Branka Divović-Matović, PhD

Branka Divović Matović was born on January 5, 1989. in Nova Varoš. In the same place, she finished elementary school and high school "Pivo Karamatijević" as a student of the generation and holder of the diploma "Vuk Karadžić". She graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade in 2013. with an average grade of 9,78. In 2020, she completed the academic specialization Pharmacotherapy in Pharmaceutical Practice and acquired the title of Pharmacy Specialist. She enrolled in doctoral academic studies in pharmacology in the 2013/14 school year at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Belgrade and is in the final phase of preparing a doctoral dissertation (mentor prof. dr Miroslav Savić).

Since April 2014, she has been working as a researcher-trainee on a project financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, and since January 2022 he has been a member of the project team of the IDEJE-Fund for Science of the Republic of Serbia. The main area of ​​research is behavioral pharmacology.

In the spring semester of the school year 2013/2014 she was engaged in the implementation of practical classes in Toxicology with an analyst within the integrated academic studies (Department of Toxicology "Academician Danilo Soldatović", Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade).

Since October 2014, she has been employed at the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, first as a teaching associate, then as an assistant. Participates in conducting practical classes in compulsory and elective subjects that are taught at the Department of integrated and specialist academic studies.

From 2013 to 2019, she attended educational workshops, seminars, congresses, schools: seminars "Introduction to Entrepreneurship" and "Management" within the project Promotion of Science through Entrepreneurship (2013); Federation of European Neuroscience Societes Featured Regional Meeting (Thessaloniki, 2015); modules for training of scientific and teaching staff within the program "TRAIN" (Training & Research for Academic Newcomers-TRAIN) (2017); Clinical Skills Summer School in the Treatment of Anxiety and Depression: Hands-on Practice and Heads-on Theory, at Radboud University, Niemgen, The Netherlands (2019); 32nd European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Congress (Copenhagen, 2019). She is the winner of the ECNP CDE (country with a developing economy) grant for 2019..

• Knutson DE, Kodali R, Divović B, Treven M, Stephen MR, Zahn NM, Dobričić V, Huber AT, Meirelles MA, Verma RS, Wimmer L, Witzigmann C, Arnold LA, Chiou LC, Ernst M, Mihovilovic MD, Savić MM, Sieghart W, Cook JM. Design and synthesis of novel deuterated ligands functionally selective for the γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABA(A)R) α6 subtype with improved metabolic stability and enhanced bioavailability. J Med Chem. 2018 Mar 22;61(6):2422-2446. IF (2018): 6,054

• Mitrović JR, Divović-Matović B, Knutson DE, Đoković JB, Kremenović A, Dobričić VD, Randjelović DV, Pantelić I, Cook JM, Savić MM, Savić SD. Overcoming the Low Oral Bioavailability of Deuterated Pyrazoloquinolinone Ligand DK-I-60-3 by Nanonization: A Knowledge-Based Approach. Pharmaceutics. 2021 Jul 31;13(8):1188. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13081188. IF (2020): 6,321
• Mitrović JR, Divović B, Knutson DE, et al. Nanocrystal dispersion of DK-I-56-1, a poorly soluble pyrazoloquinolinone positive modulator of α6 GABAA receptors: Formulation approach toward improved in vivo performance [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 18]. Eur J Pharm Sci. 2020;152:105432. IF (2019): 3,616
• Đorđević SM, Santrač A, Cekić ND, Marković BD, Divović B, Ilić TM, Savić MM, Savić SD. Parenteral nanoemulsions of risperidone for enhanced brain delivery in acute psychosis: Physicochemical and in vivo performances. Int J Pharm. 2017 May 25. pii: S0378-5173(17)30463-5. IF (2017): 3,862
• Vasović D, Divović B, Treven M, Knutson DE, Steudle F, Scholze P, Obradović A, Fabjan J, Brković B, Sieghart W, Ernst M, Cook JM, Savić MM. Trigeminal neuropathic pain development and maintenance in rats are suppressed by a positive modulator of α6GABA(A) receptors. Eur J Pain. 2019 Jan 11. IF (2019): 3,492
• Stamenić TT, Poe MM, Rehman S, Santrač A, Divović B, Scholze P, Ernst M, Cook JM, Savić MM. Ester to amide substitution improves selectivity, efficacy and kinetic behavior of a benzodiazepine positive modulator of GABA(A) receptors containing the α5 subunit. Eur J Pharmacol. 2016 Nov 15;791:433-443. IF (2016): 2.896
• Batinić B, Santrač A, Divović B, Timić T, Stanković T, Obradović AL, Joksimović S, Savić MM. Lipopolysaccharide exposure during late embryogenesis results in diminished locomotor activity and amphetamine response in females and spatial cognition impairment in males in adult, but not adolescent rat offspring. Behav Brain Res. 2015 Nov 24;299:72-80. IF (2015): 3,002
• Golani LK, Divović B, Sharmin D, Pandey KP, Mian MY, Cerne R, Zahn NM, Meyer MJ, Tiruveedhula VVNPB, Smith JL, Ping X, Jin X, Lippa A, Schkeryantz JM, Arnold LA, Cook JM, Savić MM, Witkin JM. Metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and anticonvulsant activity of a deuterated analog of the α2/3-selective GABAkine KRM-II-81. Biopharm Drug Dispos. 2022 Feb 22. doi: 10.1002/bdd.2313. IF (2020): 1,729
• Divović Matović B, Mitrović J, Knutson DE, Batinić B, Savić SD, Savić MM. Nanosuspension formulation of DK-I-56-1, a deuterated ligand functionally selective for the α6 GABAA receptors, induces hyperlocomotion in mice. 32nd European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP)  Congress, Copenhagen, Denmark, 7-10 September 2019
• Divović B, Batinić B, Timić Stamenić T, Santrač A, Savić M. Locomotor changes during habituation and saline- and amphetamine challenge in adult rats in utero exposed to LPS appear in adolescence in females only. FENS Featured Regional Meeting, Thessaloniki, Greece, 7 – 10 October, 2015.