András Málnási-Csizmadia’s lab

Proud to be part of an amazing success

Based on our research that was published in Cell earlier, Printnet Ltd. the majority owner and Eötvös University licensed out the MPH molecule family to Motorpharma Ltd. in July of 2021.

Our Cell paper got recognized by many media sites

Please find the graphical abstract here and read about our success in the international media: AP News, and the Hungarian media as well: 24.hu, Origo.

Our paper on stroke regeneration was published in Theranostics

Read our paper on stroke regeneration by direct myosin-2 inhibition in Theranostics here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32373216/

Our paper on MPH-220 published in Cell

Cell journal (impact factor: 38,637) just published our paper on MPH-220 a first-in-class antispastic drug candidate: Read here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33035452/

Radio interview

The Hungarian Klub Rádió interviewed Prof András Málnási Csizmadia and asked him about the long process of drug development from a molecule to the stores. You can listen to it on this link (in Hungarian).

Hungarian Stroke Society Conference

The Hungarian Stroke Society’s congress too place in Zalakaros, Hungary in September, where the Motorpharmacology research group sponsored and represented itself with a stall where Anna Rauscher introduced our project to the interested visitors.

Europen Muscle Conference 2019

Both our lab and Optopharma Ltd. Were present at this year’s European Muscle Conference in Kent, England. We have introduced our new compounds that will be available for sale soon. Until that visit out website for the currently available molecules www.optopharma.com.

European Stroke Organisations Conference 2019 (ESOC)

This year the annual European Stroke Organisation Conference was held in Milan, Italy in May. It is an essential meeting for us, where we can learn new information about the topic and also introduce our progress of the last year.

Novel approaches targeting Brain Barriers for effective delivery of therapeutics

Máté Gyimesi and Máté Pénzes traveled to Virginia for the Targeting Brain Barriers workshop from April 29^th to May 1^st. This topic is essential during our research in getting the inhibitor to the right area of the damaged brain. They took a poster as well which presented our results on the Ischemic Stroke regeneration and smooth muscle myosin-2 inhibition with para-aminoblebbistatin.

16th Alpbach Motors Workshop Myosin and Muscle, and Other Motors

Anna Rauscher and András Málnási-Csizmadia participated in this year’s 16^th Alpbach Motors Workshop Myosin and Muscle, and Other Motors. They both gave presentations and provided a poster for the event that contained the lab’s experimental details about myosin inhibition.

One of the posters showed our data from our research on inhibiting the skeletal muscle. The other showed data on how para-aminoblebbistatin inhibits Non-muscle and smooth muscle myosin.

U.S. roundtrip

From 27^th of February to the 10^th of March András Málnási Csizmaida and Máté Gyimesi traveled around the U.S. giving presentations at high prestigious places.

First, they went to Baltimore for the American Biophysical Society’s Annual meeting where Ádám Horváth also joined them. They presented two of our leading projects within Motorpharmacology with posters, that were well-received.

January the 18th, 2019 ELTE’s Open Day

We had a busy day on the 18th of January because of more than 700 high school visitors on ELTE’s Open Day. They all have been very excited about our running research projects at ELTE and raised very interesting questions. Maybe we can meet one day in our lab?

16th of December, 2018 A hungarian compound might help people suffering from ischemic stroke ( M1, Ma reggel)

András Málnási Csizmadia as well as Máté Gyimesi have talked about our research for the audience of a hungarian TV channel. You can watch it here ( 07:38-15:46)

December, 2018, ELTE’s Innovative Researcher Award for our research group’s patent

In recognition of the outstanding research achievement, ELTE established the ELTE Innovative Researcher Award in 2009. It is our pleasure that this year our research group has won this award for our stroke project.

In October, 2018 Mate Gyimesi has obtained the ELTE’s Promising Scientist Award in Life Sciences category

This award goes to young scientists, who has achieved breakthrough scientific results at Eötvös Loránd University. Mate’s winning proposal was about his journey from basic scientific investigation of myosin activation mechanism to our current drug development project that focuses on the isoform specific inhibition of myosin’s enzymatic mechanism. We are proud that our efforts to develop lead compounds to improve regeneration after ischemic stroke including neuronal, vascular and skeletal muscle relaxation aspects was appreciated.

In October 2018, Kinga Oravecz PhD has won a “Young Talents of the Nation” scholarship

We are proud to announce that Kinga Oravecz PhD has won a “Young Talents of the Nation” scholarship which provides IT tools to collect, conduct and process HPLC data of metabolomic and pharmacokinetic experiments

You can meet us at the Capital of Sciences, Budapest, 23rd of September

We are confident that inspiring younger generation is very important so that we will join this great event, www.tudomanyokfovarosa.hu on the 23rd of September, 2018

July 26, 2018 Our new review entitled “Targeting Myosin by Blebbistatin Derivatives: Optimization and Pharmacological Potential” has been published in Trends in Biochemical Sciences.

