LABORATORY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF MICOBACTERIA

    Head: Assoc. Prof. Violeta Valcheva, PhD

Tel.: +359 2 979 31 61

E-mail: violeta_valcheva@mail.bg

Author ID Scopus (ScienceDirect): 14061470900, Valcheva, Violeta

ttps://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=14061470900

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Violeta_Valcheva/publications

https://scholar.google.bg/scholar?hl=en&q=violeta+valcheva&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=  

STAFF:

Assoc. Prof. d-r Violeta Valcheva

Tel.: +359 2 979 31 61

E-mail: violeta_valcheva@mail.bg

Author ID Scopus (ScienceDirect): 14061470900, Valcheva, Violeta

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=14061470900

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Violeta_Valcheva/publications

https://scholar.google.bg/scholar?hl=en&q=violeta+valcheva&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=  

 

Technician Albena Cherneva

 

Tel.: +359 2 979 31 61

E-mail: albenacherneva@abv.bg  

MAIN TOPICS OF RESEARCH:

⦁ Molecular epidemiology, phylogenetics and evolution of mycobacteria (DNA isolates from Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex : Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis). ⦁ Application of bioinformatics tools for analysis of mycobacteria. ⦁ Screening of newly synthesized compounds for their in vitro antimycobacterial activity. ⦁ Mycobacteria and L-transformation, latent tuberculosis, BCG vaccine, placental microbiome and immunological phenomenon during pregnancy & blood microbiota ⦁ Development of molecular-biological tools for detection and identification of mycobacterial L-forms. ⦁ Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance and tolerance in mycobacteria.  

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

    Head: Assoc. Prof. Violeta Valcheva, PhD

Tel.: +359 2 979 31 61

E-mail: violeta_valcheva@mail.bg

 

STAFF:

Assoc. Prof. d-r Violeta Valcheva

Tel.: +359 2 979 31 61

E-mail: violeta_valcheva@mail.bg

Author ID Scopus (ScienceDirect): 14061470900, Valcheva, Violeta

ttps://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=14061470900

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Violeta_Valcheva/publications

https://scholar.google.bg/scholar?hl=en&q=violeta+valcheva&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=  

 

Technician Albena Cherneva Tel.: +359 2 979 31 61 E-mail: albenacherneva@abv.bg  

MAIN TOPICS OF RESEARCH:

⦁ Molecular epidemiology, phylogenetics and evolution of mycobacteria (DNA isolates from Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex : Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis). ⦁ Application of bioinformatics tools for analysis of mycobacteria. ⦁ Screening of newly synthesized compounds for their in vitro antimycobacterial activity. ⦁ Mycobacteria and L-transformation, latent tuberculosis, BCG vaccine, placental microbiome and immunological phenomenon during pregnancy & blood microbiota ⦁ Development of molecular-biological tools for detection and identification of mycobacterial L-forms. ⦁ Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance and tolerance in mycobacteria.  

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

 

Valcheva, V., Perea, C., Savova-Lalkovska, T., Dimitrova, A., Radulski, L., Mokrousov, I., Bonovska, M. Mycobacterium bovis and M. caprae in Bulgaria: insight into transmission and phylogeography gained through whole-genome sequencing. BMC veterinary research, 2022. 18 (1), 1-12. doi https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-022-03249-w 

Slavchev, I. M., Mitrev, Y., Shivachev, B., Valcheva, V., Dogonadze, M., Solovieva, N., Dobrikov, G. M. Synthesis, Characterization and Complex Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity and Cytotoxicity of New Arylmethylidene Ketones and Pyrimidines with Camphane Skeletons. ChemistrySelect, 202 7(17), e202201339. https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202201339 

Angelova, V. T., Pencheva, T., Vassilev, N., K-Yovkova, E., Mihaylova, R., Petrov, B., Valcheva, V. Development of New Antimycobacterial Sulfonyl Hydrazones and 4-Methyl-1, 2, 3-thiadiazole-Based Hydrazone Derivatives. Antibiotics, 2022. 11(5), 562. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11050562 

 Chimshirova, R., Popova, M., Chakir, A., Valcheva, V., Dimitrov, S., Trusheva, B., Bankova, V. Antimicrobial triterpenoids and ingol diterpenes from propolis of semi-arid region of Morocco. Molecules, 2022. 27(7), 2206. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27072206 

Mileva, M, Ilieva, Y, Jovtchev, G, Gateva, S, Zaharieva, MM, Georgieva, A, Dimitrova, L, Dobreva, A, Angelova, Ts, Vilhelmova-Ilieva, N, Valcheva, V, Najdenski, H. Rose flowers—A Delicate Perfume or a Natural Healer?. Biomolecules, 2021, 11, 1, doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11010127, 127-159. 

