Description of the Training Site

The Training Site is located at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague. The Institute is one of the leading, internationally recognized institutes of the Academy with activities embracing basic research and education in a broad range of specific disciplines of macromolecular science. The Institute was founded in 1959 and one of the pioneers of polymer chemistry in the then Czechoslovakia, Professor Otto Wichterle, world-wide recognized through his invention of soft contact lenses, stood at its birth and became its first director. The research activities of the Institute are aimed at the synthesis of polymers and new polymer materials, polymer physics and physical chemistry of polymers. International cooperation is an integral part of the research and the Institute cooperates with universities and research institutions virtually all over the world.

The Institute is organized in 12 departments specialized in various areas of polymer chemistry and physics. At the same time, several thematic groups exist grouping people from different departments, who share common interests and who cooperate in (often) cross-disciplinary subjects of macromolecular chemistry, physics and biology.

The Training Site is the most important thematic group existing at the Institute and is devoted to the study of organized polymer systems at the supramolecular level. Scientists of the Training Site are currently engaged in the most advanced research on polymeric nanostructures as applied both in biology and technology. Thus the study of the water-soluble drug carrier systems designed for site-specific therapy and the polycation/DNA complexes with potential use in gene therapy meets significant response in the specialists' society. Polymer micelles are studied that are based on amphiphilic copolymers of some acrylic monomers and that serve as absorbents and carriers of active substances (e.g., drugs). The micelle structure, interactions with low-molecular-weight substances and, in particular, the local and semilocal mobility are studied by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and relaxation, combined with SANS, dynamic light scattering and other methods. Studies of bioactive polymers based on synthetic polypeptides and polyesters are performed as well as syntheses of biodegradable and amphiphilic block copolymers, forming supramolecular structures. Applications of such supramolecular structures to biomaterials for cell therapies and tissue repair are evaluated. Organization of synthetic polymers into nanostructures is studied both on the microscopic and macroscopic levels. Phase formation, evolution and dissolution of technologically important polymer blends is studied theoretically end experimentally using rheological, morphological and scattering techniques. Effects of reactive and copolymer-based compatibilization on microstructure and properties of polymer blends are evaluated. Nanostructures formed by bulk block copolymers are investigated including their dynamic properties by scattering and microscopy techniques, as well as conductivity properties of thin films. From the point of view of basic science, the leading theme of research of the Training Site is understanding and exploiting mobility and order in synthetic, natural and hybrid macromolecular systems with the ultimate goal to find and explore structural factors of spontaneous self-ordering of macromolecular systems as well as conditions at which local and semilocal mobility cease to compete with the order and start to cooperate in a dynamic functional order.