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11. Nov. 2021
Seventeen scientists from Masaryk University (MU) received this year’s MUNI Innovation Award for their results achieved during the last five years. This award is given to students and employees of Masaryk University whose scientific outputs were successfully implemented in practice, helped to improve products or services or in any other way contributed to the greater societal relevance of research conducted at the Masaryk University. Among the awarded scientists were also Karel Lacina and Ondrej Slaby from CEITEC. The researchers were awarded during a festive ceremony at the annual Business Research Forum.
Karel Lacina develops biosensors with multidisciplinary application potential
Among the awarded scientists is Karel Lacina from the Nanobiotechnology Research Group of Petr Skladal from CEITEC MU. Karel Lacina is an inventive biochemist with a passion for electrochemistry and development of biosensors. He is the author of several prototypes and analytical tools, three of which are patented. One of his patents describes a method for determining the presence of a particular substance in liquid samples. This universal biosensor could be used to determine protein markers (antibodies) in a blood sample in order to diagnose certain diseases. Karel Lacina also participated in the development of a sensor enabling preliminary diagnosis of Lyme disease, which is the most common disease in the Czech Republic caused by ticks.
Another patented invention of Karel Lacina is a system of galvanic cells. Here, Lacina described how to increase the output voltage of this system. Lacina´s galvanic system is a valuable tool for all types of chemical energy sources using electrolyte, such as galvanic cells, batteries, (bio) fuels and microbial cells. In addition to the above-mentioned patents, Lacina has also managed to develop a device for the automated measurement of complementary DNA in a liquid sample, which can be used to determine the presence of a pathogen in a patient's body during a medical examination.
It is a very long way from laboratory experiments to the final product, but Karel Lacina does not give up and likes to transform his research results into practical applications. Some of his inventions have already caught the interest of commercial companies and are being further developed. Karel Lacina works closely with the SEANT and VELZA companies and together they are developing several prototypes. He participated in contract research for GeneProof and also collaborates with BioVendor. He is currently working on contract research for the Umana Medical company. Karel Lacina is a great example of a multidisciplinary scientist who can recognize the application potential of his research results and who systematically pushes his research towards societally relevant applications.
Ondrej Slaby pushes the boundaries of early diagnostics in oncology
Another award-winning scientist is Ondrej Slaby, who leads the Molecular Oncology Research Group at CEITEC MU. Professor Slaby also works as the head of the Institute of Biology of the Medical Faculty of Masaryk University and as the head of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathology at the Brno University Hospital. In 2020, Slaby was appointed as Government Commissioner for Health Science and Research. He has contributed to more than 150 scientific publications with more than 6,000 citations and has twice won the award of the Czech Minister of Health for Research and Development, and the Czech Oncological Society Award, as well as the Novartis Discovery Award.
Ondrej Slaby is the inventor or co-inventor of many diagnostic methods in clinical medicine and oncology. His patented method for early diagnosis of colorectal cancer has resulted in a licensing agreement with Biovendor and with the Masaryk Cancer Institute. This diagnostic method will soon be available for the patients. The diagnostic kit developed by Slaby´s team works on the principle of circulating microRNAs, which are uses for non-invasive early diagnosis and monitoring of patients with colorectal cancer. This new method will make it possible to diagnose colon and rectal tumours in time and also to monitor the development of this disease only from a blood sample. This method could be game changer in the early diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from this disease. Unfortunately, currently it is not easy to detect patients with colorectal cancer at an early stage, when this cancer is still fully curable. This negative trend in the prevention of this serious disease even worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.
The new diagnostic test could allow more patients to be diagnosed at an early stage of the disease. Colorectal cancer is currently one of the most common types of cancer in the Czech Republic, and the country has long been a world “leader” [BC(1] in this case, with the highest incidence of this disease. Every year, 8,000 new cases are diagnosed in the Czech Republic and almost 4,000 people die from the disease every year. Ondrej Slaby and his team has also developed a new method that can predict the patients' responses to the cetuximab drug, which is used to treat metastatic colorectal cancer, and which is known for not being effective in more than half of the patients.
Another invention of Professor Slaby is a new method for non-invasive diagnosis of bladder cancer based on urinary microRNAs. Bladder cancer is one of the most common urologic oncology diseases. This is mainly due to the fact that a sufficiently sensitive biomarker has not been available so far that would enable early and non-invasive detection of disease relapse, which occurs in up to 70% of superficial carcinomas. Ondrej Slaby and his team examined urinary microRNAs, which show very high stability and good analytical properties. Cystoscopy currently remains the main technique used for the detection and monitoring of patients with bladder cancer, but it is a very invasive examination. Data obtained by Slaby´s team showed that urinary microRNAs can indeed serve as a sensitive and specific biomarker of bladder cancer. This diagnostic method makes it possible to increase the sensitivity of standard urinary cytology and to replace or reduce the frequency of invasive cystoscopic examinations in the future. From the point of view of technology transfer, Ondrej Slaby is a scientist who repeatedly manages to move his research results from the laboratory towards clinical application.