The European framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020, offers several funding schemes supporting scientific mobility within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. One of these schemes is MSCA - Individual fellowship for experienced researchers who can receive funding for up to 2 years for their research project. This type of grant allows for an international and intersectoral mobility with the aim to provide training and networking opportunities in order to enhance researcher's professional career. The average success rate of applications is around 13 % which suggests high competition among researchers to obtain such prestigious grant.
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UCT Prague
Technická 5
166 28 Prague 6 – Dejvice
Identification No.: 60461373
VAT: CZ60461373
Copyright: UCT Prague
Information provided by the Department of Communication.
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[obsah] => The University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague is a natural centre of first-rate study and research in the area of chemistry in Czechia and is one of the country's largest educational and research institutions focused on technical chemistry, chemical and biochemical technologies, material and chemical engineering, food chemistry, and environmental studies.
UCT Prague - A challenge that pays off
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The University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague consists of four faculties and several other departments
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Faculty of Environmental Technology
Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology
Faculty of Chemical Engineering
| 402 Department of Analytical Chemistry | ||
| 403 Department of Physical Chemistry | ||
| 409 Department of Chemical Engineering | ||
| 413 Department of Mathematics (replaced by 446) | ||
| 444 Department of Physics and Measurements | ||
| 445 Department of Computing and Control Engineering (replaced by 446) | ||
| 446 Department of Mathematics, Informatics and Cybernetics | ||
| 453 Dean’s Office of Faculty of Chemical Engineering |
University Research and Education Centres
| 504 University Centre UCT Prague - Unipetrol | ||
| 550 Department of the National Institute of Virology and Bacteriology (NIVB) | ||
| 554 Department for the History of the Chemical Industry and Applied Chemistry | ||
| 557 BIOMEDREG | ||
| 558 Metrology and Testing Laboratory | ||
| 559 Prague University Analytical Center | ||
| 560 BAFA | ||
| 570 Technoparc Kralupy UCT Prague |
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| 721 Operating Department | ||
| 723 Sázava Dormitory | ||
| 724 Volha Dormitory | ||
| 731 Technical Department | ||
| 747 Conference Center | ||
| 748 Recreation facility Jáchymov | ||
| 749 Recreation facility Pec p. Sněžkou | ||
| 755 Volha Canteen | ||
| 756 Club Carbon | ||
| 757 Zikova Canteen | ||
| 758 Camping site Běstvina |
Service Departments for all UCT Prague Faculties
| 827 Department of Physical Education and Sport | ||
| 832 Department of Chemical Education and Humanities | ||
| 834 Department of Languages | ||
| 837 Department of Economics and Management |
Rector's Offices
| 929 General Practitioner | ||
| 930 Crèche Zkumavka | ||
| 938 Department of Internal Auditing | ||
| 939 Department of Supervision | ||
| 940 Counselling and Career Centre | ||
| 955 Project Centre | ||
| 961 Rector's Secretariat | ||
| 962 Registrar's Secretariat | ||
| 963 Department of Education | ||
| 965 Research and Technology Transfer Office | ||
| 966 Personnel Department | ||
| 968 Records Office | ||
| 969 Supplies Department | ||
| 971 Finance Department | ||
| 972 Department of Safety and Risk Prevention | ||
| 974 Department of International Relations | ||
| 976 Department of Construction and Maintenance | ||
| 977 Department of Building Administration | ||
| 979 Department of Communication | ||
| 980 Central Laboratories | ||
| 990 Computer Centre | ||
| 991 Department of Strategic Planning | ||
| 992 Hollow Glass Workrooms | ||
| 994 Technology Transfer Office | ||
| 995 Department of Operation and Technical Services | ||
| 996 Department of Public Order | ||
| 997 Centre for Information Services UCT Library UCT Press |
||
| 998 Vice-Rector's without Portfolio Office |
UCT Prague is a research university primarily focused on technical chemistry, chemical and biochemical technologies, material and chemical engineering, food science, and environmental science. Its cutting-edge facilities and equipment together, with an impressive scientific and research profile, make it an ideal training ground for the managerial, R&D, and public sector leaders of the future.
