Development of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures

• Functional Genomics
• Cellular Biology and Virology
• Structural Biology and Protein Engineering
• Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
• Development of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures
• Core facilities
  • Czech Centre for Phenogenomics
  • Imaging Methods
  • OMICS
  • Centre of Molecular Structure
  • Cryotechnologies

site Programme Coordinator

Prof. Pavel Martásek, MD, DSc (CV pdf)
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Programme Description
This programme includes a spectrum of projects covering reproductive medicine, diabetic complications, autoimmune and selected tumour diseases, inherited metabolic disorders, and study of heme pathology and of the effect of lack or excess of gaseous signalling molecules, The unifying element of all the projects is the study of the pathological condition of a cell, that is, finding out the causes of this condition, profiling the expression of the chosen genes, detecting changes in the localization and modification of the chosen proteins and identifying other molecules that relate to the induction of the pathology, furthering the development of new procedures for the prevention of the disease and creating new methods and diagnostics for monitoring the process of the disease and tools for the molecular therapy of the accompanying pathological condition.

Research Outcomes

•  Clarification of molecular mechanisms of fertilization, identification of proteins and molecules of gametes and reproductive organs that are responsible for successful reproduction
• Development of antibodies against sperm and reproductive tract proteins crucial for successful fertilization and their commercialization 
• New strategies in the treatment of autoimmune diseases in general
• Development of new anti-cancer substances and novel therapeutic approaches which will be transferred to the commercial sphere
• Identification of indicator genes for diabetes-specific heart abnormalities and genes contributing to developmental heart defects in diabetic embryopathy
• Early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of prenatal exposure to diabetes
• Identification of the genes participating in the development, function and disease of the liver which can influence the development of the metabolic syndrome
• Development of a new platform for biological studies based on single-cell expression profiling
• Description of the role of newly studied protein partners in modulation of phenotypic expression of diseases with a possibility to propose new therapeutic methods
• Preparation of prospective therapeutically used substances which can be transferred to the commercial sphere
• Identification of reliable biomarkers or develop a mass spectrometry-based therapeutic test

Application Potential
The programme has a notable application potential, namely in medicine. Insight into the preventive possibilities will impact the health and quality of life of large population subgroups. The recent clinical practice will be directly influenced by novel diagnostic approaches, with elucidation of a novel generation of biomarkers, preparation of newly designed diagnostic kits, and later with design of novel treatment modalities. The future of therapeutic interventions lies in personalized therapy; the application outputs of the research programme unequivocally accent this direction.

Photo Gallery

Assisted reproduction
Monoclonal antibodies against acrosomal proteins used for their identification and for diagnostics of sperm quality – utilization in the laboratories of assisted reproduction

      Normal spermiogram                              Pathological spermiogram

Model of the active centre of enzyme NO-synthase
Precise knowledge of its structure helps design drugs capable of e.g. targeted blockage of the access to the active centre, and in this way impact the enzyme function