Institute of Experimental Medicine of the ASCR, v. v. i.

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The Institute of Experimental Medicine (IEM) was established in 1975 through the merger of several laboratories of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAS), founded in the years 1953-1957. During the following years, the number of laboratories gradually increased. After the Institute of Pharmacology ASCR merged with the IEM, four new pharmacological departments were established in the Institute of Experimental Medicine, and currently the Institute consists of 13 departments. The Institute’s research focuses on selected problems in biomedicine with particular attention to their application in clinical medicine. In the field of neuroscience, research is focused on ionic changes and diffusion parameters in the CNS during physiological and pathological states, non-synaptic transmission in the CNS, ion channels and receptors, the function of glial cells, the morphological and functional characteristics of nerve cells in the auditory system and their damage by pathological processes. In the field of cell biology, research is concentrated on the structural-functional organisation of the cell nucleus. Other research areas include the genotoxic and embryotoxic effects of xenobiotics and the mechanisms underlying the origin of congenital defects, the origin and course of toxic reactions at cellular and tissue levels, the histochemistry and pharmacology of enzymes as markers of biochemical processes, the effect of pharmaceuticals on the immune reaction during infectious diseases, and the structure and pharmacological properties of metabotropic glutamate and GABA receptors. The Institute, in cooperation with the Centre for Cell Therapy and Tissue Repair, devotes research to embryonal stem cells and the regulation of the cell cycle during gametogenesis and differentiation, the differentiation and implantation of neural and embryonal stem cells, the construction of tissue replacements based on hydrogels, and autologous chondrocytes and biodegradable matrices from unwoven nanofibres. Since 2000, the Institute of Experimental Medicine has been an EU Centre of Excellence with the acronym MEDIPRA.