Dr Milena Čavić
Principal research fellow
President of the SDIR Executive Committee
Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia / www.ncrc.ac.rs
BIOGRAPHY
Milena Čavić holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Belgrade, Serbia and is currently employed at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia as a Senior Research Associate. She gained international scientific experience at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and at the Research Center Borstel, Germany. Her current research focus involves investigating molecular mechanisms of response and resistance to chemo-, radio-, targeted and immunological anticancer therapies, as well as the advancement and implementation of cancer early detection and screening programs. Since 2019, Dr Cavic has served as the Co-chair of the Diagnostics Working group of the Screening & Early Detection Committee of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). She is a coordinator of one Horizon Europe Twinning project, and a participant in one Horizon 2020 MSCA-RISE and one PROMIS project of the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia. Dr Cavic is a (co)author of over 45 scientific publications and has served as an expert evaluator of proposals in Horizon (Life sciences panel) and European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programs. She is passionately involved in the education of young scientists as a lecturer and mentor at the University of Belgrade, Serbia and University of Barcelona, Spain.
Dr Milica Pešić
Principal research fellow
Vice-president of the SDIR Executive Committee
Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković” / www.ibiss.bg.ac.rs
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Milica Pešić was born on 14 th May 1971 in Belgrade. She finished her undergraduate studies in Molecular Biology and Physiology at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Biology in 1995. At the same faculty, she defended her Master’s Thesis in 1998 and was honored with Ph.D. in Biology in 2008. During her Ph.D. studies, she postponed her career due to 5 maternity leaves (6 years). As a Research Trainee at ICN Galenika, Center for Biomedical Research, Laboratory for Tumor Biology, Belgrade, and Laboratory for Molecular Biology »ICN Pharmaceuticals« – Costa Mesa, California, USA, Dr. Pešić was receiving a scholarship from the Serbian Ministry of Science for her Master’s studies (1995-1997). For almost all of her ncareer, she was employed at the Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković” – National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, starting from 1998 when she became a Research Assistant. Dr. Pešić was promoted to Research Associate in 2009, Senior Research Associate in 2013, and Principal Research Fellow in 2018. Currently, she holds the Head of the Department of Neurobiology position. Her research area encompasses cancer research, molecular biology, cell biology, preclinical studies, and experimental biomedicine. According to SCOPUS, Dr. Pešić co-authored 96 publications, cited by 1446 publications, with an h-index of 22. She directly supervised three Ph.D. students during her career. Dr. Milica Pešić is a PI of a project on Functional diagnostics in non-small cell lung carcinoma – a new concept for the improvement of personalized therapy in Serbian patients – TargetedResponse (2022 – 2025) funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia within the program IDEAS. She is a vice-president of the Serbian Association for Cancer Research, she was a member of the University Council for Interdisciplinary, Multidisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies at the University of Belgrade, and she is still a member of the Steering Committee of the Institute for Medical Research – National Institute of the Republic of Serbia.
Dr Ivana Matić
Senior research associate
Secretary of SDIR
Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia
www.ncrc.ac.rs
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Ivana Matić was born on March 21, 1983 in Belgrade, Serbia. She obtained degree Master of Science in Molecular Biology and Physiology at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade in 2009 and finished her graduate studies with an average grade of 9,66. Ivana obtained a doctoral degree – Ph.D. in Biology/Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade in 2013 and had the maximum average grade of 10,00. Ivana Matić is employed at the Laboratory for Radiobiology and Experimental Oncology (former Laboratory for Biological Response Modifiers) of the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia since 2009. She is a Senior Research Associate since 2020. Her research interest is focused on experimental oncology, molecular biology of cancer, and radiobiology. Ivana Matić participated in two national scientific projects and two COST actions. She is a member of the Serbian research group for cooperation with the Radiogenomics Consortium. Ivana was a leader of the team who received a grant for the realization of a research project in the field of radiobiology from the Center for Leadership Development in May 2017. Ivana was a mentor of one Ph.D. thesis at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. She is currently the mentor of two Ph.D. students. Ivana participated in three Commissions for doctoral thesis defense. She has published 62 original research articles in international scientific journals; her h-index is 15 according to the SCOPUS database. Ivana is a member and secretary of the Serbian Association for Cancer Research (SDIR) since SDIR was founded in 2010. She is a member of the SDIR Executive Committee since 2014.
