Head of the group: Florina Zakany, MD, PhD
e-mail: florina.zakany@med.unideb.hu
Members of the group:
Florina Zakany, MD, PhD, assistant professor
Tamas Kovacs, MD, PhD, assistant professor
Timea Hajdu, MSc, PhD, research fellow
Mate Szabo, MD, PhD student
Bence Cs. Szabo, MD, PhD student
Kitti Kurtan, MD, PhD student
Rosemary Chandrakanthi Kothalawala, PhD student
Rita Utasi-Szabo, laboratory assistant
Research projects:
1. Novel cholesterol reduction-based membrane lipid therapy against SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A virus infection
2. Optimization and testing of functionalized antitumor nanoparticles combined with membrane lipid therapy
3. Investigation of structural and lateral organization of membranes and their alterations in diseases
4. Investigation of the roles of membrane lipid changes in Parkinson’s disease-associated microglia
Grants:
-MTA LENDÜLET ‘MOMENTUM’ GRANT LP2026-14/2026 (282.141.000 HUF, PI: Zakany F.)
-NKFIH STARTING 153195 (125.000.000 HUF, PI: Kovacs T.)
-NKFIH OTKA FK146740 (44.000.000 HUF, PI: Zakany F.)
-NKFIH OTKA FK143400 (42.000.000 HUF, PI: Kovacs T.)
Highlighted publications:
Tamas Kovacs*, Kitti Kurtan*, Bernadett Pályi, Zoltán Kis, Mohamed Mahdi, Jesús Borrego, József Tőzsér, Zoltan Varga, Peter Nagy, Gyorgy Panyi, Florina Zakany: The Selective DHCR24 Blocker SH42 Inhibits ACE2 Binding and Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Proteins More Efficiently Than Atorvastatin
RESEARCH (WASH D C) 2026 May 14:9:1280
DOI: 10.34133/research.1280
Tamas Kovacs, Kitti Kurtan, Zoltan Varga, Peter Nagy, Gyorgy Panyi, Florina Zakany: Veklury® (remdesivir) formulations inhibit initial membrane-coupled events of SARS-CoV-2 infection due to their sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin content
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY 2023 Aug; 180(16):2064-2084.
DOI: 10.1111/bph.16063.
Florina Zakany, Rosemary Chandrakanthi Kothalawala, Olivér Pavela, Lajos Szente, Zoltan Varga, Gyorgy Panyi, Tamás Beke-Somfai, Peter Nagy, Tamas Kovacs: The Many Layers of Membrane Biophysics: Environment-Sensitive Fluorophores Report on Structural Organization of Biological Membranes at Various Depths
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY 2026 Jun 23;98(24):17638-17654.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5c07236
Tamas Kovacs, Bence Cs Szabo, Rosemary Chandrakanthi Kothalawala, Virag Szekelyhidi, Peter Nagy, Zoltan Varga, Gyorgy Panyi, Florina Zakany: Inhibition of the HV1 voltage-gated proton channel compromises the viability of human polarized macrophages in a polarization- and ceramide-dependent manner
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY 2024 Dec 17:15:1487578.
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1487578
Rosemary Chandrakanthi Kothalawala, Csenge Makay, Lajos Szente, Zoltan Varga, Gyorgy Panyi, Peter Nagy, Florina Zakany*, Tamas Kovacs*: Disorder in Order-Related Membrane Biophysical Parameters: An In-Depth Analysis of Di-4-ANEPPDHQ Generalized Polarization
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS 2026 Apr 23;17(16):4723-4731.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6c00048
Bence Cs. Szabo, Mate Szabo, Peter Nagy, Zoltan Varga, Gyorgy Panyi, Tamas Kovacs*, Florina Zakany*: Novel insights into the modulation of the voltage-gated potassium channel KV1.3 activation gating by membrane ceramides
JOURNAL OF LIPID RESEARCH 2024 Jul 15;65(8):100596.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jlr.2024.100596.
Florina Zakany, Istvan M. Mandity, Zoltan Varga, Gyorgy Panyi, Peter Nagy*, Tamas Kovacs*: Effect of the lipid landscape on the efficacy of cell-penetrating peptides
CELLS 2023 Jun 23; 12(13):1700.
DOI: 10.3390/cells12131700.
Tamas Kovacs*, Florina Zakany*, Peter Nagy: It Takes More than Two to Tango: Complex, Hierarchal, and Membrane-Modulated Interactions in the Regulation of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
CANCERS (BASEL). 2022 Feb 14;14(4):944.
DOI: 10.3390/cancers14040944.
Tamas Kovacs, Peter Nagy, Gyorgy Panyi, Lajos Szente, Zoltan Varga, Florina Zakany: Cyclodextrins: Only Pharmaceutical Excipients or Full-Fledged Drug Candidates?
PHARMACEUTICS 2022 Nov 22;14(12):2559.
DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14122559
Florina Zakany, Mate Szabo, Gyula Batta, Levente Karpati, Istvan Mandity, Zoltan Varga, Gyorgy Panyi, Peter Nagy, Tamas Kovacs: An ω-3, but not an ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid decreases membrane dipole potential and stimulates endo-lysosomal escape of penetratin
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY 2021 Apr 12;9:647300. eCollection 2021.
DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.647300.
Tamas Kovacs, Tamas Sohajda, Lajos Szente, Peter Nagy, Gyorgy Panyi, Zoltan Varga*, Florina Zakany*: Cyclodextrins exert a ligand-like current inhibitory effect on the KV1.3 ion channel independent of membrane cholesterol extraction
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES. 2021 Nov 4; 8:735357.
DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.735357