Current position
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR | 2022 - CURRENT | CHARLES UNIVERSITY, CZ
Education
PHD STUDIES | 2016 - 2021 | CHARLES UNIVERSITY, CZ
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové
- Dissertation Thesis: „Physiological and pharmacological aspects of tryptophan and serotonin homeostasis in the fetoplacental unit” - Supervisor: Prof. PharmDr. František Štaud, Ph.D.
- Defended Cum Laude
MASTER'S STUDIES | 2011 - 2016 | CHARLES UNIVERSITY, CZ
- Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové
- Diploma Thesis: „Study on expression and functional activity of MATE1 transporter in human placenta and choriocarcinoma cell line BeWo; Relevance for transport of lamivudine”
- Graduated Cum Laude
A-LEVEL STUDIES | 2009 - 2011 | SEAFORD COLLEGE, UK
- Major: Human Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics
- Minor: Pre-U Cambridge Chemistry, Further Mathematics
- Activities and societies: Wilberforce Prefect; School Prefect; Head of the Library; Deputy Head of the boarding house; Member of Sixth Form Council; Part of Young Enterprise group (Financial assistant)
Scientific experience abroad
2019/20
- 5-month research stay at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Bern (Prof. Christiane Albrecht) – Bern, CH
2019
- 1-week laboratory training at Placenta Lab, Jena University Hospital (Prof. Udo Markert) – Jena, GER
Teaching activities
- Since 2022 - Lecturer of Pharmacology I for pregradual students (English program).
- Consultant of three diploma thesis students (all successfully finished) at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
- Supervisor of two diploma thesis students (both ongoing) at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Notable awards
- Josef Hlavka prize 2022 for best student graduates of Charles University
- Hradec Králové City Medal for Student Creative Work 2021
- The Carl Ludwig Award 2020 by the Scandinavian Physiological Society and Acta Physiologica Journal
- Angelini University Award 2020 - First place
- YW Loke New Investigator Travel Award - IFPA Conference 2019 in Buenos Aires, AR
- 43rd International Chemistry Olympiad 2011/UK Royal Society of Chemistry: Bronze Certificate
Grants
2023; Charles University 4EU+ Minigrants
- Principal investigator
- Grant number: 4EU+/23/F1/03
- Title of project: The programming power of the placenta: A short-lived organ with a long-lasting impact on global health
- Participating Universities: University of Copenhagen, University of Geneva
2022-2025; JUNIOR GRANT OF CZECH HEALTH RESEARCH COUNCIL (AZV)
- Principal investigator
- Grant number: NU22J-01-00066
- Title of project: Placental NLRP3 inflammasome signaling in gestational diabetes and the therapeutic potential of metformin
2019; RECTOR’S MOBILITY FUND
- Grant number: FM/c/2019-1-093
- Financial support of the 5-month research stay in Switzerland
2017-2019; GRANT AGENCY OF CHARLES UNIVERSITY (GAUK)
- Principal researcher
- Grant number: 1574217/C/2017
- Title of project: Study on interaction of antiretroviral drugs with uptake transporters expressed in the placental microvillous membrane
Languages
- ALBANIAN - Native language
- ENGLISH - Fluent
- CZECH - Intermediate level
Research interests
- Placental metabolism of tryptophan
- Placental steroid synthesis, metabolism, and release
- Intrauterine inflammation and fetal neurodevelopment
- Nutrient and drug transport across the placenta, role of ABC and SLC transporters
- Depression and use of antidepressant drugs in pregnancy
- Inflammasome activation in sterile inflammatory diseases
Publication activities
(Based on Scopus database search as of March 2023):
- 20 articles (9 as first-author, 11 as co-author)
- Citations: 289
- H-index: 10
- Karahoda R*, Vachalova V*, Portillo R, Mahrla F, Viñas-Noguera M, Abad C, Staud F. Developmental expression of catecholamine system in the human placenta and rat fetoplacental unit. Sci Rep 14, 6948 (2024).
- Cifkova E*, Karahoda R*, Stranik J, Abad C, Kacerovsky M, Lisa M, Staud F. Metabolomic analysis of the human placenta reveals perturbations in amino acids, purine metabolites, and small organic acids in spontaneous preterm birth, EXCLI Journal. 2024; 23, 264–282.
- Abad A, Karahoda R, Orbisova A, Kastner P, Heblik D, Kucera R, Portillo R, Staud F. Pathological shifts in tryptophan metabolism in human term placenta exposed to LPS or poly I:C, Biology of Reproduction, 2023; ioad181.
- Staud F, Pan X, Karahoda R, Dong X, Kastner P, Horackova H, Vachalova V, Markert U, Abad C. Characterization of a human placental clearance system to regulate serotonin levels in the fetoplacental unit. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2023; 21, 74.
