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Klara Stefflova

stefflok@mail.med.upenn.edu

BRB II/III, room 532

421 Curie Boulevard,

Philadelphia, PA 19104

website: http://sites.google.com/site/klarastefflova/

Education:

2002-2006: Ph.D. Biological Chemistry (December, 2006)

Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Philadelphia

         

 1997-2002:  M.Sc. Biochemistry

Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Prague

  

Research experience:

Postdoctoral Fellow (January 2007-present), UPenn.

Supervisor: Dr. Timothy Rebbeck

Project: mtDNA and Y-chromosome Haplotype variation and Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) in prostate cancer patients and controls from African, African-American and Caucasian-American populations: the discrepancy in self-evaluating and mapped ancestry and the importance of admixture in the search for population-specific disease-linked genetic markers. Using this information in correcting for population stratification in a study to associate prostate cancer outcome and severity with SNPs related to miRNAs and telomere maintenance.

Research experience: mtDNA and Y-chromosome haplotyping and AIMs: Allelic discrimination assessed by Real-time PCR, RFLP typing, and sequencing; design and evaluation of results from Illumina chip. Statistical evaluation of population structure: software ADMIX, ARLEQUIN, SAMOVA, STRUCTURE (and related: BeadStudio, NETWORK, SAS, SPSS, STATA)

 

Research Assistant (July 2003-December 2006), UPenn.

Supervisors: Dr. Gang Zheng & Dr. Ponzy Lu

Project: Molecular beacons for cancer treatment and detection. Synthesis and evaluation of peptide- or DNA-based beacons for imaging and destruction of target cells overexpressing target enzymes (e.g. MMP-7, FAP, or caspase-3 in case of apoptosis imaging) or cancer-relevant mRNAs.

Research experience: Synthesis (organic, peptide, DNA) and characterization (NMR, MALDI-Tof, HPLC, size exclusion chromatography) of peptide- and DNA-beacons and their evaluation as imaging and anticancer agents in cells (confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, basic biochemistry methods) and animals (imaging and sacrificing animals).

 

M.Sc. Diploma Thesis Research (January 2000-June 2002), ICT.

Supervisor: Dr. Ladislav Kniezo

Project: Preparation and NMR study of O-(2->6) disaccharides as potential inhibitors of  glucosyltransferases

Research experience: Organic synthesis of higher saccharides and their characterisation (NMR, IR, optical properties).

Undergraduate research student (September 1999-December 1999) Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prague.

Supervisor: Dr. Ivan Rosenberg

Project: Synthesis and evaluation of a novel class of nucleoside analogs as potential virostatics

 

Teaching experience:

2002-2003: Teaching assistant, UPenn organic laboratory

 

Publications:

Lo, P.C.; Chen, J.; Stefflova, K.; Warren, M.; Navab, R.; Bandarchi, B.; Mullins, S.; Tsao, M.; Cheng, J.; Zheng, G. (2008) Photodynamic Molecular Beacon Triggered by Fibroblast Activation Protein on Cancer-associated Fibroblasts for Diagnosis and Treatment of Epithelial Cancers. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, in press. pdf version (2.9 Mb)

Chen, J.; Lovell, J.F.; Lo, P.C.; Stefflova, K.; Niedre, M.; Wilson, B.C.; Zheng, G. (2008) A Tumor mRNA-triggered Photodynamic Molecular Beacon Based on Oligonucleotide Hairpin Control of Singlet Oxygen Production. Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences 7(7):775-81.  pdf version (329 kb)

Chen, J.; Jarvi, M.; Lo, P.C.; Stefflova, K.; Wilson, B.C; Zheng, G. (2007) Using the Singlet Oxygen Scavenging Property of Carotenoid in Photodynamic Molecular Beacons to Minimize Photodamage to Non-targeted Cells. Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences 6(12):1311-7. pdf version (576 kb)

 

Stefflova , K.; Chen, J.; Zheng, G. (2007) Killer Beacons for Combined Cancer Imaging and Therapy. Current Medicinal Chemistry 14(20):2110-25. pdf version (926 kb)

 

Zheng, G.; Chen, J.; Stefflova, K.; Jarvi, M.; Li, H.; Wilson, B.C. (2007) Photodynamic Molecular Beacon as an Activatable Photosensitizer Based on Protease Controlled Singlet Oxygen Quenching and Activation. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 104(21):8989-94. pdf version (1.9 Mb)