We constructed a SAR analysis based on blebbistatin derivatives and discuss the pharmacological perspectives of blebbistatin development. We also synthetize literature data on its characteristics and compare potentially useful alternatives, like para-nitroblebbistatin or para-aminoblebbistatin. The preprint is available here

May 25, 2018 Our new research article has been published in Scientific Reports

Our new paper entitled “Non-blocking modulation contributes to sodium channel inhibition by a covalently attached photoreactive riluzole analog” has been published in Scientific Reports. You can have a look at the article here

May 16-18, 2018 You can meet us at the Stroke Conference, Göthenburg, Sweden

András-Málnási Csizmadia, Máté Gyimesi as well as Máté Pénzes are participating the 4th European Stroke Conference in Göthenburg.

April 11-14, 2018 Our lab participated Neuronal Circuits conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York

July 12-15, 2017 Our lab participated: EMBL Symposia, Mechanical Forces in Biology, Heidelberg, Germany

On behalf of Ádám Horváth (PhD student), Máté Pénzes (PhD student), Demeter Túrós (MSc student) and Dániel Batora (MSc student) our laboratory also participated with 3 substantial topics at the conference. Read more…

May 8, 2017…and the Academic Award goes to…

In recognition of its outstanding scientific work, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences awarded three lecturers (László Nyitrai, Mihály Kovács as well as András Málnási Csizmadia) at the ELTE TTK Biological Institute. The prizes were handed over by the president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on May 8, 2017 at the public ceremony of the 188th General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Please find the article ( in hungarian) here.

Sept 26, 2016: Our new research article has been published in Current Pharmaceutical Design

Our new paper entitled ’Modeling Polypharmacological Profiles by Affinity Fingerprinting’ has been published in Current Pharmaceutical Design. You can read the PubMed summary of it here.

September 15, 2016: “Healing Tattoo” interview

András was invited to explain Molecular Tattoo’s significance of science to the audience of a hungarian Tv Channel’s thursday night live talk. You can watch the interview ( in hungarian) here .

May 31, 2016: Our new research article has been published in Scientific Reports

Our new paper entitled ’ A highly soluble, non-phototoxic, non-fluorescent blebbistatin derivative.’ has been published in the Scientific Reports. We present a new molecular tool for specific inhibition of various myosin II isoforms. The results demonstrate that this new blebbistatin derivative is highly soluble, non-fluorescent and photostable, in addition, it bears similar myosin II inhibitory properties to blebbistatin.The full text article is available here.

29 Feb, 2016: Our new research article has been published in Scientific Reports

Our new paper entitled ’High-Field High-Repetition-Rate Sources for the Coherent THz Control of Matter’ has been published in the Scientific Reports. The paper presents a new class of sources to prepare various fascinating nonequilibrium states in matter, based on superradiant enhancement of radiation from relativistic electron bunches in a compact electron accelerator. Our prototype source generates high-field THz pulses at unprecedented quasicontinuous-wave repetition rates up to the MHz regime. The full text article is available here.

September 21, 2015: EMC in Warsaw

Our laboratory participated at the European Muscle Research conference in Warsaw. András presented a lecture about the structural model of weak-binding actomyosin in the prepowerstroke state, and also a special memorial lecture for András Szent-Györgyi. György Hegyi presented a poster about para-nitroblebbistatin, and Ádám Horváth presented a poster about the cytokinesis inhibition project.

August 31, 2015: Farewell party for Bogi and Miklós

Bogi and Miklós will continue their postdoc careers in the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, USA. They will join the research laboratory of prof. Ron Davis. Congratulations!

August 9, 2015: Molecular Tattoo interview

András was invited to “M1 Ma Reggel” to talk about Molecular Tattoo. You can watch the interview starting from 23:00 at this link.

July 31, 2015: Molecular Tattoo reportage on M1 TV channel

Molecular Tattoo was presented in the “Minden Tudás” scientific reports of the M1 TV channel. You can watch it starting from 5:00 at this link.

July 17, 2015: opto-pharma.com launched

Optopharma Ltd. is a startup company that promotes the exploitation of research potential in optopharmacology by introducing Molecular Tattoo as a novel drug targeting platform. Optopharma also offers improved inhibitors for research, including para-nitroblebbistatin and azidoblebbistatin.

