Department of Optical and Biophysical Systems

The core of the SenDISo program is the development of a new generation of detectors and chemical biosensor solutions. Interdisciplinary research will focus on the creation of technologies for environmental monitoring (portable VOC sensors for pollution monitoring), improved medical diagnostics (discovery and analysis of trace amounts of biomarkers to combat serious diseases) and radiotherapy and quality control in industry. The new tools will, among other things, enable sensitivity at the level of individual (bio)molecules, opening the door to discoveries in life sciences and early diagnosis of serious diseases such as cancer.

The PRO-EURO-DILI Network, an international consortium of scientists investigating drug-induced liver injury, including scientists from the Laboratory of Biophysics, Division of Optics, Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, has presented a revolutionary advance in the development of liver organoids. The results of the research have been published in the prestigious Experimental and Molecular Medicine journal belonging to the Nature family.

The Max Planck Society has announced funding of the second Czech-German Dioscuri Centre at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU). Its future director, Barbora Špačková, will focus on the development of new technologies providing new insights into the biological nano-universe. The centre has received five-year support of up to CZK 35 million and will start to operate in the summer 2024.

The NCC for MATCA (National Centre of Competence for Materials, Advanced Technologies, Coatings and their Applications) co-financed with the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic’s (TA CR) state support within the National Centres of Competence Programme, has received the highest possible rating from the TA CR panel for the first phase of its existence lasting from 2019 to the end of 2022.

Developing new sensors for industrial applications, particularly in the fields of water management, foundry and materials engineering is the goal of the NCC for MATCA's next project, Senzorika pro 21. století (Sensing for the 21st century).

Active substances of drugs, alone or in combination with each other, herbs and herbal supplements are metabolized by the human liver. This metabolization can be associated with irreversible damage or even death of the patient. There is no effective prevention against this problem. Additionally, there is no simple drug testing preclinical system to decipher hepatotoxicity issues undoubtfully at early stages of the drug development.

Savings in material and operating costs, less waste, added product value, greener operation. The positive results achieved by Czech manufacturing companies thanks to the collaboration with the Brain4Industry (B4I) consortium, the main coordinator of which is the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, became the main theme of the Společná cesta k digitalizaci českých výrobců (Joint Journey of Czech Manufacturers towards Digitization) conference, which was organized on Wednesday, March 1, by B4I in partnership with the Czech Management Association.

Scientists from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in collaboration with BENEŠ a LÁT a.s. and CARDAM s.r.o. managed to develop a cooling system for complex forms manufactured by means of 3D printing. The project results utilize the latest findings in the area of coating technologies and significant progress of additive manufacturing. 

The NCC for MATCA project (National Centre of Competence for Materials, Advanced Technologies, Coatings and their Application) enters its second, six-year period. The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic has selected it as one of 18 projects.

Five years ago the researcher Barbora Špačková moved to Sweden to take up a postdoc position at the Chalmers University of Technology where she developed a unique imaging method called nanofluidic scattering microscopy using which she can see, as she puts it, “things that nobody else has ever seen before”. 

Scientists from the Laboratory of Biophysics contributed to the field of DNA nanotechnology with a recent systematic analysis. The authors, led by Oleg Lunov, have summarized the current state of knowledge about the interactions of DNA nanostructures (DN) with cells and identified the key challenges.