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10. Oct. 2024
This year, the Czech Science Foundation President’s Award went also to the CEITEC of Masaryk University, to Dalibor Blažek, head of the research group Inherited Diseases – Transcriptional Regulation. Award of the President of the GA of the Czech Republic Petr Baldrian is awarded for extraordinary results in basic research that have the potential to be transferred to applied research. Dalibor Blažek received this award for his project focused on the characterization of the CDK11 enzyme, which plays a key role in RNA editing and offers new opportunities for cancer therapy research. His research has uncovered a new mechanism affecting the growth of cancer cells, which represents a significant contribution to oncology.
Dalibor Blažek studied molecular biology and genetics at Masaryk University in Brno and pharmacy at the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Brno, where he received his Ph.D. in molecular microbiology and immunology. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), he founded a research group at CEITEC. His research focuses on the role of cyclin-dependent kinases in the regulation of transcription and splicing. He has been a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) since 2023.
Awarded project: Characterization of the kinase activity of cyclin-dependent kinase 11 (CDK11), an enzyme essential for tumor growth
Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are enzymes that control two essential functions of the cell: its division and the transcription of genetic information into RNA. Inhibitors of these enzymes, i.e. substances that block their activity, are used in the treatment of cancer and others are in clinical trials.
The research group focused on the function of the neglected cyclin-dependent kinase 11 (CDK11) and its first discovered inhibitor, OTS964. As part of the award-winning project, the scientists demonstrated that CDK11 is the first CDK that controls the splicing of newly transcribed RNA. During the splicing process, redundant parts of the RNA are removed and only after this editing can the RNA containing only the important information be used to produce proteins in cells.
This discovery defines a new function for the CDK family and expands our knowledge of the regulation of RNA splicing. Since CDK11 is important for the growth of many types of tumours and OTS964 blocks this growth, new avenues of research into therapeutic options for cancer treatment are opening up.