Representatives of the Experientia Foundation and Palacký University have signed a contract on a start-up grant, which will focus on the development of chemical tools for the study of biomolecules in living systems and targeted influence on biological processes. The start-up grant was awarded to Athanasios Markos, a graduate of the Faculty of Science, who will lead his own research group at the Department of Organic Chemistry from January 2025.
“We are developing chemical tools to study biochemical processes. We seek to gain a deeper understanding of how these processes work in living organisms and use the knowledge we gain to develop new drugs and diagnostic tools,” said Markos about his research.
The contract for the start-up grant was signed by the Foundation’s director, Anna Slaninová, together with Palacký University Rector Martin Procházka and Athanasios Markos from the Department of Organic Chemistry. The meeting was also attended by Mr and Mrs Dvořák, founders of the Experientia Foundation. “We are delighted that two scientists from the Palacký University Faculty of Science have already received our prestigious start-up grant. They are young, ambitious chemists with experience gained from top foreign laboratories. And what is even more important for us, they want to make Olomouc a significant place on the map of world chemistry and a centre of excellence,” said the Dvořáks.
The idea of creating molecules useful for biological research under physiological conditions, i.e. directly in living systems, originated in Prague. Thanks to this procedure, scientists will be able to avoid biased information or undesirable effects. “It was at the time when I came back from my internship in Zurich to visit my wife. We want our methods to be able to be used in plants, animals, and bacteria – virtually in any living system. I firmly believe that with the support of a start-up grant from the Experientia Foundation, we will manage to develop methods that will be useful for the scientific community,” added the young scientist.
The graduate in Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Science, thanks to the Experientia Foundation, worked at ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. “It is great that our department has been able to establish a second junior group in the last two years with the support of the Experientia Foundation. It is also gratifying that these are our successful graduates who bring back experience gained from prestigious universities abroad. Both Athanasios Markos and Ondřej Kováč are a great promise for the department for future development – not only in science, but also in terms of teaching,” added Miroslav Soural, Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry.