Dr Radmila Janković
Principal research fellow
Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia
www.ncrc.ac.rs
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Radmila Janković Radmila Jankovic, PhD, holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Belgrade, Serbia and is currently employed at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia as a Scientific Director with the degree of Principal Research Fellow.
In 2005., R. Jankovic won an Avon Foundation-AACR International Scholars Award in Breast Cancer Research and has spent two years of postdoctoral training in Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown Medical Center, Georgetown University, Washington DC. After returning to Serbia, following the expansion of new molecular targeted therapies and their accelerated approval in Serbia, R. Jankovic with the group of colleagues, established the first Pharmacogenomics service in Serbia in 2008.
Accordingly, her primary scientific focus is molecular oncology of solid tumors in order to discover new potential prognostic and predictive biomarkers. The focus of most published papers and communications is the expression of biomarkers in solid tumors, as well as pharmacogenomics, i.e., studies of the influence of gene alterations on the response to a particular type of targeted therapy.
Since 2015, she is a national representative in EMQN (European Molecular Genetics Quality Network) Board of Experts for Molecular Testing in Lung Cancer. Dr Jankovic is also an active member of ASCO (ASCO volunteer), ESMO and many national scientific societies R. Janković is involved as a lecturer in a teaching module at Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. Over the years, Dr. Jankovic has mentored many doctoral dissertations.
R. Jankovic was leading scientist in several national research projects and partner coordinator on EU project: LungCARD – MSCA-RISE: Blood test for clinical therapy guidance of non-small cell lung cancer 2017-. R. Jankovic is a liaison officer representing National Cancer Research Center at European Commision.
Dr Ana Krivokuća
Senior research associate
Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia
www.ncrc.ac.rs
BIOGRAPHY
Dr sc Ana Krivokuća Ana Krivokuca is a molecular biologist with a PhD in Genetics from Belgrade University and MSc in Bioethics from Clarkson University, US. She has more than 10 years of experience in cancer research, clinical laboratory genetics and bioethics. As a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia she has been investigating genetic basis of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers in Serbia and she has participated in forming genetic counseling center at the Institute. She initiated incorporation of next generation sequencing technology into routine clinical use for hereditary cancers in Serbia. She introduced new laboratory protocols and has organized the pipeline for sample collection, data analysis and results interpretation based on next generation sequencing.
Besides wide array of laboratory techniques including high-throughput genomic technologies, she is experienced in interpretation of genomic data, variant annotation and genetic counseling. She is skilled to conduct informed consent process and to recruit the patients/participants for research projects. She has demonstrated an ability to manage and conduct both research and clinical laboratory protocols and to communicate with a variety of scientific colleagues through her previous work experience. She has received numerous awards and fellowships from national and international organizations, she has published 9 scientific papers as a first author and more than 30 scientific publications overall. Besides her everyday clinical work, she has been actively involved in many national and EU research projects as a senior researcher.
Dr Katarina Zeljić
Associate professor
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology
www.bio.bg.ac.rs
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Katarina Zeljić, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Biology at the University of Belgrade, has extensive experience in molecular genetics and epigenetics of human pathologies, mainly cancer. Her research interest is mainly focused on molecular biomarkers in cancer, gene association studies – association of gene variants with cancer risk and non-coding RNAs. She obtained PhD from the Faculty of Biology – University of Belgrade in the field of molecular genetics of oral cancer. Since 2011, she has been employed in the Faculty of Biology of the University of Belgrade, first as a teaching associate, assistant, assistant professor, and associate professor since December 2017. Dr Zeljic is an independent professor for the courses Basics of medical genetics and Advanced medical genetics at undergraduate and master studies, respectively. She has supervised several masters and doctoral thesis. Dr Katarina Zeljic was trained at the Cancer Research Centre at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden in 2014 during her research visit. In 2013 she has been awarded by L’Oreal-UNESCO fellowship “For Women in Science” for outstanding achievements. In a period of 2017-2019, dr Katarina Zeljić has completed a master's degree in bioethics at Clarkson University, United States as a scholar of US National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center. She is the author of 30 scientific papers cited more than 500 times, h-index 15.
Dr Marko Radulović
Principal research fellow
Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia
www.ncrc.ac.rs
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Marko Radulović received his BSc, M.Sc. and PhD degrees from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade and worked in cancer research at the Immunology Research Centre in Belgrade; Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany; University College London and Imperial College London. He is currently a Research Professor at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology in Belgrade. His research includes the investigation of molecular and morphological prognostic and predictive markers in cancer. He has published over 70 scientific articles. ORCID link: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2314-7457