Instructors
Dr. Špela Baebler
Špela has a bachelor's degree in biology, and in 2006 she got her PhD in the area of biotechnological science. In the time of her training prior to and during her PhD work, she participated in restoring and using high-performance methods for the analysis of gene expression in plants. At the same time, she was also involved in implementing the use of high-performance methods for analysing gene expression in pharmacy, both in designing new active substances as well as in characterising product strains and the process itself of producing medicines.
She participated as an organiser and lecturer in the international summer school in the field of plant bioinformatics that took place in Ljubljana in 2005. Since 2006, she has been organising practical workshops once or twice a year to train users on real-time PCR devices, which so far have been attended by more than 60 trainees both from Slovenia and abroad. In the Department she is responsible for purchasing major research equipment. She is also a member of several professional associations.
Prof. Dr. Kristina Gruden
Prof. dr. Kristina Gruden is one of the leading molecular biology researchers in Slovenia. She is head of Omics unit at Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology at National Institute of Biology. One of the fields of her research and educational work is development and validation of molecular diagnostic methods for quantification of genetically modified organisms (GMO) based on real-time PCR. Her contribution to the outstanding quality and high level of molecular diagnostic expertise (including real-time PCR) at the Department is enormous. Outstanding quality and level of molecular diagnostic expertise (including real-time PCR) at the Department lead to the authorisation of the NIB as the National reference laboratory for GMO detection in in feed and food by the Ministry of healthy and by Ministry of agriculture, forestry and food. inistry of agriculture, forestry and food. Beside diagnostics she is also an expert for implementation and application of systems biology for study of interactions between plants, pathogens and pests.
Dr. Urška Čepin
Urška has a bachelor's degree in biology and a PhD in the field of biotechnical sciences (in 2011). During her PhD she was dealing with development and validation of real-time PCR methods for virus detection and quantification in problematic grapevine tissues. During this time she also got a lot of experiences with electron microscopy and organization of congresses. She has also taken part in numerous workshops and courses in the field of qPCR and virology. Since 2010 she has been co-instructor of practical workshops on real-time PCR technology.
Dr. Matjaž Hren
Matjaž has a bachelor’s degree in biology and got his PhD in 2007 in the field of biotechnical sciences. The central methods he used and developed during his PhD were real-time PCR, DNA microarray and the pertinent bioinformatics.
As the assistant quality system leader at his department at the NIB, where he actively participated in introducing a quality system according to ISO 17025, he has a great deal of experience in this area. He has been involved in the development of modern diagnostic methods and their implementation in laboratories, and has participated in a project for automating laboratory work and in organising events such as congresses and summer courses. After his PhD, within the framework of the Systher project, he started working more intensively in the area of the use of systems biology approaches in the field of medicine (cancer treatments) and research of stem cells, where he had to combine his knowledge of biology, medicine, bioinformatics and data mining and devise a concept for the commercialisation of the acquired knowledge.
Špela has a bachelor's degree in biology, and in 2006 she got her PhD in the area of biotechnological science. In the time of her training prior to and during her PhD work, she participated in restoring and using high-performance methods for the analysis of gene expression in plants. At the same time, she was also involved in implementing the use of high-performance methods for analysing gene expression in pharmacy, both in designing new active substances as well as in characterising product strains and the process itself of producing medicines.
She participated as an organiser and lecturer in the international summer school in the field of plant bioinformatics that took place in Ljubljana in 2005. Since 2006, she has been organising practical workshops once or twice a year to train users on real-time PCR devices, which so far have been attended by more than 60 trainees both from Slovenia and abroad. In the Department she is responsible for purchasing major research equipment. She is also a member of several professional associations.
Prof. Dr. Kristina Gruden
Prof. dr. Kristina Gruden is one of the leading molecular biology researchers in Slovenia. She is head of Omics unit at Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology at National Institute of Biology. One of the fields of her research and educational work is development and validation of molecular diagnostic methods for quantification of genetically modified organisms (GMO) based on real-time PCR. Her contribution to the outstanding quality and high level of molecular diagnostic expertise (including real-time PCR) at the Department is enormous. Outstanding quality and level of molecular diagnostic expertise (including real-time PCR) at the Department lead to the authorisation of the NIB as the National reference laboratory for GMO detection in in feed and food by the Ministry of healthy and by Ministry of agriculture, forestry and food. inistry of agriculture, forestry and food. Beside diagnostics she is also an expert for implementation and application of systems biology for study of interactions between plants, pathogens and pests.
Dr. Urška Čepin
Urška has a bachelor's degree in biology and a PhD in the field of biotechnical sciences (in 2011). During her PhD she was dealing with development and validation of real-time PCR methods for virus detection and quantification in problematic grapevine tissues. During this time she also got a lot of experiences with electron microscopy and organization of congresses. She has also taken part in numerous workshops and courses in the field of qPCR and virology. Since 2010 she has been co-instructor of practical workshops on real-time PCR technology.
Dr. Matjaž Hren
Matjaž has a bachelor’s degree in biology and got his PhD in 2007 in the field of biotechnical sciences. The central methods he used and developed during his PhD were real-time PCR, DNA microarray and the pertinent bioinformatics.
As the assistant quality system leader at his department at the NIB, where he actively participated in introducing a quality system according to ISO 17025, he has a great deal of experience in this area. He has been involved in the development of modern diagnostic methods and their implementation in laboratories, and has participated in a project for automating laboratory work and in organising events such as congresses and summer courses. After his PhD, within the framework of the Systher project, he started working more intensively in the area of the use of systems biology approaches in the field of medicine (cancer treatments) and research of stem cells, where he had to combine his knowledge of biology, medicine, bioinformatics and data mining and devise a concept for the commercialisation of the acquired knowledge.