The activities of the Biotechnology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,  v. v. i. are focused on excellent basic research in molecular biology and prospective transfer of biotechnological methods and tools to human and veterinary medicine, or other important areas of human activity.

The main areas of interest of IBT researchers are cancer, infertility, autoimmunne diseases and embryopathy.  In addition, all groups of the Institute develop new biotechnological methods and tools at a molecular, genetic, protein engineering and structural biology levels for diagnosis and therapy in a wide range of areas in human and veterinary medicine.

The Institute consists of seven research groups:

1.  Recombinant ligand engineering (Head: Peter Šebo), focusing on design and rational improvement of high-affinity-binding recombinant ligand proteins for use in applications in which antibodies have failed.

2. Biological recognition (Head: Bohdan Schneider), studies intermolecular interactions between biomolecules, proteins and nucleic acids, by biophysical and bioinformatic tools. We concentrate on aspects of interactions leading to specific recognition of biomolecules with potential diagnostic, medical or biotechnological use. 

3. Structural biology (Head: Cyril Bařinka), activity is directed to the field of structural biology and the relationship between structure and function of relevant proteins. The research results are useful for the design and optimization of small molecules applicable to the detection of solid tumors, especially tumors of prostate cancer.

4. Diagnostics for reproductive medicine (Head: Jana Pěknicová), characterizing processes and molecular players involved in fertilization and developing tools (monoclonal antibodies) for detection of male infertility, as well as for detection of selected environmental pollutants with a negative effect on mammalian reproduction.

5. Diagnostics of autoimmune diseases (Head: Šárka Růžičková), focusing on humoral and genetic aspects of autoimmune diseases and identification of target molecules for therapeutic intervention and new diagnostic tools for autoimmune diseases.

6. Molecular therapy (Head: Jiří Neužil), focusing on design and development of novel anti-cancer agents, in particular vitamin E analogs, efficient and selective for malignant cells, with particular emphasis on the molecular mechanism of apoptosis caused by such agents through mitochondrial destabilization. The interest is centred on the study of molecular biology of cancer stem cells with potential impact in clinical medicine.

7. Gene expression (Head: Mikael Kubista), developing tools for spatiotemporal analysis of gene expression by high-throughput quantitative real-time PCR approaches at the tissue, single-cell and sub-cellular levels, including multi-dimensional data analysis

8. Laboratory of molecular pathogenetics (Head: Gabriela Pavlínková), focused on identification of key pathological molecules in embryonic development and gene expression profiling using animal models, and thus allowing development of new approaches to their prevention and diagnosis.

Assoc. Prof. Jana Pěknicová, PhD,
director