UCT Prague has four faculties. Its competitive edge lies in its unique “weaving together” of teaching activities with the highest-quality basic and applied research. Across UCT Prague, scientific teams are intensively involved in various national and international cooperative R&D efforts. The Project Centre provides methodological and administrative support to researchers submitting project applications and managing funded projects.
UCT Prague considers the commercialisation of applied research to be an important part of its mission. For that reason, UCT Prague’ss Research and Technology Transfer Office offers researchers support, contributing to extending valourisation of scientific outputs and pursuing the quest for new collaborative partners in applied settings. In 2015, UCT Prague opened Technopark Kralupy, a science and technology hub focused on chemistry for building construction applications, materials engineering, and related fields. The Technopark plays an essential role in UCT Prague’s technology transfer efforts and strategies.
The Research and Technology Transfer Office facilitates internal grants for researchers and students, offers opportunities to compete in prestigious research competitions, and promotes active engagement and participation in student conferences.
UCT Prague is an attractive institution for young scientists and early career researchers, and the Project Centre actively supports hosting and mentoring ECRs, e.g. as part of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. Here, ECRs can apply for a prestigious start-up grant, the Dagmar Procházková Fund, in order to create their own UCT Prague research groups. Postdoctoral fellows at UCT Prague receive extensive international mobility support for broadening their research horizons.
UCT Prague is actively involved in global scientific efforts and is continuously expanding and deepening its collaborations with partners around the world. The basic pillars of these activities include scientific research projects, inter-university cooperation memoranda, and Erasmus+ agreements. UCT Prague additionally creates and accredits joint study programmes with universities abroad.
Paving the way for the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award, UCT Prague is committed to creating collegial working conditions, supporting continuous professional development, and transparent hiring procedures. The Personnel Department co-creates facilities for employees together with the Welcome Centre, which supports employees arriving from abroad, from assisting with the visa process to answering questions about everyday life in Prague. In its determination to be an attractive and welcoming institution for all employees and students, UCT Prague has created a Gender Equality Plan, an executive action initiative.
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Feel free to contact Department of Comunication with any inquiry. The department will provide contact on University scientific staff.
Main contact person
L Mgr. Michal Janovský
b Michal.Janovsky@vscht.cz
e + 420 220 444 159
e + 420 733 690 543
- Room: A205a
Deputy contact person
D Mgr. Jan Kříž
b Jan2.Kriz@vscht.cz
e +420 220 443 799
: +420 728 831 726
- Room A318
Whole team of Department of Comunication
Press releases
- 3. 2. 2024 DETECT! (Deep Tech Creativity) successfully completed the first phase of project activities
- 13. 2. 2024 Hydrogen Academy: a new milestone in clean energy education
- 17. 1. 2024 Jitka Čejková's successful book recently released by prestigious U.S. publisher
- 30. 11. 2023 Material genetics will be pursued by the AMULET project, which succeeded in the Excellent Research Call
- 19. 9. 2023 The Prague Dejvice concept to be completed after 100 years
- 5. 9. 2023 UCT Prague co-founds Prague.bio with goal of connecting research and business sectors
- 1. 9. 2023 Faculty of Environmental Technology celebrates its 70th birthday
- 27. 8. 2023 Prague hosted world’s leaders in catalysis
- 8. 6. 2023 UCT Prague to lead on a new project for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship through deep tech
You can find older press releases in archive.
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Counselling and Career Centre UCT Prague
We offer students and graduates counselling, psychological counselling, soft skills workshops and job offers.
Alumni Club
The Alumni Club of the UCT Prague, brings together alumni and friends of the University. It strives to create a mutual communication platform between the school, alumni and current students. The club offers alumni meetings and lectures by successful alumni.
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[perex] => Dr. Lorena Manzanares Palenzuela is the second researcher at UCT Prague to have obtained the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship funded from the European framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020. Given the low success rates of applications in this programme, only 25 researchers received this grant in the Czech Republic during the period from 2014 to 2019. Lorena was awarded funding for a two-year long project entitled “Black phosphorus quantum dots as fluorescent nanosensing platforms for detecting unauthorised genetically modified material”.
