Biography
Marko Kreft is a biologist and a full professor in the field of animal physiology at the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana. After graduating from Bežigrad Grammar School and completing his compulsory military service, he enrolled in the study of Biology at the University of Ljubljana (Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology). He graduated in 1995 and then continued with doctoral studies in Medical Sciences at the University of Ljubljana (Faculty of Medicine), where he worked as a young researcher. After completing his studies, he first worked as a researcher at Educell d.o.o., and then as a research associate at Celica Biomedical Center d.o.o. He later continued his career at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, where he served as a senior research associate at the Institute of Pathophysiology.
He is responsible for several physiology-related courses, including neurophysiology, human physiology, functional cell biology, nutritional physiology, and animal physiology, taught at the Biotechnical Faculty, the Faculty of Arts, and the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana. He has supervised or co-supervised eleven doctoral dissertations.
From 2006 to 2014, he served as Secretary General of the Slovenian Physiological Society. Since 2016, he has been President of the Society for Stereology and Quantitative Image Analysis, and since 2015 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the international SCI-indexed journal Image Analysis and Stereology.
He is currently Head of the Department of Biology.
Recognitions, awards
- In 2005, he received the Zois Award of the Republic of Slovenia in recognition of significant scientific achievements in the field of cellular physiology.
- In 2014, he received the Commendation of the Biotechnical Faculty for the best teaching staff member.
- In 2025, he received the Puh Award of the Republic of Slovenia for outstanding achievements in the development and application of an advanced form of cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of prostate cancer.
Research Fields
Marko Kreft conducts research on metabolic processes in the brain, brain ageing, and the mechanisms of circadian rhythms, with a particular focus on neurodegeneration and brain signalling pathways, including noradrenergic, cannabinoid, and adenosine signalling. His research employs advanced microscopic and optophysiological approaches, including STED super-resolution microscopy, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based techniques, and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
In addition to neurophysiology, he also studies the fundamental biophysical mechanisms of biological membrane fusion. In his experimental work, he uses advanced electrophysiological methods, particularly patch-clamp. He develops methodologies for image analysis and quantitative image processing and is the author of numerous software tools for research applications. He also contributes to the development of advanced cellular therapies and cell-based medicinal products.