Press releases

In this work, we have explored communities of fungi colonizing the gastrointestinal tract of primates, also known as the primate mycobiome. This poorly understood fraction of the mammalian gut microbiome has received increasing attention nowadays, as they play a crucial role in regulating the host immune responses. Therefore, it is much needed to understand the factors that determine the colonization of fungal communities.

Commonly used radiation therapy kills cancer cells by inflicting extensive DNA damage to the irradiated tissue. An international team including several researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (IMG), now shed light into an unexpected strategy of cancer cells to evade death by radiation in a study published in Science, one of the most prestigious scientific journals.

Unique structures, called guanine quadruplexes (G4), have been discovered by a team of Czech scientists in the genetic information of a tick-borne encephalitis virus. The experts found out that these structures play an important role in the virus' replication and can be targeted in the search for new antivirals. In testing potential chemicals that recognize these G4 structures, they found promising molecules with a high antiviral effect. In the future, these substances may thus expand the repertoire of potential drugs for this infection.

VDI monitor, or, a simple and non-invasive way to implant a pacemaker as efficiently as possible. This particular technology, developed by scientists from the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS in Brno in collaboration with partners, won the Technology and Innovation Showcase in early April, which was a part of the European Heart Rhythm Association 2022 international conference in Copenhagen.

An international team of scientists led by Hana Hanzlíková from the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Keith Caldecott from the University of Sussex in the UK has discovered which sites in the DNA molecule inside cancer cells are the basis of the effect of anticancer drugs (called PARP inhibitors). The results, published recently in the prestigious Nature Structural and Molecular Biology journal, will be used to understand the mechanism of the effect of PARP inhibitors that lead to the death of certain types of cancer cells and open the path to new ways of treating tumors.

The so-called hydropeaking, i.e. discontinuous flow changes in rivers, significantly disrupts fish reproduction. In the current study, scientists from the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences focused on how hydropeaking affects the spawning asp shoal in the Želivka River. The local asp shoal, protected under the Natura 2000, faces unpredictable water current changes.

The atomically sharp domain walls that were discovered by an international team led by researchers from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, might considerably improve the research of ulta-fast memory devices made from antiferromagnetic materials. Such devices can be more compact, and the data saved in them are better protected against any negative effects of external magnetic fields. The results have been published in Science Advances.

At high pressure, chromium iodide crystals start to exhibit remarkable magnetic properties, losing their regular structure and moving into a chaotic, so-called spin-glass arrangement. Their physically exotic behaviour can be used, for example, to increase the capacity of operational memory. Scientists from the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University have found this out. Their study was recently published in the Physical Review B journal.

A total of 11 postdoctoral researchers have headed back from abroad to Czechia as grant holders of the Horizon Europe’s “Excellent Science” programme. Three of the researchers who will be developing their career path at the Institute of Physics have received a total of 498 836,16 Euros awarded to them as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships in order to finance their research in physics. In addition to this, the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences has received an ERA Postdoctoral Fellowship.

A team of scientists and physicians from the Institute of Biotechnology of the CAS at the BIOCEV centre and the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague has demonstrated a positive effect of MitoTam on type 2 diabetes. The research was published today in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.