About / Lab Staff

Kunka Kamenarova, PhD

NAME:

Kunka Nikolova Kamenarova

EDUCATION:

2007                 PhD degree in Genetics. Laboratory of Genetic Transformation, Agrobioinstitute, Sofia, Bulgaria.
2002               MSc degree in Biotechnology. University of Chemistry and Metallurgy, Sofia, Bulgaria.
2002               MSc degree in Ecology. University of Chemistry and Metallurgy, Sofia, Bulgaria.

PREVIOUS AND CURRENT EMPLOYMENT: 

2013 – Current    Post-doctoral fellow in Molecular Medicine Center, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical University – Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria.

2008 – 2013       Post-doctoral fellow in Genetics of Retinal Degenerations, Department of Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine CABIMER, Seville, Spain.

2007 – 2008      Post-doctoral fellow in Molecular Medicine Center, Medical University – Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria.

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY:

English, Spanish

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Genetics and biology of the inherited of retinal dystrophies; development and structure of the retina; collection of large pedigrees and linkage analysis for identification of new genes responsible for retinal degeneration.

PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH PROJECTS:

Principal Investigator
2008-2009    Effect of ABCA4 genetic variants on age-related macular degeneration and risk assessment in Bulgarian population.

Co-Investigator
2010-2013   Molecular mechanism of diseases associated with a major gene PRPF31 for autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Conserjeria de Innovacion, Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta, de Andalucia, Spain.

2004-2008     Genome analysis and finding Retinitis pigmentosa genes in the Bulgarian Roma population. Ministry of Education and Science, Bulgaria.


PUBLICATIONS: 

Sivadorai P, Cherninkova S, Bouwer S, Kamenarova K, Angelicheva D, Seeman P,
Hollingsworth K, Mihaylova V, Oscar A, Dimitrova G, Kaneva R, Tournev I, Kalaydjieva L
(2008) Genetic heterogeneity and minor CYP1B1 involvement in the molecular basis of primary
congenital glaucoma in gypsies, Clin Genet: 74: 82–87.

Kamenarova K, Cherninkova S, Romero Duran M, Prescott Q, Valdes Sanchez ML, Mitev V,
Kremensky I, Kaneva R, Bhattacharya SS, Tournev I, and Chakarova C (2012) A novel locus
for autosomal dominant cone-rod dystrophy maps to chromosome 10q, Eur J Hum Genet.
2012 Aug 29: 1-5. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.158.

Kamenarova K, Corton M, Garcia-Sandoval B, Fernandez-San Jose P, Panchev V, Avila-
Fernandez A, Lopez-Molina MI, Chakarova C, Ayuso C, Bhattacharya SS.
Novel GUCA1A Mutations Suggesting Possible Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Cone, Cone-
Rod, and Macular Dystrophy Patients. BioMed Research International, vol. 2013, Article ID
517570, 15 pages, 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/517570.

Lukovic D, Artero Castro A, Delgado AB, Bernal Mde L, Luna Pelaez N, Diez Lloret A, Perez
Espejo R, Kamenarova K, Fernandez Sanchez L, Cuenca N, Corton M, Avila Fernandez A,
Sorkio A, Skottman H, Ayuso C, Erceg S, Bhattacharya SS. Human iPSC derived disease
model of MERTK-associated retinitis pigmentosa. Sci Rep. 2015 Aug 11;5:12910. doi:
10.1038/srep12910.

Kamenarova K, Simeonov E, Tzveova R, Dacheva D, Penkov M, Kremensky I, Perenovska P,
Mitev V, Kaneva R. Identification of a novel de novo mutation of CREBBP in a patient with
Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome by targeted next-generation sequencing: a case report. Human
Pathology 2015 (in press).

Coussa R, Chakarova C, Ajlan R, Taha M, Kavalec C, Gomolin J, Khan A, Lopez I, Ren H,
Waseem N, Kamenarova K, Bhattacharya SS and Koenekoop R. Genotype and phenotype
studies in autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP) of the French Canadian founder
population. IOVS 2015 (accepted).

PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES

Sivadorai P, Cherninkova S, Bouwer S, Kamenarova K, Angelicheva D, Seeman P,
Hollingsworth K, Mihaylova V, Oscar A, Dimitrova G, Kaneva R, Tournev I, Kalaydjieva
L.Minor CYP1B1 involvement in the molecular basis of primary congenital glaucoma in
Bulgarian Gypsies. P07.105. European Human Genetics Conference, Barcelona, Spain, May
31 – June 3, 2008. Poster presentation.

Kamenarova K, Cherninkova S, Prescott Q, Romero Duran M, Krishna A, Valdes Sanchez
ML, Oscar A, Kaneva R, Kremensky I, Chakarova C, Tournev I, Bhattacharya S. A novel locus
for autosomal dominant cone-rod dystrophy in a family of Gypsy origin. 59th Annual Meeting
of The American Society of Human Genetics. Honolulu, Hawai, EEUU, October 20-24, 2009.
Poster presentation.

Cherninkova S, Tournev I, Kamenarova K, Georgiev R, Kaneva R, Bhattacharya S, Chakarova
C. Clinical assessment and genetic mapping of a novel locus for autosomal dominant cone-rod
dystrophy in a family of Romani (Gypsy) origin. 11th EURORETINA Congress. London, UK,
May 26-29, 2011. Poster presentation.

Lukovic D, Erceg S, Kamenarova K, Diez A, Valdes L, Massalini S, Ayuso C, Bhattacharya SS.  
Development of patient-specific IPS cells in order to model Leber congenital amaurosis disease.
International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) conference. Yokohama, Japan, June 13-
16, 2012. Poster presentation (T-1015).

Lukovic D, Diez Lloret A, Massalini S, Valdes L, Kamenarova K, Perez R, Corton M, Ayuso C,
Erceg S, Bhattacharya S. Development of patient-specific IPS cells in order to model retinal
disease. International Symposium on Cell and Gene-based Therapies. Granada, Spain, June
28, 2012. Poster presentation.

Kamenarova, K., Koev, K., Chakarova, C.,  Tzveova, R., Dacheva, D.,  Mitev, V., Bhattacharya,
S., Cherninkova, S., Kaneva, R. Mutation screening in autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa
family using targeted next generation sequencing. The European Human Genetics Conference,
30.05 -03.06.2013, Milano, Italy/Eur J Hum Genet, Volume 22,
Supplement 1, May 2014, J02.18, page 391.