 

Stefflova, K.; Chen, J.; Zheng, G. (2007) Using Molecular Beacons for Cancer Imaging and Treatment. Frontiers in Bioscience 12:4709-21. pdf version (361 kb)

 

Stefflova, K.; Li, H.; Chen, J.; Zheng, G. (2007) Peptide-based pharmacomodulation of a cancer-specific optical imaging and photodynamic therapy agent. Bioconjugate Chemistry 18(2):379-88. pdf version (1.03 Mb)

Stefflova, K.; Chen, J.; Li, H.; Zheng, G. (2006) Targeted Photodynamic Therapy Agent with a Built-in Apoptosis Sensor for In Vivo Near-infrared Imaging of Tumor Apoptosis Triggered by its Photosensitization In Situ. Molecular Imaging 5(4):520-32. pdf version (4.4 Mb)

 

Stefflova, K.; Chen, J.; Marotta, D.; Li, H.; Zheng, G. (2006) Photodynamic therapy agent with a built-in apoptosis sensor (PDT-BIAS) for evaluating its own therapeutic outcome in situ. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 49(13):3850-6. pdf version (337 kb)

 

 Chen, J.; Stefflova, K.; Niedre, M. J.; Wilson, B. C.; Chance, B.; Glickson, J. D.; Zheng, G. (2004) Protease-Triggered Photosensitizing Beacon Based on Singlet Oxygen Quenching and Activation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126(37):11450-11451. pdf version (81 kb)

   

Conference Presentations:

Klara Stefflova, Matt Dulik, Athma Pai, Amy Walker, Theodore Schurr, Timothy Rebbeck. Using mtDNA and Y-chromosome for estimating group ancestry: Implications for case- control studies. (Poster) 58^th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics 2008, Philadelphia, PA, USA

 

Klara Stefflova, Athma Pai, Sergey Zhadanov, Charnita Ziegler-Johnson, Theodore Schurr, Timothy Rebbeck.  A detailed study of mtDNA and NRY haplogroups in African American prostate cancer cases and controls: building a more comprehensive picture in epidemiology studies. (Poster) 5^th ISABS Conference in Forensic Genetics and Molecular Anthropology 2007, Split, Croatia

 

Klara Stefflova, Juan Chen, Hui Li, Gang Zheng . Targeted Photodynamic Therapy Agent with a Built-in Apoptosis Sensor for In Vivo Near-infrared Imaging of Tumor Apoptosis Triggered by its Photosensitization In Situ. (Presentation for Young investigator awards competition) SMI meeting 2006, Hawaii, USA

 

Klara Stefflova, Hui Li, Juan Chen, Gang Zheng . Modular Peptide-conjugated Fluorescent Photosensitizer for targeted In Vivo Near-infrared Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer. (Poster) SMI meeting 2006, Hawaii, USA

 

Klara Stefflova, Juan Chen, Hui Li, Diane Marotta, Gang Zheng. Targeted PDT Agent with Built-in Apoptosis Reporter Designed for Assessing Therapeutic Outcome in vivo. (Presentation) SMI meeting 2005, Cologne, Germany

 

Klara Stefflova, Juan Chen, Diane Marotta, Hui Li, Gang Zheng. Photodynamic Therapy Agent with Built-in Apoptosis Reporter (PDT-BIAR). (Poster) SMI meeting 2004, St. Luis, MO, USA

 

Klara Stefflova, Ladislav Kniezo: Preparation of higher carbohydrates using cycloaddition reactions. (Poster) The Carbohydrate Workshop 2002, Borstel, BRD

.

Awards:

·        Young Investigator Award from The Society for Molecular Imaging (SMI)

·        3 student travel awards from The Society for Molecular Imaging (SMI) (2004, 2005, 2006)

·        ICT outstanding student scholarship (1999-2002)

 

Additional Skills:

·        Languages: Czech and English written and spoken, German, spoken.

·        Techniques: Haplotyping, Sequencing, Real-time PCR techniques, Fluorescence imaging in cells and animals, assessment of cell death, NMR, MALDI-ToF, FACS, HPLC, Fluorescence Spectroscopy, organic synthesis, DNA synthesis, peptide synthesis, confocal microscopy, animal handling, statistical analysis in population genetics.

 

Additional Interests and Extracurricular Activities:

Molecular evolution and the origin of life, rock climbing, guitar, volleyball, cooking, mushroom picking.