Institute of Cell Biology National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Department of Regulation of Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis

Head of Department – Rostyslav Stoika, Ph.D., Dr. Sci., Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The Department was established in 1993, and since that time it is headed by Rostyslav Stoika, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2006). He was elected a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Arts (2002), a Soros Professor (1997), and awarded the A.V. Palladin Prize in Biochemistry by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1986) and the R.E. Kavetsky Prize in Experimental Oncology (2007). State Prize in Science and Technology of Ukraine in 2020 (R. Stoika and R. Panchuk), Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine (2020), S.Z. Gzycky Prize in Biochemistry (2020). He was awarded the Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine "For Services to the Ukrainian People" (2023) and elected an Honorary Member of the Polish Biochemical Society (2025).

R.S. Stojka is the author and co-author of over 500 articles in scientific journals, including 324 articles in Scopus database journals. His Hirsch index is 28 (Scopus), total impact factor of publications (Scopus) is over 300, total number of citations is 2959 (Scopus). Co-author of 8 monographs, 21 chapters in monographs, including 9 monographs of international publishers. Author of 3 methodological manuals, co-author of 20 patents of Ukraine, including 10 patents for inventions, co-author of 2 applications for US and European PCT patents. Editor-in-chief of the monograph “Multifunctional nanomaterials for biology and medicine: molecular design, synthesis and application” (Naukova Dumka, 2017). Editor-in-chief of the monograph "Biomedical Nanomaterials From design and synthesis to imaging, application and environmental impact" (Springer-Nature, 2022), which was republished in German by the same publishing house in 2024.

The main areas of scientific research in the department:

1. Structural-functional relationships in the antineoplastic (in vitro) and antitumor (in vivo) action of new synthetic and natural compounds of different chemical structures.
2. The role of apoptosis in the mechanisms of action of new heterocyclic compounds (thiazoles, thiazolidinones, and their hybrids with other substances).
3. Mechanisms of action of new thiosemicarbazones as reactivators of mutant forms of the p53 protein. The role of immunogenic cell death in carcinogenesis.
4. Mechanisms of enhancing the action of biologically active substances when they are delivered to target cells by nanosized materials of synthetic and natural origin. The use of novel polymeric nanomaterials for the delivery of nucleic acids to target cells of different origins (microorganisms, mammalian, and plant cells).
5. Creation of composite materials for the treatment of superficial wounds, including infected ones.