We study how geometry
shapes life at the
molecular scale
Research Areas
01
Protein Folding & Energy Landscapes
How knotted proteins fold and move.
02
Complex Topology: Knots, Lassos & Links
Molecular entanglements in proteins and RNA.
03
Drug Design & Therapeutics
Topology-guided targeting of proteins.
04
Structural Bioinformatics & Databases
Open tools for structural analysis.
Most-cited works
1
Genomics-aided structure predictionPNAS 2012
251 cit.
2
Conservation of complex knotting and slipknotting patterns in proteinsPNAS 2012
244 cit.
3
KnotProt: a database of proteins with knots and slipknotsNAR 2014
203 cit.
4
Dodging the crisis of folding proteins with knotsPNAS 2009
177 cit.
5
Stabilizing effect of knots on proteinsPNAS 2008
149 cit.
Grants & Awards
National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences
EMBO Advanced Collaboration Grant
AIM SQuaRE Grant - American Institute of Mathematics
IDUB Grant - Design of Artificial Proteins
2026
NSF NCEMS Working Group
2024
EMBO Advanced Collaboration Grant
2024
AIM SQuaRE Grant
2023
IDUB Grant — Artificial Protein Design
2017
International Rising Talents
2017
EMBO Young Investigator Programme
2016
L'Oréal Poland For Women in Science
2014
EMBO Installation Grant
2013
INTER Grant Laureate
0citations
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0h-index
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Software & Databases
AlphaKnot 2.0
Knotting analysis of AlphaFold models at proteome scale
KnotProt 2.0
Database of knotted & slipknotted proteins from PDB
AlphaLasso
Lasso motifs in AlphaFold structures — server & database
LassoProt
Lasso topology protein database classified by piercing number
Topoly
Python package for polymer topology calculation
Genus
Genus characteristics for biomolecules via Seifert surfaces
LinkProt
Protein links database — covalently linked protein chains
PyLasso
Lasso topology identification — PyMOL plugin & web tool
Team & Collaborators
IIMCB
Prof. Janusz Bujnicki
International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw · RNA structure prediction · comparative genomics · protein engineering
Rice
Prof. Jose Onuchic
Rice University, Houston, USA · Energy landscape theory · protein folding · AWSEM coarse-grained models
Sorbonne
Prof. Martin Weigt
Sorbonne University / UPMC, Paris, France · DCA methods · protein coevolution · statistical inference · sequence analysis
St T
Prof. Eric Rawdon
University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, USA · Knot theory in proteins · knotted curves in space · topology of open chains
+
University of Ljubljana & more
All international collaborations
From the Lab
23 Feb 2026
NSF NCEMS Working Group Grant awarded to Joanna Sulkowska
23 May 2025
Protein DICES - we invite you June 10-11, 2025!
11 May 2025
Knots and Proteins Workshop in Bologna (19-20.05.2025)
21 Nov 2024
Prof. Joanna Sulkowska awarded EMBO Advanced Collaboration Grant
19 Jul 2024
Joanna Sulkowska AIM SQuaRE grant, Caltech, USA
19 Jul 2024
Workshops for Polish Children's Fund
19 Jul 2024
Kamil Luczkiewicz Master's Degree, Faculty of Physics, UW
Archive — 2015 to 2022
19 Sep 2022
Roksana Malinowska defended her Bachelor's thesis in Bioinformatics, MIM UW
16 Sep 2022
Michal Sanocki defended his Bachelor's thesis in Faculty of Chemistry, UW
25 Jul 2022
Kick off meeting (25-28.07) for OPUS LAP grant
25 Jul 2022
Lectures of Prof. Jozef Przytycki (George Washington University, USA)
19 Jun 2021
22-26 June 2021: Entanglement days of biopolymers, online
20 Dec 2018
Ministry Scholarships for Maciej Piejko and Bartosz Gren
21 Nov 2018
Joanna Sulkowska was promoted to associate professor at the University of Warsaw
20 Nov 2018
Agata Perlinska and Aleksandra Jarmolinska received Preludium grants from NCN
15 Oct 2018
Maciej Piejko received an award for the best presentation at YoungChem
10 Oct 2018
Joanna Sulkowska is one of the winners of the 2018 National Science Centre Award
18 Jun 2018
Start of the workshop for the Polish Children's Fund