Valcheva V., SavovaLalkovska T., Vyazovaya A., Dimitrova A. Bonovska M. Najdenski H First insight into phylogeography of Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium caprae from cattle in Bulgaria. Infection, Genetics and Evolution, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104240

Savova-Lalkovska T., Bonovska M., Dimitrova A., Valcheva V., Petkov Y., Hadjieva G., Najdenski H. Evaluation of classical and rapid methods for isolation and identification of Mycobacterium bovis in cattle in Bulgaria. Bulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine, 2019, doi: 10.15547/bjvm.2289 .

Georgieva K., Trusheva B., Uzunova V., Stoyanova T., Valcheva V., Popova M., Bankova V. New cycloartane triterpenes from bioactive extract of propolis from Pitcairn Island. Fitoterapia, 2018, 128: 233-241. doi: 10.1016/j.fitote.20105.024.

Doncheva, T., Kostova, N., Valcheva, V., Toshkovska, R., Vutov, V., Philipov, S. Hypepontine, a new quaternary alkaloid with antimicrobial properties. Natural product research, 2018, 1-7. doi:10.1080/14786412018.1495640

Yanev, S., Stoyanova, T., Valcheva V., De Montellano, O. Xanthates: Metabolism by Flavoprotein-Containing Monooxygenases and Antimycobacterial Activity. Drug Metabolism and Disposition, 2018. 46(8), 1091-1095. DOI:1124/dmd.118.081984, 1091-1095 

Philipova, I., Valcheva, V., Mihaylova, R., Mateeva, M., Doytchinova, I. and Stavrakov, G., Synthetic piperine amide analogues with antimycobacterial activity. Chem biology & drug design. 2017. doi: 10.1111/cbdd.13140

Mokrousov, I., Chernyaeva, E., Vyazovaya, A., Skiba, Y., Solovieva, N., Valcheva, V., Levina, K., Malakhova, N., Jiao, W.W., Gomes, L.L. and Suffys, P.N., A rapid assay for detection of the epidemiologically important Central Asian/Russian strain of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing genotype. J Clin Microbiol. 2017. pii: JCM.01551-17. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01551-17

Angelova, V., Valcheva, V., Pencheva, T., Voynikov, Y., Vassilev, N., Mihaylova, R., Momekov, G. and Shivachev, B., Synthesis, antimycobacterial activity and docking study of 2-aroyl-[1] benzopyrano [4, 3-c] pyrazol-4 (1H)-one derivatives and related hydrazide-hydrazones. Bioorg Med Chem Lett, 2017. 27 (13): 2996-3002. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2017.05.011 

Angelova V., Valcheva V, Vassilev N.G, Buyukliev R, Momekov G, Dimitrov I, Saso L, Djukic M, Shivachev B. Antimycobacterial activity of novel hydrazide-hydrazone derivatives with 2H-chromene and coumarin scaffold. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2017; 27(2): 223-227. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2016.11.071.

Mokrousov I, Vyazovaya A, Iwamoto T, Skiba Y, Pole I, Zhdanova S, Arikawa K, Sinkov V, Umpeleva T, Valcheva V, Alvarez Figueroa M, Ranka R, Jansone I, Ogarkov O, Zhuravlev V, Narvskaya O. Latin-American-Mediterranean lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Human traces across pathogen's phylogeography. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2016. 99:133-143. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2016.03.020.   

Valcheva V., Rastogi, N., Mokrousov, I. Prevalence of Latin-American-Mediterranean genetic family in population structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Bulgaria. Int. J of Mycobacteriology. 2015. 4(1): 22-23; doi:10.1016/j.ijmyco.2014.10.044 

 Slavchev I, Dobrikov GM, Valcheva V, Ugrinova I, Pasheva E, Dimitrov V. Antimycobacterial activity generated by the amide coupling of (-)-fenchone derived aminoalcohol with cinnamic acids and analogues. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2014 ; 24 (21): 5030-3.

Voynikov Y, Valcheva V, Momekov G, Peikov P, Stavrakov G. Theophylline-7-acetic acid derivatives with amino acids as anti-tuberculosis agents. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2014. pii: S0960-894X(14)00526-5. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2014.05.026.

