Education

Ph.D. in Immunology, University of Rijeka School of Medicine, Rijeka, Croatia, 1996
M.D., University of Rijeka School of Medicine, Rijeka, Croatia, 1989

Current position

Professor at Department of Histology & Embryology, University of Rijeka School of Medicine

Publications (since 2005)

1. Wensveen, F. M., Valentic, S., Šestan, M., Turk Wensveen, T. and Polić, B. (2015). Interactions between adipose tissue and the immune system in health and malnutrition. Semin Immunol.
   
2. Wensveen, F. M., Valentic, S., Šestan, M., Turk Wensveen, T. and Polić, B. (2015). The "Big Bang" in obese fat: Events initiating obesity-induced adipose tissue inflammation. Eur J Immunol 45(9): 2446-2456.
   
3. Belting, L., Hömberg, N., Przewoznik, M., Brenner, C., Riedel, T., Flatley, A., Polić, B., Busch, D. H., Röcken, M. and Mocikat, R. (2015). Critical role of the NKG2D receptor for NK cell-mediated control and immune escape of B-cell lymphoma. Eur J Immunol 45(9): 2593-2601.
   
4. Wensveen, F. M., Jelenčić, V., Valentić, S., Šestan, M., Wensveen, T. T., Theurich, S., Glasner, A., Mendrila, D., Štimac, D., Wunderlich, F. T., Brüning, J. C., Mandelboim, O. and Polić, B. (2015). NK cells link obesity-induced adipose stress to inflammation and insulin resistance. Nat Immunol 16(4): 376-385.
   
5. Vahl, J. C., Drees, C., Heger, K., Heink, S., Fischer, J. C., Nedjic, J., Ohkura, N., Morikawa, H., Poeck, H., Schallenberg, S., Riess, D., Hein, M. Y., Buch, T., Polic, B., Schonle, A., Zeiser, R., Schmitt-Graff, A., Kretschmer, K., Klein, L., Korn, T., Sakaguchi, S. and Schmidt-Supprian, M. (2014). Continuous T cell receptor signals maintain a functional regulatory T cell pool. Immunity 41(5): 722-736.
   
6. Chung, J. J., Markiewicz, M. A., Polić, B. and Shaw, A. S. (2014). Role of NKG2D in obesity-induced adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance. PLoS One 9(10): e110108.
   
7. Klingel, K., Fabritius, C., Sauter, M., Göldner, K., Stauch, D., Kandolf, R., Ettischer, N., Gahlen, S., Schönberger, T., Ebner, S., Makrigiannis, A. P., Bélanger, S., Diefenbach, A., Polić, B., Pratschke, J. and Kotsch, K. (2014). The activating receptor NKG2D of natural killer cells promotes resistance against enterovirus-mediated inflammatory cardiomyopathy. J Pathol 234(2): 164-177.
   
8. Trsan, T., Busche, A., Abram, M., Wensveen, F. M., Lemmermann, N. A., Arapovic, M., Babic, M., Tomic, A., Golemac, M., Brinkmann, M. M., Jäger, W., Oxenius, A., Polic, B., Krmpotic, A., Messerle, M. and Jonjic, S. (2013). Superior induction and maintenance of protective CD8 T cells in mice infected with mouse cytomegalovirus vector expressing RAE-1gamma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(41): 16550-16555.
   
9. Wensveen, F. M., Lenartić, M., Jelenčić, V., Lemmermann, N. A., ten Brinke, A., Jonjić, S. and Polić, B. (2013). NKG2D induces Mcl-1 expression and mediates survival of CD8 memory T cell precursors via phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. J Immunol 191(3): 1307-1315.
   
10. Vahl, J. C., Heger, K., Knies, N., Hein, M. Y., Boon, L., Yagita, H., Polic, B. and Schmidt-Supprian, M. (2013). NKT cell-TCR expression activates conventional T cells in vivo, but is largely dispensable for mature NKT cell biology. PLoS Biol 11(6): e1001589.
    
11. Mishra, R., Polic, B., Welsh, R. M. and Szomolanyi-Tsuda, E. (2013). Inflammatory cytokine-mediated evasion of virus-induced tumors from NK cell control. J Immunol 191(2): 961-970.
    
12. Cheney, E. E., Wise, E. L., Bui, J. D., Schreiber, R. D., Carayannopoulos, L. N., Spitzer, D., Zafirova, B., Polic, B., Shaw, A. S. and Markiewicz, M. A. (2012). A dual function of NKG2D ligands in NK-cell activation. Eur J Immunol 42(9): 2452-2458.
    
13. Zloza, A., Kohlhapp, F. J., Lyons, G. E., Schenkel, J. M., Moore, T. V., Lacek, A. T., O'Sullivan, J. A., Varanasi, V., Williams, J. W., Jagoda, M. C., Bellavance, E. C., Marzo, A. L., Thomas, P. G., Zafirova, B., Polić, B., Al-Harthi, L., Sperling, A. I. and Guevara-Patino, J. A. (2012). NKG2D signaling on CD8(+) T cells represses T-bet and rescues CD4-unhelped CD8(+) T cell memory recall but not effector responses. Nat Med 18(3): 422-428.
    
