Research Goals

Due to environmental and socio-economic changes as well as growing interconnection of the world, infectious diseases are becoming an important challenge for human and veterinary medicine. Our main goal is thus interdisciplinary and complex research on human and veterinary pathogens with main emphasis on: discovery and scientific description of novel (emerging) pathogens, consideration the role of microbial pathogens and their vertebrate hosts in their natural ecosystems, co-evolution of pathogens with vertebrate reservoirs, risk assessment, determination of preventive and control measures with regard to suppression of emerging infectious diseases.

Issues addressed:

• ecology of arthropod-borne pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., West Nile and tick-borne encephalitis flaviviruses, spirochaete Borrelia burgdorferi, rickettsia Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and protozoan Babesia spp.) including risk assessment;
• implementing 'One health' concept for studying emerging zoonoses;
• white nose syndrome (geomycosis caused by newly described fungus Geomyces destructans) as an emerging threat for european bat population;
• co-evolution of arena-, hanta- and herpesviruses with their reservoir hosts;
• complex research on parasite-host relationship in african primates. 

Running Projects

Grant agency of the Czech Republic

Hybrid zones: natural laboratories for the study of pathogen emergence
Investigator: Joëlle Goüy de Bellocq, Ph.D.

Genetic diversity and cross-transmissions of strongylid nematodes between African great apes and man
Investigator: Mgr. Klára Petrželková, Ph.D.

Quantifying viral gene capture, and the host’s response, during passage across a species barrier: Murine cytomegalovirus in a house mouse hybrid zone
Investigator: Joëlle Goüy de Bellocq, Ph.D.

ECIP - European Centre of Ichtyoparasitology
Co-investigator: Ing. Pavel Jurajda, Dr.

International projects

VectorNet: A European network for sharing data on the geographic distribution of arthropod vectors, transmitting human and animal disease agents
Investigator: prof. RNDr. Zdeněk Hubálek, DrSc.