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Innovative ideas and a well-written application. Without this, getting one of the European Research Council grants is highly unlikely. How can you succeed in the tough competition and improve your chances of winning generous funding? Why is the Czech Republic lagging behind other EU countries? ERC grants was the subject of the April issue of the in-house AB / Academic bulletin e-magazine of the CAS.

As part of his first official visit to the Vysočina Region, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, along with the First Lady and accompanying team visited the CAS Conference Centre at the Třešť Chateau on 25 May 2023. As the Centre is under the wing of the Czech Academy of Sciences, he was welcomed by the President of the CAS, Eva Zažímalová. Among other things, she familiarised President Pavel with the activities of the CAS Strategy AV21 research programmes. Pavel was then invited by Zažímalová to visit selected CAS institutes to get acquainted with their activities and achievements.

From an early age, she was fascinated by the microworld of cells and molecules. But she didn’t just want to observe it – she began to actively transform it. The new molecules from her lab can advance both medicine and environmental protection. “I am working on the strategic fusion of protein domains, which is a relatively new direction in protein chemistry and biochemistry,” says Kristýna Boušová from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS.

Over the course of a human life, blood vessels, skin, bones, and joints accumulate wear and tear. Tissue engineer Lucie Bačáková is involved in coming up with the most elegant way to replace the damaged body parts. Her team’s research has been supported by the prestigious Academic Award of the CAS, which will provide funding for the next six years.

Career paths can sometimes be unpredictable. They may even lead you back to familiar places. Something similar happened to Leoš Horníček, whose professional life is tied with the Czech Academy of Sciences. He headed the Science Support Division of the CAS Head Office before serving as director of the CAS Head Office from 2011 to 2018. He returned to the same post at the beginning of 2023. What led him to step into the same river twice? In what direction does he plan to steer the CAS Head Office in the years to come? Find out in the interview of the March issue of our in-house e-magazine AB / Academic bulletin below.

Proteins do not usually form from junk DNA – but if they do and they take hold, they become part of the cell’s protein make-up. They are called de novo proteins because they are practically created out of nothing, anew, and not much is known about them. In a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from BIOCEV and their German colleagues described a large set of these proteins, helping unravel the otherwise hard-to-decipher properties of the mystery proteins.

On 14 April 2023 at 12:14 PM (UTC), the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), a giant interplanetary probe, embarked on its eight-year odyssey. The journey to the planet Jupiter has a clear goal – to explore its icy moons. The first of the major projects of the European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision programme also involves the Czech Academy of Sciences, namely its Institute of Atmospheric Physics and the Astronomical Institute.

He refers to his approach to research as philosophical archaeology. Alain de Libera, French writer and, above all, world-renowned expert on medieval philosophy, received the Josef Dobrovský Honorary Medal for Merit in the Philological and Philosophical Sciences, awarded by the CAS, on 19 April 2023. The academic is staying in the Czech Republic for several days during which he delivered two lectures.

Handaxes from the period of the first human migration out of Africa, circular burial chambers, and a collection of rock engravings. Unique findings are being reported by an international team led by the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Prague, which has successfully completed its third excavation season in Oman. The collected samples are now being analysed by experts and will contribute to the reconstruction of the earliest history of the world’s largest sand desert.

Open access is often a hot topic in academic circles. How do the CAS researchers feel about open access publishing? See what Jiří Homola, Member of the Academy Council of the CAS and First Vice-Chairman of the R&D Council, has to say about this model in which scientific knowledge is made freely available to all in an interview published in the in-house e-magazine of the CAS, AB / Academic bulletin.