Institute of Zoology

Our Institute specializes in research in all the basic fields of zoology, from the oldest to the most recently developed ones.

The oldest, "classical" area of interest of our academic staff has been faunistics, within which the research in the following fields is being conducted at the moment:

• chorological research on Polish weevils (Curculionidae): their distribution and habitat preferences
• biodiversity of butterflies in South American tropical rainforests
• Polish prosobranch gastropods
• taxonomy and morphology of Acari

Morphological aspects of animal life are analyzed in our institute at all levels of biological organization: systems, organs, tissues, cells and organelles as well as at the level of whole organisms and their populations, which are subject to selection, changeability and evolution in their natural environment. The research concerns such areas as:

• the functioning of immune system in different animal groups, on various level of evolutionary advancement, including the relations between the immune system and the nervous system and the endocrine system,
• the mechanisms of releasing formed elements of blood from bone marrow to the cardiovascular system,
• vertebrate muscle structure (fish heart muscle), morphology of vertebrate yolk platelets, the architecture of amphibian oocyte cell membrane, the dynamics of gap junctions in the uterus tissue of humans and chosen rodents,    
• neuronal plasticity of insect visual system, glycoprotein structure and changeability, the role of glycosidation of membrane proteins in carcinogenesis and in animal cells' becoming capable ofmetastasis,   
• genetic factors responsible forthe quality of mammal gametes,
• the influence of exogenous hormones on ovary and testicle cell cultures and cocultures, the role of cytoskeleton in steroidogenesis, immunoendocrinological reactions in testicle, dynamics of ovarian steroids, the function of granulosa cells in cumulus oophorus, the role of steroid hormone receptors in gonads, prolactin activity in ovary and estrogen activity in gonads,
• vertebrate and invertebrate orogenesis and embryogenesis (within the field of developmental biology), brain tissue reaction to damage,
• within neurophysiology: cellular mechanism of long-lasting efficiency of signal transmission in local synaptic connections within motor cortex and neuronal mechanism of mammal circadian clock,    
• child and adolescent development in southern Poland and the development of historic populations of Lesser Poland and Krakow.

• Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Kanada
• Brandeis University, Waltham, USA
• Stockholm University, Szwecja
• Instituto Cajal, Madryt, Hiszpania
• Free University Berlin, Niemcy
• Uniwersytet w Caen, Francja
• Uniwersytet Kalabryjski w Cosenzy, Włochy
• Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Univeristy of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
• University of Oslo, Norway
• Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
• Institute of Public Health in Ostrava, National Reference Laboratory for Analysis of POPs Ministry of Health CR, Czech Republic
• NIOMECH, Bielefeld, Germany
• New York Medical College, New York, USA
• Instituto Butatan – Laboratorio de Fizjopatologia, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazylia
• Instytut Genetyki Człowieka, Uniwersytet Georga Augusta, Getynga, Niemcy
• Naukowy Instytut Badań Medycznych, Londyn, Anglia
• Centre de Biophysique Moleculaire Universite d'Orleans, France
• Dipartimento di Chimica Organica e Biochimica Complesso Universitario Monte S`Angelo Napoli, Italy
• Uniwersytet w Cardiff, Wielka Brytania
• Uniwersytet w Wageningen, Holandia
• Uniwersytet w Heidelbergu. Niemcy
• Instytut Badania Mózgu Maxa-Plancka, Frankfurt, Niemcy
• Instytut Biologii Rozwoju Maxa-Plancka, Tybinga, Niemcy
• Uniwersytet Ruhr, Bochum, Niemcy
• Uniwersytet Luisa Pasteura, Starsburg, Francja

• Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. M. Nenckiego PAN, Warsaw
• Akademia Rolnicza, Kraków
• Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski, Olsztyn
• Instytut Rozrodu i Badania Żywności PAN, Olsztyn
• Pomorska Akademia Medyczna, Szczecin
• Akademia Medyczna, Białystok
• Instytut Genetyki i Hodowli Zwierząt PAN, Jastrzębiec
• Instytut Fizjologii i Żywienia Zwierząt, PAN, Jabłonna
• Zakład Fizjologii Mięśni, Instytut Fizjologii Człowieka, AWF, Kraków
• Instytut Biochemii Lekarskiej
• Collegium Medicum, Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Środowiskowe Laboratorium Spektrometrii Mas, IBB PAN, Warsaw
• Instytut Farmakologii PAN, Kraków

• Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. M. Nenckiego PAN, Warszawa
• Uniwersytet Rolniczy, Kraków
• Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski, Olsztyn
• Instytut Rozrodu i Badania Żywności PAN, Olsztyn
• Pomorska Akademia Medyczna, Szczecin
• Akademia Medyczna, Białystok
• Instytut Genetyki i Hodowli Zwierząt PAN, Jastrzębiec
• Instytut Fizjologii i Żywienia Zwierząt, PAN, Jabłonna
• Zakład Fizjologii Mięśni, Instytut Fizjologii Człowieka, AWF, Kraków
• Instytut Biochemii Lekarskiej
• Collegium Medicum, Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Środowiskowe Laboratorium Spektrometrii Mas, IBB PAN, Warszawa
• Instytut Farmakologii PAN, Kraków
• Instytut Polimerów i Materiałów Węglowych PAN, Zabrze