Press releases

An international team led by Jakub Vícha from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences has proposed a revolutionary "heavy metal" scenario that may change the view on the composition of the most energetic particles arriving from space. The theory, which the physicist built together with his team based on the analysis of unique data from the Pierre Auger Observatory, will contribute to answering the question of what these particles are made of and where they originate. A crucial role might be played by iron.

The latest issue of PLoS Genetics features a striking butterfly on its cover and a scientific article that delves deep into the evolutionary processes shaping species. One of two senior authors of the study is Stuart J. E. Baird from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, who contributed not only his expertise but also a powerful admixture genomics tool: diem (Diagnostic Index Expectation Maximisation).

A collaborative research effort of two institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) and the Institute of Experimental Medicine (IEM), funded by the Czech Science Foundation, led to the discovery of new insights into glioblastoma metabolism. Recently published in Oncogene, the new study shows that horizontal mitochondrial transfer occurs in glioblastoma animal models and explains why brain cancer cells really need mitochondria with functional respiration. The study, led by professor Jiří Neužil from Laboratory of Molecular Therapy at IBT in the BIOCEV Centre, is a continuation of the efforts to describe the role and mechanism of horizontal mitochondrial transfer in cancer, a topic that has been the main focus of the group for the past several years.

How many nanometres does your hand measure? Why does nothing stand still in the nano world? And what does atomic force microscopy allow us to do? This and more is revealed in the new comic book 'Secrets of the Nano- World', newly published by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The comic book introduces the frequently mentioned, but rarely taught topic of nanotechnology to (not only) students and teachers.  

Today, on Earth Day, The Earth Prize 2025 has named its Global Winner: an exceptional teen duo from Czechia and Slovakia. 18-year-old Tomáš Čermák from the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and 19-year-old Anna Podmanická have developed PURA, a breakthrough water purification technology that uses light and plasma to remove pollutants and fight antibiotic resistance. Notably, PURA is the first-ever winner of The Earth Prize from Slovakia or Czechia.

Professor Pavel Hozák, Head of the Laboratory of Biology of the Cell Nucleus at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Director of the Czech-BioImaging national research infrastructure for biological and medical imaging, has been awarded the prestigious Paul Nakane Prize for his lifetime contribution to the fields of histochemistry and cytochemistry.

Scientists from the international KATRIN experiment have determined the tightest direct upper limit of the mass of the neutrino - the most numerous particle that is all around us but escapes normal detection. The new result shows that the neutrino weighs less than 0.45 electron volts, about a million times less than the mass of an electron. A team from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences was also instrumental in the measurements, which were published in the prestigious journal Science.

In an effort to combat the antibiotics and pollutants flowing into our water sources from industries like hospitals and farms, two teenagers have been named as the European Winners of The Earth Prize 2025 for their innovative water purification solution, ‘PURA’. Notably, PURA is the first-ever winner of The Earth Prize from Slovakia or Czechia.

Horizontal mitochondrial transfer is the common denominator of more than 20 types of cancer. A team of scientists led by Professor Jiří Neužil from the Institute of Biotechnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, at the BIOCEV Centre has spearheaded a study summarizing the findings of this process in the prestigious journal Cancer Cell. The publication may motivate the development of new approaches in anti-cancer therapy.

A research group, led by Dr. Pavel Majer from IOCB Prague, in collaboration with the laboratories of Barbara Slusher and Louis Garza at Johns Hopkins University, have developed a compound that could potentially treat the autoimmune disorder alopecia areata, which causes hair loss leading to the formation of bald patches. The results of their study, recently published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, confirm the efficacy of a series of prodrugs based on derivatives of itaconic acid, simply referred to as itaconates. What is more, there is a good chance that the substances will be administrable orally in the form of tablets and not just as an ointment.