Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) – Spanish Research Council (CSIC) in Barcelona, Spain; collaboration with Dr. Montserrat Solé on optimization of the measurement of SOD in fish.

May 2010: National Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Gdynia, continuation of the visit in March (see below).

March 2010: National Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Gdynia; collaboration with Dr. hab. Henryka Dąbrowska; instructing employees of the Institute how to measure EROD in fish liver.

April-August 2007: Kyoto University, Japan; visiting Prof. Masato Kinoshita at Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, and also Dr. Masatomo Tagawa, who was conducting research with flounder in the laboratory of Marine Stock-Enhancement Biology.

Hobbies

International cuisine (both tasting and cooking).

Cycling, hiking, traveling.

Music.