June 16, 2015: ERC celebrates the 5000th grantee

ERC celebrates today its 5000th grantee. On this occasion Andras and the Molecular Tattoo project was selected among 12 top projects that already have had scientific achievements. The project is highlighted on the celebration poster, the ERC homepage and the ERC facebook timeline. A brochure about the 12 top projects will also be distributed at the event organised in June, celebrating the 5000^th grant.

June 2, 2015 Our project “Optopharmacology: new vistas in drug discovery” selected for funding

Our joint project with Printnet Ltd. and Semmelweis University was selected for funding by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office. The Competitiveness & Excellence Contract project will focus on the application of our recently developed Molecular Tattoo technology in drug discovery research.

May 10, 2015 Molecular Tattoo media appearances

Our recently published Molecular Tattoo technology was presented by several mass media channels, including National Geographic, Index, Origo, Kossuth Radio and M1.

May 8, 2015: Doctoral Defence

Miklós Képiró successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled ‘Azidation Technology: From Photoaffinity Labeling to Molecular Tattooing’. The thesis can be downoaded from here.

April 23, 2015: Our new research article is the cover story in Chemistry&Biology

Our new paper entitled ‘Molecular Tattoo: Subcellular Confinement of Drug Effects.’ has been published as a featured article and cover story in Chemistry&Biology. We present an optopharmacological tool, Molecular Tattooing, which enables in vivo subcellular localization of drug effects. We describe the application of two-photon microscopy for covalent enrichment of photoreactive drugs on specific targets, confining drug effects solely to the irradiated area. The full text article is available here.

February 2, 2015: Doctoral Defence

Ágnes Peragovics successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled ‘Virtual affinity fingerprints in drug discovery: The Drug Profile Matching method’. Theses are available online.

January 16, 2015: Our new research article has been published in JBC

Our new paper entitled ‘Structural model of weak-binding actomyosin in the prepowerstroke state.’ has been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The dynamic computational simulation study presents the first weak-binding actomyosin model, representing the initial state of the powerstroke. The results demonstrate that the actin binding-induced structural rearrangements in the weak actin-binding, up-lever myosin are transmitted specifically through the activation loop towards the lever and nucleotide-binding site of myosin.Várkuti BH&Yang Z et al. J Biol Chem. 2015, 290.3: 1679-1688.

August 22, 2014: Our new research article has been published in JBC

We are co-authors of the paper entitled ‘Magnesium modulates actin binding and ADP release in myosin motors.’, which has been published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry. Our data on transient Mg binding kinetics with single tryptophan probes in the switch I (Trp-239) and switch II (Trp-501) region of Dictyostelium myosin II demonstrate these conserved regions of the active site are sensitive to Mg(2+) coordination. Overall, our results suggest that Mg(2+) reduces the ADP release rate constant and rate of attachment to actin. Swenson AM et al. J Biol Chem. 2014 Aug 22;289(34):23977-91.

September 1, 2014: Miljan Milunovic joined our HAS-ELTE Molecular Biophysics Group as a postdoctoral researcher

Miljan finished recently his PhD at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Vienna. He wrote his thesis about the synthesis and characterization of proline thiosemicarbazone conjugates and their copper(II) complexes. He will work on the development and synthesis of photoactive compounds.

June 20, 2014: Our new research article has been published in Angewandte Chemie

The online version of our new paper entitled ‘para-Nitroblebbistatin, the Non-Cytotoxic and Photostable Myosin II Inhibitor’ has been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The study demonstrates the in vitro and in vivo characterization of a photostable, C15 nitro derivative of blebbistatin with improved biological features: it is neither photo- nor cytotoxic while exhibiting identical myosin II inhibitory properties. Képiró M&Várkuti BH et al. Angew Chem. 2014, 126.31: 8350-8354.

June 13, 2014: Doctoral Defence

Anna Rauscher successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled ‘Internal friction in enzyme reactions’, which was evaluated summa cum laude. The thesis is available online.

December 13-14, Göd: Protein Interaction Meeting

Our winter Retreat Meeting took place at Göd, with invited speakers Prof. Dr. Georgios Tsiavaliaris (Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover) and Dr. Árpád Mike (Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest).

December 12, 2013: Doctoral Defence

Boglárka Várkuti has successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled ‘Structural Background of Force Generation in Myosins’ and has been evaluated summa cum laude. The thesis is available online.