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[obsah] => How did you become interested in research?
I started my research career all the way back in Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research, where I first became interested in molecular genetics. Molecular biology remained a central topic during my postgraduate studies at Complutense University of Madrid where I later received my PhD.
When you applied for MSCA-IF grant, you were already employed at UCT.
Yes, I met my supervisor, prof. Martin Pumera, at a conference and later I was invited to join his Advanced Functional Nanorobots team at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at UCT Prague. I especially appreciated the high-end equipment of the Nanorobots laboratories. To apply for MSCA-IF grant, applicant must comply with the “mobility condition”, which means not having spent more than 365 days previous to the application submission in the country where the host institution is located. I applied shortly after my arrival and I succeeded.
Can you describe the context of your research project?
EU is heavily dependent on imports from third countries of vegetable proteins to feed cattle, pigs and poultry, like soya and soymeal. There are many important export countries such as USA, Canada, or Brazil cultivating genetically modified plants. However, in the EU, we honour consumers’ right to choose between GM food and traditionally produced food, hence there are strict rules on the import of genetically modified material containing organisms: authorized products are allowed to enter EU countries but they need to be labelled so that the consumers are well-informed. To ensure enforcement of this rule, regular checks of the imported material need to be carried out. In my project, I study new approach to perform these checks, because the method that is used nowadays is rather slow and expensive.
I guess you are referring to PCR method…
Yes, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. This technique basically uses a small section of DNA to generate a large amount of its copies in vitro. When a DNA sequence of a food product is amplified, it allows for testing of the presence of genetically modified DNA. Although it is a powerful method, it has its drawbacks which can lead to biased results and is quite demanding to perform, which is why only specific laboratories are able to carry out the test.
Can nanomaterials provide better solution?
Nanomaterials show optical and electronic properties that can help to make a difference in the field of DNA detection, so I believe they can. In my research, I focus on emerging materials, and their capacity to serve as efficient DNA-sensing systems to identify the GMO in food and for DNA detection in general.
How does the sensing work?
Basically these materials can act as light switchers in the nanoscale. So by putting a small molecule in the DNA that interacts with the materials often by modulation of their optical properties, we can monitor if the DNA is specific or not for a certain trait, in other words, if it is genetically modified or not, and this can be applied to mutated sequences as well (for example, related to genetic predisposition to certain diseases). So what I am currently working on is investigating these nano-systems for the detection of specific DNA fragments that can be translated to many different applications beyond food control. Nevertheless, the biomedical applications remain very poorly explored.
This brings us to the interdisciplinary character of your research…
The field of nano-biosensors requires interdisciplinary research, which is why it makes sense for me to work in a group experienced in synthesis and characterisation of layered materials. Given my scientific background in pharmacy, my research interests have led her to the topic of genetically modified materials detection, bridging the materials science and molecular biology.
Given that your project is coming to an end soon, how would you reflect on your fellowship?
This project led me to stumble upon very interesting nanomaterial properties for detecting mutations in DNA. So, apart from optimizing these optical systems for genetically modified food, which is a rather complex topic that unfortunately I could not bring to completion, I have also explored the detection of disease-related genes. This has recently expanded my research interests and I’d be excited to continue exploring them. These recent findings will be published soon, along with three other articles that I have already published during this project. But it is not the publications I’m taking as accomplishment from this experience. I have learned plenty, not just scientifically, but also personally by engaging with the group, learning from people and networking abroad as well. Ultimately this is what this fellowship has given me: the opportunity to grow as an independent scientist and as a person.
This article has been supported by project no. LTI17009 (MEYS INTER-INFORM) and project no. 795347 (EU Horizon 2020)
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[text] => The European framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020, offers several funding schemes supporting scientific mobility within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. One of these schemes is MSCA - Individual fellowship for experienced researchers who can receive funding for up to 2 years for their research project. This type of grant allows for an international and intersectoral mobility with the aim to provide training and networking opportunities in order to enhance researcher's professional career. The average success rate of applications is around 13 % which suggests high competition among researchers to obtain such prestigious grant.
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