14. Markiewicz, M. A., Wise, E. L., Buchwald, Z. S., Pinto, A. K., Zafirova, B., Polić, B. and Shaw, A. S. (2012). Antigen-independent recruitment of CTL to pancreatic islets expressing an NKG2D ligand. Immunity 36:132-141.
    
15. Strid, J., Sobolev, O., Zafirova, B., Polić, B. and Hayday, A. (2011). The intraepithelial T cell response to NKG2D-ligands links lymphoid stress surveillance to atopy. Science 334(6060): 1293-1297.
    
16. Zafirova, B., Wensveen, F. M., Gulin, M. and Polić, B. (2011). Regulation of immune cell function and differentiation by the NKG2D receptor. Cell Mol Life Sci 68(21): 3519-3529.
    
17. Soderquest, K., Walzer, T., Zafirova, B., Klavinskis, L. S., Polic, B., Vivier, E., Lord, G. M. and Martín-Fontecha, A. (2011). Cutting edge: CD8+ T cell priming in the absence of NK cells leads to enhanced memory responses. J Immunol 186(6): 3304-3308.
    
18. Bourbeillon, J., Orchard, S., Benhar, I., Borrebaeck, C., de Daruvar, A., Dubel, S., Frank, R., Gibson, F., Gloriam, D., Haslam, N., Hiltker, T., Humphrey-Smith, I., Hust, M., Juncker, D., Koegl, M., Konthur, Z., Korn, B., Krobitsch, S., Muyldermans, S., Nygren, P. A., Palcy, S., Polic, B., Rodriguez, H., Sawyer, A., Schlapshy, M., Snyder, M., Stoevesandt, O., Taussig, M. J., Templin, M., Uhlen, M., van der Maarel, S., Wingren, C., Hermjakob, H. and Sherman, D. (2010). Minimum information about a protein affinity reagent (MIAPAR). Nat Biotechnol 28(7): 650-653.
    
19. Zafirova, B., Mandarić, S., Antulov, R., Krmpotić, A., Jonsson, H., Yokoyama, W. M., Jonjić, S. and Polić, B. (2009). Altered NK cell development and enhanced NK cell-mediated resistance to mouse cytomegalovirus in NKG2D-deficient mice. Immunity 31(2): 270-282.
    
20. Arapovic, J., Lenac, T., Antulov, R., Polic, B., Ruzsics, Z., Carayannopoulos, L. N., Koszinowski, U. H., Krmpotic, A. and Jonjic, S. (2009). Differential susceptibility of RAE-1 isoforms to mouse cytomegalovirus. J Virol 83(16): 8198-8207.
    
21. Jonjić, S., Polić, B. and Krmpotić, A. (2008). Viral inhibitors of NKG2D ligands: friends or foes of immune surveillance? Eur J Immunol 38(11): 2952-2956.
    
22. Jonjić, S., Babić, M., Polić, B. and Krmpotić, A. (2008). Immune evasion of natural killer cells by viruses. Curr Opin Immunol 20(1): 30-38.
    
23. Taussig, M. J., Stoevesandt, O., Borrebaeck, C. A., Bradbury, A. R., Cahill, D., Cambillau, C., de Daruvar, A., Dübel, S., Eichler, J., Frank, R., Gibson, T. J., Gloriam, D., Gold, L., Herberg, F. W., Hermjakob, H., Hoheisel, J. D., Joos, T. O., Kallioniemi, O., Koegl, M., Konthur, Z., Korn, B., Kremmer, E., Krobitsch, S., Landegren, U., van der Maarel, S., McCafferty, J., Muyldermans, S., Nygren, P. A., Palcy, S., Plückthun, A., Polic, B., Przybylski, M., Saviranta, P., Sawyer, A., Sherman, D. J., Skerra, A., Templin, M., Ueffing, M. and Uhlén, M. (2007). ProteomeBinders: planning a European resource of affinity reagents for analysis of the human proteome. Nat Methods 4(1): 13-17.
    
24. Buch, T., Polic, B., Clausen, B. E., Weiss, S., Akilli-Ozturk, O., Chang, C. H., Flavell, R., Schulz, A., Jonjic, S., Waisman, A. and Forster, I. (2006). MHC class II expression through a hitherto unknown pathway supports T helper cell-dependent immune responses: implications for MHC class II deficiency. Blood 107(4): 1434-1444.
    
25. Krmpotić, A., Hasan, M., Loewendorf, A., Saulig, T., Halenius, A., Lenac, T., Polic, B., Bubic, I., Kriegeskorte, A., Pernjak-Pugel, E., Messerle, M., Hengel, H., Busch, D. H., Koszinowski, U. H. and Jonjic, S. (2005). NK cell activation through the NKG2D ligand MULT-1 is selectively prevented by the glycoprotein encoded by mouse cytomegalovirus gene m145. J Exp Med 201(2): 211-220.