The research activities of this Centre are focused on the study of cyanobacteria, algae and symbiotic soil microorganisms (bacteria and algae), which are used for bioindicatoin and revitalization of toxic anthropogenic substrates and water resources. The targeted outcomes are methods for predicting cyanobacteria in drinking wter and water resources, technology of biogas production from algal biomass and the use of algal biomass for the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology of microbial inoculations for more effective recultivation of brown-coal spoil banks. The research Centre is divided into three research groups each dealing with a portion of the research task: Group 1 - Cyanobacteria and their toxins in the waterworks industry; Group 2 - Use of algae for bioindication and revitalization of polluted water and biomass use; Group 3 - Use of microbial inoculations for soil revitalization. and Miroslav Vosátka, Jana Albrechtová.
Czech White-Nose Syndrome Team together with international collaborators discovered mechanisms of tolerance that protect Palearctic bats from white-nose syndrome (WNS), the disease that caused mass die-off in North America. The discovery raises hope for a better future of bats in North American ecosystems. White-nose syndrome (WNS) is caused by a generalist pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans with the worst possible characteristics of an infectious fungal agent. The generalist nature of the WNS fungus means that it can infect any bat hibernating in a contaminated cave or mine and, moreover, it may remain viable and virulent, waiting for its hosts until the next hibernation period. Harmless to humans, the WNS fungus kills hibernating North American bats in winter. However, loss of voracious insectivorous bats from agricultural ecosystems may result in economic costs required for increased pest control. Without mass die-offs of bats harbouring the WNS agent in Europe, the response to disease is an enigma. To study the survival crossroads, the Czech WNS Team focused on the relationship between pathogen quantity and disease under natural conditions. High disease prevalence together with high fungal loads in absence of bat population declines in Eurasia indicates disease tolerance mechanisms, where hosts limit harm inflicted by the pathogen but do not hinder its growth. The tolerance mechanisms revealed by the Czech WNS Team is a function of bat adaptation to the presence of the pathogen. and Natália Martínková.
Director of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and world leading climatologist Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber was invited for a lecture in the framework of the conference Where is the energy sector heading to in the context of the climate change that took place at the headquarters of the Czech Academy of Science on September 29, 2015. and Bedřich Moldan.
Tuto otázku si kladou lidé již od počátku lidstva. Pro členy Laboratoře biochemie a molekulární biologie zárodečných buněk v Ústavu živočišné fyziologie a genetiky AV ČR v Liběchově je odpověď jasná, jelikož na počátek vzniku nového jedince nahlíží prostřednictvím molekulární biologie. První bylo vajíčko. and Denisa Jansová.