Elitza Petkova Markova-Car (ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6979-0731; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elitza_Markova-Car)

Elitza Petkova Markova-Car is Asociate professor at the University of Rijeka, Department of Biotechnology in Croatia. She obtained Japanese Government Monbusho Scholarship for PhD Student position at Kobe University, Japan and she received her PhD in Molecular Cellular Science from Kobe University, Japan. She was senior research assistant at Department of Histology and Embryology, Medical Faculty of Rijeka in a group of Prof. Stipan Jonjić where she focused on investigating the role of immunoevasion genes during chronic cytomegalovirus infection using molecular methods. She has authored 14 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals including high-impact journals such as The Journal of Clinical Investigation, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and two book chapters. Her work has been cited 226 times (h-index 7; i10-index 5). She was a reviewer for several international peer-reviewed scientific journals such as OncoTargets and Therapy, Tumor Biology, and Integrative Cancer Therapies. She has supervised six MSc theses and is currently supervising two PhD students. She has participated in two Japanese scientific projects (Grant-in-aid for scientific research No.11460021, PI Prof. Makio Takeda, Ministry of Science, Sport and Culture of Japan from 2000-2003, and Research for the Future Program of JSPS No.99L01205, PI Prof. Makio Takeda, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science from 2000-2003), and 3 national projects: High throughput analytical platforms for Adriatic-brand food quality and authenticity, Croatian science foundation from 2012-2015, Molecular mechanisms of immune evasion by cytomegalovirus, Project ID: 062-0621261-1263, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of Croatia from 2007-2009, and NK cell receptor regulation mediated by herpes viruses, Project ID: 0062004, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of Croatia from 2005-2006. She is currently a collaborator on the project funded by the Croatian science foundation No.7500 “Immunological and regenerative implications of corrosion of dental materials in children and adolescents” (IMUNODENT) (2015-2019) led by Associate prof. Stjepan Špalj from School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, and collaborator on project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation No. 2018-01 3900 “Dissecting the mechanisms of therapy resistance in BRAF-mutant colon cancer using an integrated –omics approach” (2019 – 2023) led by Associate prof. Mirela Sedić from University of Rijeka, Department of biotechnology. She is the PI of the University of Rijeka research grant No. uniri-biomed-18-257 1426 “Circadian genes in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma”. The main research interests of Dr. Markova-Car include molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms, the role of clock genes in pathogenesis of malignancies and other diseases (melanoma, laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and ischemic heart disease), genetic analysis, SNP analysis, and SNP genotyping.

Dr Markova-Car’s publications over the last 5 years: 

1. Grbčić P, Car EPM, Sedić M. Targeting Ceramide Metabolism in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: New Points for Therapeutic Intervention. Curr Med Chem. 2019. doi: 10.2174/0929867326666190911115722. The first two authors contributed equally to this paper
2. Pavelić SK, Markova-Car E, Klobučar M, Sappe L, Spaventi R. Technological Advances in Preclinical Drug Evaluation: the Role of -Omics Methods. Curr Med Chem. 2019. doi: 10.2174/0929867326666190711122819.
3. Peršić V, Raljević D, Markova-Car E, Cindrić L, Miškulin R, Žuvić M, Kraljević Pavelić S. Vitamin D-binding protein (rs4588) T/T genotype is associated with anteroseptal myocardial infarction in coronary artery disease patients. Ann Transl Med. 2019; 7(16):374.
4. Rahman S, Kraljević Pavelić S, Markova-Car E. Circadian (De)regulation in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Int J Mol Sci. 2019; 20(11). pii: E2662.
5. Sović I, Jambon S, Kraljević Pavelić S, Markova-Car E, Ilić N, Depauw S, David-Cordonnier MH, Karminski-Zamola G. Synthesis, antitumor activity and DNA binding features of benzothiazolyl and benzimidazolyl substituted isoindolines. Bioorg Med Chem. 2018; 26(8):1950-1960.
6. Franzoni A, Markova-Car E, Dević-Pavlić S, Jurišić D, Puppin C, Mio C, De Luca M, Petruz G, Damante G, Pavelić SK. A polymorphic GGC repeat in the NPAS2 gene and its association with melanoma. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2017; 242:1553-1558. The first two authors contributed equally to this paper
7. Bujak M, Ratkaj I, Markova-Car E, Jurišić D, Horvatić A, Vučinić S, Lerga J, Baus-Lončar M, Pavelić K, Kraljević Pavelić S. Inflammatory Gene Expression Upon TGF-β1-Induced p38 Activation in Primary Dupuytren's Disease Fibroblasts. Front Mol Biosci. 2015; 2:68.
8. Čengić T, Trkulja V, Kraljević Pavelić S, Ratkaj I, Markova-Car E, Mikolaučić M, Kolundžić R, Association of TGFB1 29C/T and IL6 -572G/C polymorphisms with developmental hip dysplasia: a case–control study in adults with severe osteoarthritis. Int Orthop. 2015; 39:793-798.
9. Sović I, Kraljević Pavelić S, Markova-Car E, Ilić N, Nhili R, Depauw S, David-Cordonnier MH, Karminski-Zamola G. Novel Phenyl and Pyridyl Substituted Derivatives of Isoindolines: Synthesis, Antitumor Activity and DNA binding features. Eur J Med Chem.2014; 87:372-385.
10. Markova-Car EP, Jurišić D, Ilić N, Kraljević Pavelić S. Running for time: circadian rhythms and melanoma. Tumour Biol. 2014; 35(9):8359-68.