This meeting was organized jointly by the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the ASCR, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and the Israeli Embassy in Prague on May 30-31, 2012. It represented a unique opportunity, especially for students and young scientists, to meet highly distinguished international scholars and discuss their ideas and projects directly with the most knowledgeable experts in the fields of biological chemistry. structural biology and material sciences. The invited speakers included four current Israeli Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry: Ada Yonath (Weizmann Instiute, Rehovot, Nobel Prize 2009), Aaron Ciechanover (Technion, Nobel Prize 2004), Avram Hershko (Rappaport Institute. Haifa, Nobel Prize 2004) and Dan Shechtman (Technion. Nobel Prize 2011) and other extraordinary scientific personalities from the USA, Israel, Germany and the Czech Republic, accompanied by several of their inspiring and talented students. and Luděk Svoboda.
Professor Pavel Zemanek and his colleagues at the Institute of Scientific Instruments (1St) of the ASCR built a laser that moves tiny spheres of polystyrene floating in water While in science fiction programs such as "Star Trek," tractor beams are used to move massive objects, the unique research published in Nature Photonics (2013, 7, 123-127) is limited to moving microscopic particles. Changing the way the light is polarized changes the direction the spheres move. The ISI scientists also found that at certain sizes, the spheres arrange themselves into neat rows as they move, bound by the light itself. The practical applications could be diverse. The tractor beam is very selective in the properties of the particles it acts upon, so one could pick up specific particles in a mixture. For example, this laser could be used to separate white blood cells. and Luděk Svoboda.
The Academy Assembly, the highest body of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic responsible for the foremost priority decisions related to the ASCR, held its XLI Meeting in the Municipal House in Vinohrady December 13. 2012. By a secret ballot. Professor Jill Drahoa was reelected by the Academy Assembly as the new candidate for the presidency of ASCR for the period 2013-2017. The president of Czech Republic will ratify this election and the nominee will be inducted as the new head of Academy at the XLII Meeting of Academy Assembly on March 19. 2013. and Luděk Svoboda.
The Academy Assembly, the Academy of Science’s highest body responsible for the most important decisions related to the ASCR, held its XL meeting April 19, 2012. Among invited guests were Petr Fiala, the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor; Miroslava Němcová, Chairwoman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; Alena Gajdůšková, First Vice-President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; Václav Pačes, President of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic; Rudolf Zahradník, ASCR Honorary President; Helena Illnerová, ASCR former President and others. This meeting’s main agenda item was discussion of the research methodology evaluation, which has been criticized by the ASCR since its inception. According to the Jiří Drahoš, the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the alleged misconceptions of the prevailing methodology were highlighted in the final report of the project International Audit of Research and Development in the Czech Republic, compiled and published by a consortium of renowned foreign institutions. Another item of the meeting was a brief presentation of the Strategy for the Development of the ASCR 2014–2020, in which Professor Drahoš introduced key visions and medium-term developmental goals of the ASCR, the Czech Republic’s leading non-university public research institution.