Press Releases

A young scientist, Pavel Plevka of the Central European Institute of Technology of Masaryk University (CEITEC MU), has received the most prestigious European scientific grant awarded by the European Research Council (ERC). This makes him the only scientist working in the Czech Republic who has received financial support from the ERC in the category of “Starting Grants” this year. ERC awards “Starting Grants” to the most talented European researchers based on the scientific excellence of their innovative research proposal. Pavel Plevka has succeeded with his project entitled “Structural Study of Human Picornaviruses” and he is only the sixth ERC “Starting Grants” recipient in the Czech Republic since 2007 and the very first in Brno.

European research centres in life sciences gather to foster excellence in research, share knowledge, and influence policy.

Young scientists from CEITEC BUT (Central European Institute of Technology, BUT) and IPE BUT (Institute of Physical Engineering, BUT) have discovered new ways of controlling magnetic vortices, which can be used for example in fabrication of a new kind of computer memory. The Brno scientists worked on the experimental verification of the corresponding theory with their colleagues from the University of California in San Diego and the synchrotron laboratory in Berkeley. The results of their research are so interesting and innovative that they have been published in the May edition of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology.

CEITEC MU scientist Dalibor Blažek received a prestigious Pilot Study Award from the American foundation Marsha Rivkin Center which finances ovarian cancer research. The Center provides grants to scientists whose research is innovative and has clear potential to get a new insight into the molecular mechanism of development of ovarian cancer, which can help to promote the timely detection of this horrible disease and its successful therapy. Scientists receiving these awards usually come from the top American universities, which makes the success of the CEITEC scientist more remarkable.

The Central European Institute of Technology at Brno University of Technology (CEITEC BUT) officially opened its first interdisciplinary PhD study programme in Advanced Materials and Nanosciences. This new PhD programme offers students the chance to draw on the expertise and experience of experts from three top scientific institutions concurrently. Students will also have an exceptional chance to utilise the often unique instrumentation and technology available in this scientific centre.

Scientists from the Central European Institute of Technology Masaryk University (CEITEC MU), in cooperation with doctors from Havířov Hospital, have developed a unique method for the rapid diagnosis of methanol poisoning by determining levels of formic acid in blood serum. This gives results within a few minutes, which can markedly reduce the time between admitting a patient and commencing treatment. The research results were published in the prestigious Journal of Chromatography A at the beginning of 2013.

Michal Zimmermann, a young scientist from the Central European Institute of Technology Masaryk University (CEITEC MU), has discovered a new genetic factor decisive for the mechanism of repairs to damaged DNA in the laboratories of the prestigious American Rockefeller University. Doctors can make use of this for more effective treatment of hereditary breast and ovary cancer. The research findings were published in January 2013 in the prestigious journal Science.

From today the Central European Institute of Technology CEITEC has the use of the most powerful nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer in Central and Eastern Europe. The NMR spectrometer is part of the equipment of the Josef Dadok National NMR Centre, which was opened today.  There are only 8 of these unique devices with an operating frequency of 950 MHz installed around the world. The new equipment will contribute to studies of the atomic structure of biologically significant molecules and their complexes, a knowledge of which is essential for example in the design of new drugs. The new workplace has been named after Professor Josef Dadok, whose scientific research has put him in a prominent position in the history of NMR spectroscopy.

Earlier today representatives of CEITEC, the Central European Institute of Technology, successfully completed negotiations pertaining to cooperation with a number of research and government institutions in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, which were organized under the auspices of the Canadian Embassy in Prague and the Czech Embassy in Ottawa. The aim of the mission was to establish cooperation in the fields of neurosciences and cancer research.

Lukáš Trantírek has won an EMBO Installation Grant and become the only Czech scientist to receive this grant in 2012. Once a year, EMBO, the European Molecular Biology Organization, awards grants to ten young scientists from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Portugal and Turkey.  The EMBO Installation grant makes it possible for young scientists to become independent and set up their own research groups in  their countries of origin.