Press releases

Scientists from the IOCB Prague, the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and Palacký University Olomouc, have once again successfully uncovered the mysteries of the world of molecules and atoms. They have experimentally confirmed the correctness of a decades-old theory that assumed a non-uniform distribution of electron density in aromatic molecules. This phenomenon significantly affects the physicochemical properties of molecules and their interactions. This research expands the possibilities for designing new nanomaterials and is the theme of a paper that has just been published in Nature Communications.

Ariel, the European Space Agency’s next-generation mission to observe the chemical make-up of distant extrasolar planets, has passed a major milestone after successfully completing its Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The successful completion of the PDR marks a crucial step forward for Ariel, demonstrating that the mission's payload design meets all the required technical and scientific specifications, and no showstoppers were found for the foreseen launch in 2029.

A research team from IOCB Prague, under the leadership of Milan Vrábel, has developed a new chemical reaction that will allow scientists to better target drugs to specific places in the human body and to monitor if their active compounds reach unintended tissues. This can help eliminate the unwanted side effects of therapy.

Narratives by Romani survivors from the Czech lands and Slovakia about their experiences during World War II are now available on the websites www.svedectviromu.cz and www.romatestimonies.com. Researchers from the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) have chosen today, the International Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, to launch the site. The processing and search capabilities of online database are unique in the world. The database will eventually contain approximately 250 testimonies about the specific fates of Czech and Slovak Roma and Sinti affected by the war and Nazi repression.

69 new members and associate members join the EMBO community of more than 2,000 leading life scientists in Europe and beyond. Four new members come from Czech Republic.

The Czech Academy of Sciences expresses its deep concern and disagreement with the attempts to restrict the research freedom of some employees of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).

Handaxes from the period of the first human migration out of Africa, eggshells of extinct ostriches, and a unique collection of rock engravings. An international team led by the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Prague has successfully completed its third excavation season in Oman. Thanks to the unique findings, the researchers will be contributing, among other things, to the reconstruction of the climate and history of the world’s largest sand desert.

For the sixth year in a row, the HiLASE and ELI Beamlines laser centres are offering twelve selected students the opportunity to experience working with real scientific teams in state-of-the-art laboratories during the final round of the Talent Academy project. And right now, high school students can start signing up for the first online round for this year’s “Talentovka“. Some of them will meet as finalists in the centres in Dolní Břežany in September. Registration will be open until June 23, 2023 at the www.talentovka.cz website.

Scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague have deciphered the structure of the protein methyltransferase from the monkeypox virus. It is with the help of this protein that the virus escapes human immunity and causes the monkeypox disease. Based on this discovery, they have prepared substances that can block the function of methyltransferase. The results of this research may constitute the first step towards creating a completely new group of antivirals. This applies not only to monkeypox, but also to diseases caused by other viruses, including COVID-19 induced by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

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.