Institute of Biotechnology
of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Governor Petra Pecková and members of the Regional Council presented the 2025 Governor’s Awards. This traditional award recognises individuals who are closely connected to the Central Bohemian Region and contribute to its development. A total of 58 outstanding personalities from seven different areas of public life were nominated this year.

Professor Jiří Neužil from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences has received the Distinguished Collaborative Research Fellow Award from the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in New Zealand.

How can qPCR be used correctly and common pitfalls avoided? A new study co-authored by researchers from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences offers practical guidance for more accurate and reliable analysis.

In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, changes occur in a key protein called tau, which normally forms a protective layer around the neuron’s internal skeleton. When modified, tau loses its protective function, leading to neuron death. The new perspective presented by a Czech-French research team uncovers the molecular consequences of tau modifications, opening new avenues for the diagnosis and treatment of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

The Czech startup Carta Genum received a pre-seed investment of €40,000 from the Czech Founders VC fund to develop a platform for spatial biology. The project, led by scientists Lukáš Valihrach and Daniel Žucha from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, is leading to the development of virtual bioinformatics—a tool that will enable biologists to analyze large and complex scientific data without the need for programming.

The government's decision to cut funding for research and development comes at a time when the share of public spending on science has been declining for a long time. According to Eurostat data, total R&D expenditure in the European Union is around 2.24% of GDP, while the Czech Republic continues to invest less (around 1.8–2% of GDP), which places it below the EU average and confirms the need to strengthen stable funding for science.

The BIOCEV centre hosted the 28th Biological Days of the Czech-Slovak Biological Society on 25–26 November 2025. This year’s meeting, focused on reproductive biology, oncofertility, and oncology, attracted nearly 160 participants, ranging from students and early-career researchers to established scientific leaders.

The team of Institute of Biotechnology of Czech Academy of Sciences at the BIOCEV center, led by Renata Zobalova and Jiri Neuzil, has shown that mitochondrial respiration is a requirement for early tumour growth. A study just published in Cancer Research reveals that cancer cells with aberrant mitochondrial respiration activate an intriguing salvage mechanism: using horizontal mitochondrial transfer, they acquire fully functional mitochondria from neighbouring host cells.

An international team of scientists led by the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences at the BIOCEV center has elucidated a key mechanism that enables extremely rapid liver regeneration. A study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications shows that during regeneration, the liver uses toxic ammonia for its renewal. It converts it into glutamine, a substance necessary for the production of DNA and RNA during rapid cell division.

The Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IBT) achieved excellent results in the government's Evaluation of Research Organizations according to Methodology 2017+ (M17+) for the period 2019–2023.