CEITEC gains another top scientist thanks to the prestigious European Grant

10. Feb. 2014

The Central European Institute of Technology - Masaryk University (CEITEC MU) is the only institution in the Czech Republic to win a prestigious European grant from the “ERA Chairs” programme. Financial support to the tune of EUR 2.2 million makes it possible to take on a top-class scientist who, with their research team, will expand our understanding in the fields of chemical and cell biology.

The results of the call for support of research institutions and universities in the less developed regions of Europe were announced today by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Science, Research and Innovation. Of the 111 projects looking for support, only 11 were successful. Masaryk University was the only institution in the Czech Republic to get the grant.

“Masaryk University has, thanks to the CEITEC project, excellent facilities for science. We also have successful young scientists with foreign experience, good scientific areas and, despite the unusual system of science funding in the Czech Republic, decent funds for our own research. For further development it is however also necessary to appoint to the leadership of scientific teams strong scientists from around the world, bringing with them not only new inspiration, but also a self-critical perspective. For these reasons I see the gaining of the ERA Chair grant as something exceptional,” said Petr Dvořák, MU vice-rector for research.

Thanks to the grant from the European Commission an international tender will be announced in the coming days for a top scientist to fill the ERA Chair. With their research team over a period of four and a half years they will thus be able to carry out research in the fields of chemical and cell biology and at the same time raise the scientific level of the whole institution.

CEITEC’s Executive DirectorMarkus Dettenhofer also expects a great deal from the new research team headed by a top-flight scientist: "CEITEC is currently in a very rapid stage of development. One of the challenges facing our organization will be to maximize the high potential that CEITEC has at its disposal through cross-disciplinary collaboration."

Precisely the fields of chemical and cell biology have been identified as being of strategic importance for the further development of CEITEC and Masaryk University as a whole. The future ERA Chair will represent the area of research focusing on exploration of cellular systems by advanced imaging methods and their manipulation by means of small organic molecules and/or state-of-the-art physical methods.

The ability to succeed against Europe-wide competition is also good news for Czech science. “For CEITEC and Masaryk University as a whole the ERA Chair project is a great opportunity, which can fundamentally influence their further development into renowned scientific institutions,” stated Tomáš Hruda, Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports with responsibility for research and higher education.

Masaryk University was set up under a law dating from 28 January 1919, as the second Czech university. From the start it carried the name of the man who played the greatest role in setting it up - T. G. Masaryk. At its founding there were four faculties – those of law, medicine, natural sciences and arts. Currently it has nine faculties and 41 000 students in regular studies. More information can be found at www.muni.cz and online.muni.cz.

CEITEC is a scientific centre in the fields of life sciences, advanced materials and technologies whose aim is to establish itself as a recognized centre for basic as well as applied research. CEITEC offers a state-of-the-art infrastructure and great conditions to employ excellent researchers. CEITEC was approved by the European Commission on 6th June 2011. It is a consortium whose partners include the most prominent universities and research institutes in Brno, and it benefits from the support of the Region of South-Moravia and the City of Brno. The following participate in the setting up of the centre of excellence: Masaryk University, Brno University of Technology, Mendel University in Brno,University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Brno, Veterinary Research Institute and Institute of Physics of Materials of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Contact:

Roman Badík, ERA Chair project manager
Phone: + 420 775 777 224
e-mail: roman.badik@ceitec.cz
www: www.ceitec.cz