Speakers and moderation

During my university education in biology at Charles University in Prague (and a few stays abroad) I peeked into multiple fields of study. The interconnectedness of all life sciences only consolidated my eagerness to learn about our world from all the different angles, and that includes actually experiencing nature on your own skin. Exposing myself to the surrounding wonders makes my mind stay happy and curious. Currently, I am doing a PhD at the Microbial Bioengineering Laboratory at Masaryk University, where we engineer microbes to assist in advanced biotechnological applications. I hope that one day, biomanufacturing could replace fossil fuel-based production practices and help shift our economy to a full circle.

I am interested in fundamental problems of physical cosmology. I am a postdoctoral researcher in cosmology at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU). I work on the problem of dark matter, in particular, on alternatives to it. With my colleagues at the institute, I aim to establish that what is interpreted as dark matter may instead be due to a new law of gravity, needing no dark matter at all. I have a PhD in physics from the University of Copenhagen, and an MSc in physics from Imperial College London. I was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but I have spent most of my life in Denmark. I have been in the Czech Republic for two years now, and I like it very much here.

I am an inorganic chemistry PhD student at Charles University, working in the coordination chemistry group with Dr Miloslav Polášek at IOCB Prague. I completed my BS and MSc degrees in chemistry at Rochester Institute of Technology in the US, and moved to Prague in 2019 for my doctoral studies. Our group here is focused on the coordination chemistry of the lanthanide (rare-earth) elements, and practical applications of our research—such as recycling these elements, which are essential for so much modern technology. Environmental sustainability and green chemistry have always been of interest to me, so it was exciting to find that my academic interest in lanthanide chemistry and my personal interests in nature and sustainability could intersect in this way. I've also picked up some other technologies, such as 3D printing and microcontroller programming, and am incorporating those into my chemistry research: creating custom components, and automating processes. I enjoy the interdisciplinary aspects of my research, and look forward to the possibilities that such technologies provide.

My interests in microbiology had started at high school and reflected into choosing Microbiology as my major during bachelor studies at the Masaryk University in Brno. Since Master´s Degree I have been trained as a microbial taxonomist with major focus on identification of water-borne pathogens. After finishing my Master´s Degree with honours, I decided to take advantage of the Antarctic base built by the Masaryk University at the James Ross Island and I have dived into study of polar bacteria. Along the way, I was lucky to attend Antarctic expedition myself, accomplish several internships abroad (Austria, Belgium, USA) and to meet great external mentors that widen up my research interests. Ultimately, years of studying Antarctic microorganisms, their capabilities of survival in hostile conditions and competition mechanisms brough me to more applied research – study of bacterial secondary metabolites. I am currently conducting research on these metabolites as a Maria Curie Sklodowska fellow at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Austria. Current goal of my research may sound simple – "let´s find novel antimicrobial compounds" – but it´s quite clear that this search is by no means easy. However, without new antibiotics with effect on multidrug and extensively drug resistant bacteria we may easily lose this war. Therefore, my greatest hope is, that I can also contribute with my research to the global effort of fighting multidrug resistant pathogens.

As a lover of science I moved from Zlín to Prague to obtain a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry at Charles University, where I worked on molecular simulations of human proteins. I was very excited about this topic and therefore, I changed my field of study to physical chemistry, with a focus on computer modelling of molecules. At the same time, I also started working at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry in the Department of Theoretical Chemistry. In this department, I started working on my master's thesis, which is focused on the connection of machine learning techniques and computer simulations of excited states. I find this topic extremely interesting, and also thanks to the excellent cooperation with foreign colleagues, I decided to continue with my PhD study at the same institute. During my studies, I attended a workshop organized by the University of Buffalo, NY dedicated to the dynamics of excited states, as well as a workshop at the Swiss EPFL dealing with machine learning techniques. I try to share my enthusiasm for science in every possible way, for example by tutoring students from primary and high schools. I would also like to collaborate on the projects of popularization of science in cooperation with our institute. I like meeting new people and talking about different topics and of course also about science.

Vít Musil is terminating physiotherapy studies and had the chance to experience various international stays. Based on multiple backgrounds, he has a desire to implement knowledge and thus affect people around the globe. Within his visionary idea, he was already acknowledged as a businessman of Palacký University.

I obtained a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Charles University in Prague (2018) while working at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. During my studies, I visited Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany (2016 and 2017), and the Institute of Medical Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Lodz, Poland (2016) for short internships. After completing my studies, I moved to Blacksburg, Virginia where I spent two years as a postdoc at Virginia Tech. The thrust of my career so far is in organic synthesis, inorganic boron clusters, and medicinal chemistry. I am trying to combine these areas into a platform on which to build my own research group back at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry. My main goal is to develop effective antibiotic drugs based on boron clusters against which bacteria would not be able to develop resistance. I was awarded the Programme to Support Prospective Human Resources by the Czech Academy of Sciences. As a member of the Institute council and Working group on equality between women and men, I am trying to improve our workplace, bringing fresh ideas to the table and being a good mentor to students.

I've wanted to be a scientist since I was little...just like Jack Hodgins of the Bones series. I am now a PhD student in Molecular Biology, Genetics and Animal Physiology at Mendel University in Brno on the Department of Animal Morfology, Physiology and Genetics. I deal mainly with histology and immunohistochemistry and the issue of changes in the organism after the application of anabolic substances and with my research I became the winner of the "PhD Talent Mendelu 2022". During my studies I took part in internships in Banat University in Romania and clinics in Mexico and the USA. I have a passion for travel, food, photography and my scout group of girls I lead.

I am a Ph.D. student focusing on cellular signaling pathways in melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. I have completed my BSc. and MSc. in molecular biology and genetics at the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University in Brno. During both degrees, I spent a couple of months at foreign universities (in Bergen during my BSc., then in Rome). While studying MSc. in medical genetics, I developed a strong interest in cancer cell biology, and that is why I am currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program "Biomedical Sciences" at Masaryk University. My dissertation project aims to identify and characterize new small-molecule compounds with anti-melanoma activity, which may help overcome the resistance to drugs currently used for malignant melanoma treatment.

Jana graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Brno University of Technology (BUT) in 2019 with honor and obtained the Dean's award for Outstanding Results during Studies. She also took third place in the inter-faculties competition (8 of BUT) with her bachelor's thesis. Currently, she is a PhD student of Physical Chemistry at BUT and her research area lies in the drug delivery system for inhalation administration. She has been the main solver of two inter-faculty projects (with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) in 2021 and 2022 focusing on liposomes and their efficiency in lung transport. At the beginning of the year 2022, she was on an internship at the Université de Paris (Laboratory Matière et Systèmes Complexes) where she studied the interaction between lung surfactants and polycations by different approaches. Jana likes communication and sharing her love for science with younger colleagues so she enjoys teaching, helping with consultations and leading students working on their final thesis, and being a popularizer of science.

Graduated from analytical chemistry at Masaryk University in 2020. Currently enrolled as PhD. student in plasma physics where I do research on carbon-based materials. I mainly focus on development of industrially scalable manufacturing technologies and applications in green technologies that can revolutionize industries across the spectrum and bring us closer to sustainable circular economy-based industry.

I am a Biomedical Researcher fascinated by science and its applications in human health. Although it is incredible what the biomedical field has been doing, I have seen diseases like cancer taking patients' lives while we were unable to provide solutions due to the limited knowledge available. Hence, understanding cancer on its molecular level and presenting new strategies to fight against this illness has become my career mission. I am currently a PhD Student at the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) seeking to explore the new field of long non-coding RNAs that has enormous potential to reveal cancer mysteries.