Biography

Dr Zarko Barjaktarovic, was born 10th of March 1976 in Podgorica, where he graduated from elementary and high school gymnasium. In 2003 he graduated Biochemistry at the Faculty for Chemistry, University of Belgrade.  In July in 2004 he moved to Tuebingen in Germany for his doctoral studies. After succesfuul PhD graduation in 2008 and a short Postdoc, he moved on a new position in Helmholtz centre Munich, the research centre for biomedical and envoronmental research. There he worked on three EU projects (CardioRisk, ProCardio, DarkRisk) at the Institute for Radiation Biology and Institute for Toxicology and Pharmacology on radiation therapy toxicology aspects on cardiovascular system (heart mitochondria and endothelial cells) and cancer cell therapy using application of proteomics, genomics, bioinformatics and various other functional biochemical and molecular biology techniques. He has published about 25 papers, so far, in reffered journals of high impact and has more than 600 citations. He spent several weeks of scientific research in Sweden, France and Japan and has presented on conferences, meetings and seminars accros the globe. In 2016, he specialised Life Science Management in Munich. Since 2017 he works for Agency for Medicines of Montenegro and as an external Lecturer of Toxicology at the Medical Faculty of Montenegro. He is actively participating in the scientific profiling of the agency and building strategic cooperations for medicines research to ensure their quality and safety. He is currently working on establishing the regulatory quality assessment system of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) in Montenegro. Scientifically, he is applying systems toxicology/biology techniques in development of safe and efficiend ATMPs, as well as instrumental methods for quality control of (bio)medicines. He is a member of management board of EU project ENOVA Vaccine Adjuvants.

Selected publications:

1: Azimzadeh O, Subramanian V, Ständer S, Merl-Pham J, Lowe D, Barjaktarovic Z, Moertl S, Raj K, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Proteome analysis of irradiated endothelial cells reveals persistent alteration in protein degradation and the
RhoGDI and NO signalling pathways. Int J Radiat Biol. 2017 Sep;93(9):920-928. doi: 10.1080/09553002.2017.1339332. Epub 2017 Jul 11. PubMed PMID: 28697312.

2: Simonetto C, Azizova TV, Barjaktarovic Z, Bauersachs J, Jacob P, Kaiser JC, Meckbach R, Schöllnberger H, Eidemüller M. A mechanistic model for atherosclerosis and its application to the cohort of Mayak workers. PLoS One. 2017 Apr 6;12(4):e0175386. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175386. eCollection 2017.
PubMed PMID: 28384359; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5383300.

3: Badie C, Blachowicz A, Barjaktarovic Z, Finnon R, Michaux A, Sarioglu H, Brown N, Manning G, Benotmane MA, Tapio S, Polanska J, Bouffler SD. Transcriptomic and  proteomic analysis of mouse radiation-induced acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
Oncotarget. 2016 Jun 28;7(26):40461-40480. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.9626. PubMed  PMID: 27250028; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5130020.

4: Barjaktarovic Z, Merl-Pham J, Azimzadeh O, Kempf SJ, Raj K, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Low-dose radiation differentially regulates protein acetylation and histone deacetylase expression in human coronary artery endothelial cells. Int J Radiat
Biol. 2017 Feb;93(2):156-164. doi: 10.1080/09553002.2017.1237059. Epub 2016 Oct 21. PubMed PMID: 27653672.

5: Kempf SJ, Janik D, Barjaktarovic Z, Braga-Tanaka I 3rd, Tanaka S, Neff F, Saran A, Larsen MR, Tapio S. Chronic low-dose-rate ionising radiation affects the hippocampal phosphoproteome in the ApoE-/- Alzheimer's mouse model. Oncotarget. 2016 Nov 1;7(44):71817-71832. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.12376. PubMed PMID: 27708245; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5342125.

6: Barjaktarovic Z, Kempf SJ, Sriharshan A, Merl-Pham J, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Ionizing radiation induces immediate protein acetylation changes in human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells. J Radiat Res. 2015 Jul;56(4):623-32. doi:
10.1093/jrr/rrv014. Epub 2015 Apr 2. PubMed PMID: 25840449; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4497387.

7: Bakshi MV, Azimzadeh O, Barjaktarovic Z, Kempf SJ, Merl-Pham J, Hauck SM, Buratovic S, Eriksson P, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Total body exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation induces long-term alterations to the liver proteome of
neonatally exposed mice. J Proteome Res. 2015 Jan 2;14(1):366-73. doi: 10.1021/pr500890n. Epub 2014 Oct 17. PubMed PMID: 25299163.

8: Kraemer A, Barjaktarovic Z, Sarioglu H, Winkler K, Eckardt-Schupp F, Tapio S, Atkinson MJ, Moertl S. Cell survival following radiation exposure requires miR-525-3p mediated suppression of ARRB1 and TXN1. PLoS One. 2013 Oct
16;8(10):e77484. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077484. eCollection 2013. PubMed PMID: 24147004; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3797807.

9: Bakshi MV, Barjaktarovic Z, Azimzadeh O, Kempf SJ, Merl J, Hauck SM, Eriksson  P, Buratovic S, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Long-term effects of acute low-dose ionizing radiation on the neonatal mouse heart: a proteomic study. Radiat Environ
Biophys. 2013 Nov;52(4):451-61. doi: 10.1007/s00411-013-0483-8. Epub 2013 Jul 24. PubMed PMID: 23880982.