Stavrakov G, Valcheva V, Philipova I, Doytchinova I Design of novel camphane-based derivatives with antimycobacterial activity. J Mol Graph Model. 2014. 51C:7-12.  Petkova Z, Valcheva V, Momekov G, Petrov P, Dimitrov V, Doytchinova I, Stavrakov G, Stoyanova M. Antimycobacterial activity of chiral aminoalcohols with camphane scaffold. Eur J Med Chem. 2014. 81C:150-157.  

Dobrikov GM, Valcheva V, Nikolova Y, Ugrinova I, Pasheva E, Dimitrov V. Enantiopure antituberculosis candidates synthesized from (-)-fenchone. Eur J Med Chem. 2014. 77:243-7.  

Stavrakov G, Philipova I, Valcheva V, Momekov G. Synthesis and antimycobacterial activity of novel camphane-based agents. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2014. 24(1):165-7.

Stavrakov G, Valcheva V, Philipova I, Doytchinova I. Novel camphane-based anti-tuberculosis agents with nanomolar activity. Eur J Med Chem. 2013. 70:372-9.  

Dobrikov GM, Valcheva V, Nikolova Y, Ugrinova I, Pasheva E, Dimitrov V. Efficient synthesis of new (R)-2-amino-1-butanol derived ureas, thioureas and acylthioureas and in vitro evaluation of their antimycobacterial activity. Eur J Med Chem. 2013. 63: 468-73.

Dobrikov GM, Valcheva V, Stoilova-Disheva M, Momekov G, Tzvetkova P, Chimov A, Dimitrov V. Synthesis and in vitro antimycobacterial activity of compounds derived from (R)- and (S)-2-amino-1-butanol - The crucial role of the configuration. Eur J Med Chem. 2012. 48:45-56  

Valcheva V., Mokrousov I., Panaiotov S., Bachiiska E., Zozio T., Sola C., Markova N., Rastogi N. Bulgarian specificity and controversial phylogeography of Mycobacterium tuberculosis spoligotype ST125_BGR. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 2010. 59: 90-99.

Valcheva V., Mokrousov I., Narvskaya O., Rastogi N., Markova N. Utility of new 24-locus variable-number tandem-repeat typing for discriminating Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates collected in Bulgaria. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2008.46: 3005-3011  

Valcheva V., Mokrousov I., Narvskaya O., Rastogi N., Markova N. Molecular snapshot of drug-resistant and drug-susceptible Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains circulating in Bulgaria. Infect. Genet. Evol. 2008. 8: 657-663.

Valcheva V., Mokrousov I., Rastogi N., Narvskaya O., Markova N. Molecular characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from different regions of Bulgaria. J Clin Microbiol. 2008. 46:1014-1018.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

Molecular Genetic Research :

• The first for Bulgaria molecular genetic research in the field of animal husbandry was conducted on the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium bovis strains circulating in Bulgaria, which will support the development of molecular epidemiology in veterinary medicine. Information has been added to the global database of Bulgarian Mycobacterium bovis
• For the first time in 40 years in Bulgaria, an in-depth comprehensive study for the presence of paratuberculosis in deer and mouflon was conducted. The characteristic pathoanatomical changes established for paratuberculosis were confirmed during the histological, microbiological and molecular genetic studies.
• More than 200 new diverse chemical structures were synthesized, including more than 50 chiral compounds derived from the natural terpenoids (+) – camphor and (-) – fenhon. Some of their biological and pharmacological activities have been screened.
• By applying the approaches of molecular modeling to characterize the relationship between the structure of the newly synthesized chemical compounds and their biological effect (QSAR model and molecular docking) the contribution of the individual structural fragments in the obtained compounds to their antimycobacterial activity is proved.
• Compounds with an R-2-amino-1-butanol motif, camphor-linked amino alcohols and amidodiols as well as coumarin containing hydrazide-hydrazone analogs are promising compounds for further development of new antituberculosis agents.

  Blood microbiota:

• Valuable insight and experience in the field of bacterial L-forms (cell wall-deficient forms); their formation and persistence in hosts, as well as their importance for latent infections, allergic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative diseases and autism spectrum disorders.
• Strong background about innovative methodology concerning cultivation, isolation and identification of L-forms (cell wall deficient variants of bacteria and fungi) from human blood and assessment of blood microbiota.