14 Apr 2018
Dni Otwarte Kampusu Ochota - warsztaty dla dzieci
29 Mar 2018
Jeff Noel from AG Daumke Max Delbruck Center, Berlin visits our laboratory
14 Mar 2018
Joanna Sulkowska is the Person of the Year in MocArty Challenge
8 Mar 2018
Katarzyna Tych from Technische Universitat Muenchen visits our laboratory
10 Jan 2018
Perlinska and Jarmolinska received support from the College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies
14 Dec 2017
Ministry Scholarships for Aleksandra Gierut and Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski
7 Oct 2017
Jarmolinska and Perlinska awarded for best posters at Coarse Graining Workshop
29 Sep 2017
Aleksandra Jarmolinska won best talk at X Symposium of the PTBI
27 Sep 2017
Mobilnosc PLUS grant for Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski
20 Sep 2017
Aleksandra Gierut defended her Bachelor's thesis on Jagiellonian University in Cracow
26 Jul 2017
Etiuda grant for Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski
25 Jul 2017
New computational grant on Okeanos
24 Jul 2017
Wiktoria Domagala starts an internship
12 Jul 2017
Jacek Kedzierski defended his Bachelor's thesis at Faculty of Chemistry, UW
19 Jun 2017
Polish Children's Fund - start of the workshop
16 May 2017
START stipend for Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski
8 Apr 2017
Workshop for children on Ochota Campus Open Days
26 Mar 2017
Joanna Sulkowska talked about her scientific career in TVN
3 Mar 2017
Vasilina Zayats joined the group at CeNT, UW
3 Mar 2017
Rafal Jakubowski joined the group at CeNT, UW
16 Jan 2017
EMBO Small Grant awarded for Joanna Sulkowska
12 Jan 2017
MISMaP UW traineeship for Joanna Macnar and Jacek Kedzierski
6 Jan 2017
Mgr Gaja Klaudel joined the group at CeNT, UW
15 Dec 2016
Minister of Science and Higher Education Scholarship for Joanna Macnar
8 Dec 2016
Joanna Sulkowska talked about her scientific career in Radio Zet
24 Nov 2016
Joanna Sulkowska awarded L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science habilitation scholarship
15 Nov 2016
NCN Preludium grant for Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski
30 Sep 2016
Wanda Niemyska chosen to give a talk at ICTP Workshop, Trieste
29 Sep 2016
Award for Agata Perlinska for best MSc. thesis in bioinformatics in 2015
29 Sep 2016
Best poster award to Aleksandra Jarmolinska at 9th Symposium of PTBI, Bialystok
10 Sep 2016
EMBO Networking grant to Joanna Sulkowska to support the 2nd Congress Bio
15 Aug 2016
Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski internship at University of Lausanne (Prof. Stasiak)
12 Aug 2016
Aleksandra Jarmolinska at the XXXI Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro
20 Jul 2016
Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski chosen to give a talk at Knots in Hellas, Ancient Olympia
18 Jul 2016
Young researchers grant DSM for Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski
22 Jun 2016
EMBO networking support for 6th Visegrad Symposium on Structural Systems Biology
22 Jun 2016
Grant Early Science, ICM UW
22 Jun 2016
Joanna Sulkowska nominated for AcademiaNet: Profiles of Leading Women Scientists
22 May 2016
Master's thesis of Agata Perlinska was nominated for an award
22 May 2016
Rector (US) award for Wanda Niemyska
8 Apr 2016
8-10 April 2016: EMBO Workshop in Jablonna
6 Apr 2016
First prize for best talk and best slides for Pawel Dabrowski at EMBO workshop
5 Apr 2016
Internship in UCSB for Wanda Niemyska
1 Apr 2016
Idea Plus grant to Joanna Sulkowska
3 Mar 2016
EMBO networking support for Young Scientist Workshop on Computational Biology 2
2 Feb 2016
BIRS events to Joanna Sulkowska
2 Jan 2016
EMBO Small grant to Joanna Sulkowska
1 Jan 2016
Our 6th Visegrad Symposium on Structural Systems Biology
22 Oct 2015
Inter grant to Wanda Niemyska
22 Oct 2015
DSM grant to Pawel Dabrowski-Tumanski
1 Oct 2015
Welcome to new Ph.D students!
1 Jan 2015
Our 6th Visegrad Symposium on Structural Systems Biology (announcement)