Peter Racz Email and Phone Number

Toxys is a Dutch biotech company that provides innovative in vitro toxicity screening solutions to rapidly identify hazardous and potential carcinogenic properties of novel compounds during the early phases of product and drug development. We aim to bring information to our customers that is essential to make informed decisions on which compounds to progress in the drug/compound development pipeline, thereby contributing to the development of better medicines and products and to reduce animal testing.Every novel chemical compound that is developed by pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetics or food companies has to be rigorously tested for human health hazards before being considered safe for marketing. Current in vitro genotoxicity tests, which are an essential part of compound risk assessment, generally suffer from a low predictive value, which is a major financial drain for industry. To meet the demands from industry for better tests, Toxys is offering the ToxTracker assay

I supervised national and international projects in the field of toxicology an drug discovery /drug delivery. Besides my scientific role I was responsible for the development of a business plan that supports the structural changes of the pharmaceutical activities of ZF-screens (ZF-pharma)Scientific Projects: Omics based biomarker identification for developmental toxicology (NC3R CRACK-IT PREDART) Toxicological and antibacterial efficacy screening platform for plant extracts (EFRO Extracten Bibliotheek)Applicability domain of the zebrafish larvae model in anti-tuberculosis drug development (IMI PreDiCT-TB)Development of dextran and coild coil motif based drug delivery system (collaboration with LU)Commercialization of zebrafish tools for biomedical application (FishForPharma)Management activities: Developing and executing business plan for ZF-screens Developing novel activities (Toxicology screening and Crispr mutant line generation service)Analyzing market and develop marketing plan and campaigns Supervising PhD students and research techniciansPresenting project status for funding agenciesRepresenting ZF-screens in company fairs and scientific conferences

My project "Host factors involved in mycobacterial infection" is supported by the European FP7 Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship program (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF - 274389 - TB host genes). The aim of the project is to use the zebrafish embryo model for tuberculosis (TB) to increase understanding of host genes involved in susceptibility and resistance to mycobacterial infection.I’ve been involved in molecular characterization of novel immune related genes, transcriptome data analyses, and generation of new transgenic zebrafish lines.Core activities:Project scheduling, performing experiments Presenting data, reporting to project leader and funding agencyWriting scientific publications and grant applications Supervising students

Development of a biomarker based multiplex ELISA diagnostic system for tuberculosis. Core activities: -Writing scientific grant application, -Project scheduling, performing experiments (analyse transcriptome profiles, manage databases) -Prepare short- and long-term objectives of project

Study of a novel member of the Myelin Protein Zero FamilyMy thesis is focused on the investigation of the Mpzl3, a novel gene with un- known function that was identified through microsatellite mapping of the rough coat mutation in mice. e Mpzl3 gene is a member of the myelin protein zero family that consists of proteins containing immunoglobulin domains and with suggested roles related to immune function and cell adhesion. Functional studies of the Mpzl3 gene in two model organisms, mouse and zebra sh, and investigations of the human orthologue by in silico techniques, suggested that the product of this gene plays a role in the im- mune system and is a potential candidate gene for immune-related hereditary hair loss diseases in human.

High-throughput Tools for Biomedical Screens in Zebrafish (ZF-TOOLS)Establishment of a high-throughput data analyses pipeline for microarray and miRNA assay Preparing scientific presentation and thesisSupervising students and research assistants

Identification and annotation of a novel mutation involved in epidermis and hair follicle differentiationThe rough coat (rc), an autosomal-recessive mutation, arose spontaneously in C57BL/6J mice. Homozygous rc mice develop severe skin and hair abnormalities, including cyclic and progressive hair loss and sebaceous gland hypertrophy. The rc locus was previously mapped to Chromosome 9. To elucidate the genetic basis underlying the rc phenotype development, we carried out positional cloning, and mapped the rc locus to a 246-kb interval. We identified a missense mutation within a novel open reading frame in the rc/rc mice, which is predicted to encode a cell adhesion molecule with the highest homology to myelin protein zero (MPZ) and myelin protein zero-like 2 (MPZL2, also called epithelial V-like antigen). We therefore named this gene Mpzl3 (myelin protein zero-like 3). The mutation in the rc/rc mice occurred at a highly conserved residue within the conserved Ig-like V-type domain, thus likely altering the MPZL3 protein function. Reverse transcriptase-PCR and Western blot analyses revealed expression of the Mpzl3 gene in various adult organs, including the skin. Using indirect immunofluorescence, we detected MPZL3 protein in the keratinocytes and sebocytes in the skin. Results from this study identified a novel gene encoding a predicted adhesion protein whose mutation in the rc/rc mice likely caused the rc phenotype.

Microsatellite mapping of a novel mutation involved in epidermis and hair follicle differentiation, Core activities: Performing experimentsWriting MSc thesis

Mutation screening of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and long QT syndrome Core Activities: Performing large scale screeningBuilding up family tree (pedigree analyses)Preparing scientific presentations

Genetic analysis of the Medicago species Core activities: Performing experiments