10: Azimzadeh O, Sievert W, Sarioglu H, Yentrapalli R, Barjaktarovic Z, Sriharshan A, Ueffing M, Janik D, Aichler M, Atkinson MJ, Multhoff G, Tapio S. PPAR alpha: a novel radiation target in locally exposed Mus musculus heart revealed by quantitative proteomics. J Proteome Res. 2013 Jun 7;12(6):2700-14. doi: 10.1021/pr400071g. Epub 2013 Apr 29. PubMed PMID: 23560462.

11: Barjaktarovic Z, Shyla A, Azimzadeh O, Schulz S, Haagen J, Dörr W, Sarioglu H, Atkinson MJ, Zischka H, Tapio S. Ionising radiation induces persistent alterations in the cardiac mitochondrial function of C57BL/6 mice 40 weeks after
local heart exposure. Radiother Oncol. 2013 Mar;106(3):404-10. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2013.01.017. Epub 2013 Mar 20. PubMed PMID: 23522698.

12: Yentrapalli R, Azimzadeh O, Barjaktarovic Z, Sarioglu H, Wojcik A, Harms-Ringdahl M, Atkinson MJ, Haghdoost S, Tapio S. Quantitative proteomic analysis reveals induction of premature senescence in human umbilical vein endothelial cells exposed to chronic low-dose rate gamma radiation. Proteomics. 2013 Apr;13(7):1096-107. doi: 10.1002/pmic.201200463. Epub 2013 Mar 4. PubMed PMID: 23349028.

13: Barjaktarovic Z, Anastasov N, Azimzadeh O, Sriharshan A, Sarioglu H, Ueffing  M, Tammio H, Hakanen A, Leszczynski D, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Integrative proteomic and microRNA analysis of primary human coronary artery endothelialcells  exposed to low-dose gamma radiation. Radiat Environ Biophys. 2013 Mar;52(1):87-98. doi: 10.1007/s00411-012-0439-4. Epub 2012 Nov 9. PubMed PMID: 23138885.

14: Azimzadeh O, Scherthan H, Yentrapalli R, Barjaktarovic Z, Ueffing M, Conrad M, Neff F, Calzada-Wack J, Aubele M, Buske C, Atkinson MJ, Hauck SM, Tapio S. Label-free protein profiling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) heart
tissue reveals immediate mitochondrial impairment after ionising radiation. J Proteomics. 2012 Apr 18;75(8):2384-95. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2012.02.019. Epub 2012 Feb 23. PubMed PMID: 22387116.

15: Sriharshan A, Boldt K, Sarioglu H, Barjaktarovic Z, Azimzadeh O, Hieber L, Zitzelsberger H, Ueffing M, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Proteomic analysis by SILAC and 2D-DIGE reveals radiation-induced endothelial response: four key pathways. J
Proteomics. 2012 Apr 18;75(8):2319-30. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2012.02.009. Epub 2012 Feb 20. PubMed PMID: 22370162.

16: Barjaktarovic Z, Schmaltz D, Shyla A, Azimzadeh O, Schulz S, Haagen J, Dörr W, Sarioglu H, Schäfer A, Atkinson MJ, Zischka H, Tapio S. Radiation-induced signaling results in mitochondrial impairment in mouse heart at 4 weeks after
exposure to X-rays. PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e27811. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027811. Epub 2011 Dec 8. PubMed PMID: 22174747; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3234240.

17: Azimzadeh O, Scherthan H, Sarioglu H, Barjaktarovic Z, Conrad M, Vogt A,Calzada-Wack J, Neff F, Aubele M, Buske C, Atkinson MJ, Tapio S. Rapid proteomic  remodeling of cardiac tissue caused by total body ionizing radiation. Proteomics.
2011 Aug;11(16):3299-311. doi: 10.1002/pmic.201100178. PubMed PMID: 21751382.

18: Pluder F, Barjaktarovic Z, Azimzadeh O, Mörtl S, Krämer A, Steininger S, Sarioglu H, Leszczynski D, Nylund R, Hakanen A, Sriharshan A, Atkinson MJ, Tapio  S. Low-dose irradiation causes rapid alterations to the proteome of the human
endothelial cell line EA.hy926. Radiat Environ Biophys. 2011 Mar;50(1):155-66.doi: 10.1007/s00411-010-0342-9. Epub 2010 Nov 23. PubMed PMID: 21104263.

19: Azimzadeh O, Barjaktarovic Z, Aubele M, Calzada-Wack J, Sarioglu H, Atkinson  MJ, Tapio S. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) proteome analysis using gel-free and gel-based proteomics. J Proteome Res. 2010 Sep 3;9(9):4710-20. doi:  10.1021/pr1004168. PubMed PMID: 20604508.

20: Barjaktarović Z, Schütz W, Madlung J, Fladerer C, Nordheim A, Hampp R. Changes in the effective gravitational field strength affect the state of phosphorylation of stress-related proteins in callus cultures of Arabidopsis
thaliana. J Exp Bot. 2009;60(3):779-89. doi: 10.1093/jxb/ern324. Epub 2009 Jan 6. PubMed PMID: 19129159; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2652066.

21: Barjaktarović Z, Nordheim A, Lamkemeyer T, Fladerer C, Madlung J, Hampp R. Time-course of changes in amounts of specific proteins upon exposure to hyper-g,  2-D clinorotation, and 3-D random positioning of Arabidopsis cell cultures. J Exp Bot. 2007;58(15-16):4357-63. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erm302. PubMed PMID: 18182437.