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30. Mar. 2021
The Plant Sciences Core Facility has had a new head since 1 March 2021. Marketa Pernisova replaced her predecessor, Natalia Valasevich, who is currently on maternity leave. The Plant Sciences Core Facility provides access to research infrastructure for basic plant research, simulation of environmental conditions and phenotyping analysis. This laboratory has 15 growth chambers and 10 greenhouses, providing a suitable environment for controlled plant growth. It is the regional centre of cutting-edge biological research. Marketa Pernisova has been working at Masaryk University for more than ten years, she has a doctorate in Cell and Molecular Biology, she is an accomplished laboratory manager with international experience from the Laboratory of Plant Reproduction and Development at ENS de Lyon, France.
What does she like the most about working in the Plant Sciences Core Facility? What are her professional plans? What makes the Plant Sciences Core Facility so special? Read the interview with the new CF head Marketa Pernisova!
Why did you decide to apply for this position?
Plants are unique in their ability to form new organs and to regenerate effectively, unlike us humans. This feature / ability fascinates me and has accompanied me for almost my entire scientific career. So when it was possible to start working in the Plant Science Research Laboratory, I decided to give it a try. I saw the opportunity to capitalize on my domestic and foreign experience in plant biology. It will also certainly be a new and valuable experience with regard to the management of the core facility and the people. Furthermore, I enjoy working with other scientists, and this is an ideal opportunity.
What do you like most about working in a shared plant research laboratory?
It is an opportunity for me to benefit from my experience with cultivating plants in various forms – from protoplasts and plant tissue culture to the selection of thousands of copies. It is also an opportunity to offer potential users of shared laboratories my skills in the field experiment design, or preparation of samples for various types of analysis according to their needs. The Plant Science Core Facility is a place where a wide range of scientists from the field of plant biology can be encountered, and I am looking forward to learning something new from them.
What do you think makes this core facility special?
The Plant Sciences Core Facility at CEITEC is exceptional because of its equipment and possibilities. It has a large space for cultivating many plant species, from Arabidopsis, through rape or corn, to algae. The laboratory also has very unique equipment, which allows for very precise control of temperature, humidity and exposure, which allows us to simulate various environmental conditions, such as drought, flooding, alpine exposure or alpine conditions. We also have the possibility to test different parts of the light spectrum, from UV to infrared. This combination of options we have is unique, and I have not seen it anywhere else, not even in renowned foreign laboratories.
What are your career plans as the head of the Plant Sciences Core Facility?
Gradually, I am getting to know in detail all the possibilities of the entire core facility. The equipment of the laboratory is very complex and I want to devote enough time to studying it perfectly. I would definitely like to introduce new methodologies or instruments if this would be realistic. I already have some suggestions and ideas, so I will gradually try to put them into practice. You can follow the news regarding this matter on our website. Cooperation is an integral part of science. This is an area I would like to focus on more than it has been so far. I would like to further develop the current cooperation and, in particular, establish new ones. I see this as the main mission of the core facility.
Marketa Pernisova
Marketa Pernisova studied Molecular Biology and Genetics. After her doctoral studies in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Masaryk University in Brno, she joined the Laboratory of Molecular Plant Physiology as a researcher. She completed postdoctoral internships in the research group Functional Genomics and Plant Proteomics at CEITEC MU and in the Laboratory of Plant Reproduction and Development at ENS de Lyon, France. She also completed several short-term internships abroad, which expanded her network of international contacts and enabled her to gain new experience. She participated in internships, for example, at the Heinrich Heine University in Germany, the Umea Plant Science Center in Sweden, the California Institute of Technology in the United States, and the prestigious EMBL laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. She has experience with in-vivo imaging of plants, the study of transcriptional regulation, microscopy and image analysis.
Marketa loves nature and enjoys walking in the woods. She likes to go to the theatre, to the cinema, and to visit art exhibitions. She plays badminton and volleyball, rides a bicycle, and swims. She likes to read books or to listen to the show of Lucie Výborná and her conversations with guests. She loves good red wine in the company of her friends.
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