October 2, 2013: Our new research article appeared in JMedChem

The online version of our new paper “Experimental Confirmation of New Drug-Target Interactions Predicted by Drug Profile Matching” appeared in JMedChem. The study demonstrates the predictive power of DPM verified by literature analysis as well as in vitro experiments. Read more

September 13, 2013: Open positions

We are looking for two postdoctoral experts in the fields of neurophysiology and 2-photon microscopy

Application deadline: October 10th

July 1, 2013: nEuroICT project launched

nEuroICT is a joint consortial project of Eötvös Loránd University, Semmelweis University and the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. András is the scientific leader of the project. Our main goal is to selectively modulate single synapses by light-activated compounds in a two photon laser microscope to investigate in vitro and in vivo neuronal networks. This project is funded by the National Development Agency. Read more (in Hungarian)

May 1, 2013: Open position

Postdoctoral position and funding opportunity

Application deadline: May 13th

December 24, 2012: Our new review article appeared in IUBMB Life

The online version of our new review “Internal friction in enzyme reactions” just appeared in IUBMB Life today. This review summarizes the results of experimental and theoretical studies that help to uncover the nature of internal friction. Read more

December 5, 2012: Our new research article appeared in JCIM

The online version of our new paper “Virtual Affinity Fingerprints for Target Fishing: A New Application of Drug Profile Matching” just appeared in JCIM today. Here we demonstrate the target prediction power of our DPM method. Read more

October 25, 2012: Visit at Zheijang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China

András was nominated honorary doctor of the Zheijang Sci-Tech University. Following the ceremony András gave a lecture about polypharmacology and our latest Drug Profile Matching results. Also potential cooperation in Traditional Chinese Medicine research was further discussed.

September 21, 2012: Visit of Andreas Bender, PhD

Andreas Bender (Lecturer at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics, University of Cambridge) visited our lab and presented “Computational
Approaches to Polypharmacology and Mode-of-Action Analysis”.

June 29, 2012: Our new research article appeared in JCIM

Our new paper “Contribution of 2D and 3D Structural Features of Drug Molecules in the Prediction of Drug Profile Matching.” just appeared in JCIM. The paper reports our comparative study on DPM and 2D and 3D similarity fingerprinting methods. Read more

June 25, 2012: Visit of Prof. Xu Chuanlian

Prof. Xu Chuanlian (Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China) visited our lab and presented their recent results in the research of active ingredients from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) compounds for anticancer activity.

May 30, 2012: Our new research article appeared in PNAS

Our new paper “Azidoblebbistatin, a photoreactive myosin inhibitor” just appeared in PNAS. The paper reports the synthesis of a novel tool in cell and myosin research. Read more

February 13, 2012: Our new research article appeared in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology

Our new paper “A novel actin binding site of myosin required for effective muscle contraction” just appeared in NSMB. The paper deals with the conserved actin-binding region of myosin named the ‘activation loop’. It interacts with actin, accelerateing the movement of the relay, stimulating myosin’s ATPase activity. This interaction results in efficient force generation, but it is not essential for the unloaded motility, as we demonstrated in vivo using transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans strains.

January 23, 2012: Our latest research article is the cover story of JCIM

Our new paper “Drug Effect Prediction by Polypharmacology-Based Interaction Profiling” just appeared in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling (JCIM) was selected as cover story. The paper deals with our new Pattern-based Drug Design approach, and its apparition is an important milestone for us. JCIM is the second most highly cited journal of the field, and as this issue is a sample issue of JCIM the full text paper is available free of charge.

January 1, 2012: HAS Research Group started

The HAS-ELTE Molecular Biophysics Research Group is established, see the members here. The group is funded by the grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for five years, and its project will focus on predicting relations of protein structural dynamics and enzymatic functions.

December 16-17, 2011: Rereat meeting in Visegrád

The Retreat Meeting with international participants, see the Programme here.

August 1, 2011: Research Communication appeared in FASEB Journal

FASEB Journal published in print the manuscript entitled “Temperature dependence of internal friction in enzyme reactions”, dealing with the elucidation the physical background of internal friction of enzyme reactions by investigating the temperature dependence of internal viscosity.

July 26, 2011: HAS Research Group application selected for funding

A new research group with András as the scientific leader will be started next January at Eotvos Lorand University. The group is funded by the grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for five years, and its project will focus on predicting relations of protein structural dynamics and enzymatic functions.

July 1-2, 2011: TÁMOP conference in Dobogókő

The subproject named “Large systems in science and their computational simulation” is part of the TÁMOP project of our university (see the homepage of the project in Hungarian here). The first conference of the subproject will take place in Walden Hotel, Dobogókő, with plenary and section lectures from the 17 research groups involved. Our research group will present the news in the MIF project, and we are also organizers of this event since András is the executive leader of the subproject. A detailed description and programme of the conference can be found here.

June 1, 2011: New malnalab logo

Malnalab has a new logo. As the previous one, the new logo is based on an artwork of Krisztina Lehoczky, and was designed by Zoltan Simon as an illustration for the review “Emerging complex pathways of the actomyosin powerstroke“. The illustration was selected for the cover of the TiBS issue in which this review appeared end of last year.

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