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The European Research Council’s most prestigious grant is once more going to the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC MU) in Brno. Biologist Richard Štefl’s project, aiming to study in detail the mechanism of the creation and functioning of genomic ‘dark matter’, succeeded in competition with experienced scientists from around the world. His team’s research concerned with non-coding RNA, sometimes termed genomic ‘dark matter’, has thus gained support to the tune of €2 million for a period of five years. Over the last two years this is the second such extraordinary grant from this source won by CEITEC Masaryk University scientists. It is also further confirmation of the quality of the activities of CEITEC, which is steadily enhancing its position as a recognised European scientific research centre.

We are one step closer to knowing how life emerged on Earth from recent work by scientists from the joint workplace of Brno’s Biophysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and CEITEC (Central European Institute of Technology) MU in cooperation with a world-renowned Italian group from the Sapienza University of Rome. Their theory, which partially reveals the first chemical steps leading to the dawn of life on Earth, has been accepted for publication in the prestigious international journal Chemistry – the European Journal, and is ranked by the editors into the category of “very important papers”.

Even the smallest things can achieve great success. This can be applied with only slight exaggeration to the new technology, which at the end of last year was given honorary recognition at the annual meeting of the Engineering Academy of the Czech Republic, and which was developed within a BUT pre-seed project – Materials Research in the Activity “The Use of Hydrocavitation in the Preparation of Ferromagnetic Nanopowders”.

What motivates you in your scientific work? Finding the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything... What do you see research in your field leading to in the future? Once we have a detailed…

A budget of 94 million euros and 99 partners from 19 countries, planning research work to the tune of 770 man-years. That is EMC² in numbers - one of the most important EU projects of recent years. The Cybernetics in Material Science group from CEITEC BUT was invited, thanks to their long-term successful results in the international field, to join research teams from industry and universities in EMC². They are now even leading one of the subprojects of EMC². The main endeavour of EMC² overall is to improve the performance and effectiveness of embedded systems across the automotive and production industries, the internet of things, and the healthcare, air and space industries.

Science or family? This almost Hamlet-like question frequently troubles young scientists, and thus their employers. Scientific work is demanding in terms of time, and often requires travel and long-term placements abroad, which is a big complication for families with young children. In particular for a woman at the start of her scientific work, a long period on maternity leave can kill a successful career. The management of CEITEC however sees young talented scientists as extremely important, and for that reason is interested in establishing and modifying the career system in such a way that the Czech Republic does not lose these people. Answers to the burning question of how employers can support PhD students and postdocs will be sought at the international conference to be held on Thursday November 27 on the theme “Young Scientists: Balancing Career and Family”.