- Cerveny L, Karbanova S, Karahoda R, Horackova H, Jiraskova L, Ali MNH, Staud F. Assessment of the role of nucleoside transporters, P-glycoprotein, breast cancer resistance protein, and multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 in the placental transport of entecavir using in vitro, ex vivo, and in situ methods. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2023 Feb 16;463:116427.
- Horackova H, Vachalova V, Abad C, Karahoda R, Staud F. Perfused rat term placenta as a preclinical model to investigate placental dopamine and norepinephrine transport. Clin Sci (Lond). 2023 Jan 31;137(2):149-161.
- Anandam KY, Abad C, Synova T, Vinas-Noguera M, Bolboli B, Vokral I, Karahoda R, Staud F. Precision-cut rat placental slices as a model to study sex-dependent inflammatory response to LPS and Poly I:C. Front Immunol. 2022 Dec 20;13:1083248.
- Horackova H, Karahoda R, Vachalova V, Turkova H, Abad C, Staud F. Functional characterization of dopamine and norepinephrine transport across the apical and basal plasma membranes of the human placental syncytiotrophoblast. Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 8;12(1):11603.
- Vachalova V, Karahoda R, Ottaviani M, Anandam KY, Abad C, Albrecht C, Staud F. Functional reorganization of monoamine transport systems during villous trophoblast differentiation: evidence of distinct differences between primary human trophoblasts and BeWo cells. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2022 Aug 4;20(1):112.
- Karahoda R*, Zaugg J*, Fuenzalida B, Kallol S, Moser-Haessig R, Staud F, Albrecht C. Trophoblast Differentiation Affects Crucial Nutritive Functions of Placental Membrane Transporters. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 2022; 10:820286.
- Horackova H, Karahoda R, Cerveny L, Vachalova V, Ebner R, Abad C, Staud F. Effect of Selected Antidepressants on Placental Homeostasis of Serotonin: Maternal and Fetal Perspectives. Pharmaceutics 2021; 13(8):1306.
- Karahoda R, Robles M, Marushka J, Stranik J, Abad C, Horackova H, Tebbens J, Vaillancourt C, Kacerovsky M, Staud F. Prenatal inflammation as a link between placental expression signature of tryptophan metabolism and preterm birth. Human Molecular Genetics 2021; ddab169.
- Karahoda R, Kallol S, Groessl M, Ontsouka E, Anderle P, Fluck C, Staud F, Albrecht C. Revisiting Steroidogenic Pathways in the Human Placenta and Primary Human Trophoblast Cells. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22(4):1704.
- Abad C*, Karahoda R*, Kastner P, Portillo R, Horackova H, Kucera R, Nachtigal P, Staud F. Profiling of Tryptophan Metabolic Pathways in the Rat Fetoplacental Unit During Gestation. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21(20).
- Karahoda R*, Abad C*, Horackova H, Kastner P, Zaugg J, Cerveny L, Kucera R, Albrecht C, Staud F. Dynamics of Tryptophan Metabolic Pathways in Human Placenta and Placental-Derived Cells: Effect of Gestation Age and Trophoblast Differentiation. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 2020; 8(937).
- Karahoda R, Horackova H, Kastner P, Matthios A, Cerveny L, Kucera R, Kacerovsky M, Tebbens J, Bonnin A, Abad C, Staud F. Serotonin homeostasis in the materno-foetal interface at term: Role of transporters (SERT/SLC6A4 and OCT3/SLC22A3) and monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) in uptake and degradation of serotonin by human and rat term placenta. Acta Physiologica 2020; 229(4):e13478.
- Karbanova S, Cerveny L, Jiraskova L, Karahoda R, Ceckova M, Ptackova Z, Staud F. Transport of ribavirin across the rat and human placental barrier: Roles of nucleoside and ATP-binding cassette drug efflux transporters. Biochem Pharmacol 2019; 163:60-70.
- Karahoda R, Ceckova M, Staud F. The inhibitory effect of antiretroviral drugs on the L-carnitine uptake in human placenta. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2019; 368:18-25.
- Cerveny L, Ptackova Z, Ceckova M, Karahoda R, Karbanova S, Jiraskova L, Greenwood S, Glazier J, Staud F. Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter 1 (ENT1, SLC29A1) Facilitates Transfer of the Antiretroviral Drug Abacavir across the Placenta. Drug Metab Dispos 2018; 46(11):1817-1826.
- Staud F, Karahoda R. Trophoblast: The central unit of fetal growth, protection and programming. Int J Biochem Cell Biol 2018; 105:35-40.
* The authors contributed equally and share the first authorship.