On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, a joint conference of the Institute of Physics (FZU) and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) of the Academy of Sciences took place. Its aim was to find potentially interesting topics on which to build long-term cooperation between the two institutes of the Academy of Sciences.
The idea for a joint conference arose during communication between the directors of both institutes, Jan Konvalinka (IOCB) and Michael Prouza (FZU), who agreed that the potential for cooperation between the two institutes was far from being fully realized. Soon after approaching the heads of departments and groups with a request for topics relevant to both institutes, it became clear that interest exceeded expectations.
The contributions presented at the conference were extremely interesting and easily understandable for both chemists and physicists. Among others, we would like to mention Mariana Klementová (FZU) and her contribution on the topic of TEM analysis of nanomaterials, Lukáš Palatinus (FZU) with his Structure analysis by electron diffraction, Petr Cígler (IOCB) with his presentation on Interface of nanoparticles for biomedical applications, and Ivo Starý (IOCB) with his presentation on Expressing chirality in chemistry and physics. During the conference, it became clear that there were many more common topics, which both sides were interested in developing further and incorporating into projects, than originally expected.
"When I saw all the fascinating possibilities of contemporary organic chemistry, such as the ability to design various functional devices and engines at the molecular level, I wondered if I had made a mistake in high school when I chose physics," said FZU Director Michael Prouza, summarizing his impressions of the conference.
The next formal step in the cooperation between FZU and IOCB should be the establishment of a joint laboratory within the next few months.
"I am very pleased that we were able to organize the first joint conference with the Institute of Physics. I am convinced that both institutions have research potential that can be capitalized on through more intensive cooperation. We at IOCB are very much looking forward to it," added IOCB Director Jan Konvalinka.
At the end of the conference, there was clear agreement that both sides are interested in continuing the joint meetings, for example next year at FZU, when it will be possible to report on some of the joint results achieved.
Photo: Dr. Tomáš Belloň (IOCB CAS)
