Martina Roeselová Memorial Fellowship will support 10 young scientists in 2025

Magdalena Bohutínská is a postdoctoral researcher in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions return phase at the Faculty of Science, Charles University. She recently returned with her family from Switzerland, where she completed the two-year outgoing phase of this grant. She and her husband have two sons, aged four and six, as well as a baby daughter born in October 2024. Her research focuses on evolutionary genetics, specifically on understanding which genes enable organisms to adapt to new environments and the characteristics of such evolutionarily significant genes. She explores these questions through the example of repeated plant evolution in the challenging conditions of alpine environments, such as those in the Alps and Carpathians.

Veronica Goian comes from Iași, Romania, and works at the Institute of Physics of the of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She is also a mother to a young daughter. In 2011, she defended her PhD thesis, “Infrared Spectroscopy on Multiferroics,” at Charles University. In 2013, she was awarded the Otto Wichterle Award for young scientists of the CAS. In 2015, she received the prestigious Humboldt Scholarship and worked at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg for two years. Currently, she focuses on studying multiferroics and ferroelectric materials, investigating their dielectric and magnetic properties using advanced spectroscopic techniques. Her work aims to uncover the potential of these materials for applications in new technologies like spintronics. The fellowship will help her cope with challenging circumstances she faces as a parent and balance her responsibilities with her research.

Barbora Hrčka Krausová is a neuroscientist at the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a mother of 2 young children. Her research focuses on glutamate receptors, particularly the NMDA subtype, which are abundant in the brain and play a crucial role in neuronal signal transmission and memory formation. Disruptions in their function, however, contribute to various neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. Recently, novel variants in genes encoding NMDA receptor subunits have been identified in patients with these conditions. Her current work aims to uncover the functional and pharmacological impacts of these variants and develop targeted therapeutic approaches tailored to individual patients.

Anna Koslová is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a mother of two young girls. She is fascinated by viruses and the mechanisms by which they interact with their host cells. Her research focuses on recently described viruses of unicellular eukaryotic organisms, known as virophages. Virophages parasitize other viruses, so-called giant viruses, and have a protective effect on their cellular hosts. The biology of virophages and related viruses is largely unknown. Using a unique virophage model system Anna aims to describe new molecular mechanisms and at the same time she works to isolate new viruses to expand our knowledge of virophages. 

Monika Kratochvílová is a postdoctoral researcher in Michal Masařík's research group at the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, and a mother of two boys. After studying biochemistry at the Faculty of Science, she focused on the metallomics of cancer diseases during her doctoral studies, aiming to clarify how changes in the homeostasis of zinc, copper, and iron affect the development and progression of cancer. Currently, she studies cancer biology through data analysis, working with large datasets – a task that can be managed from home while caring for her children. The fellowship will help her return to experimental laboratory work. Her main research topics will include not only metals but also the tumor microenvironment and cell communication.

Martina Laczó is a mother of two sons, aged 18 months and 5 months, and works at the Department of Neurology at the Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, and Motol University Hospital. Since her medical studies and now as a postdoctoral researcher, she has focused on Alzheimer's disease research. Specifically, she explores the potential for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases using experimental cognitive tests, particularly spatial orientation tests. With grant support, she will be able to combine her scientific work with caring for her sons. In the coming years, she plans to focus on developing virtual reality laboratory at the Department of Neurology. She also aims to pursue translational research focused on adapting spatial orientation tasks for comparative testing in humans and animals.

Mufarrah Mehboob, originally from Pakistan, is a postgraduate researcher at the Institute of Microbiology of the CAS and a PhD student at Charles University. She currently lives in Prague with her elder child, while her younger son remains in Pakistan, awaiting reunification. Her research examines the role of ABCF proteins in Streptomyces, a genus of antibiotic-producing bacteria. She focuses on ABCF proteins encoded within biosynthetic gene clusters and their role in antibiotic signaling cascades. The aim is to uncover how these proteins mediate communication between ribosome-bound antibiotics and gene expression, influencing antibiotic biosynthesis. Her key goal is to clarify the function, environmental significance, and prevalence of ABCF-mediated antibiotic-responsive signaling pathways.

Matouš Palek is a PhD student at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, conducting his research in the Laboratory of Cancer Cell Biology at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Together with his wife Natálie, he studies the mechanisms that enable cells to maintain DNA integrity, which is essential for protecting against tumor transformation. His research focuses primarily on intracellular signaling pathways that detect DNA damage, repair it appropriately, and coordinate the process with other cellular processes occurring on the DNA. The close scientific collaboration between the couple has extended to a personal level and they now care for their two-year-old son, Šimon. With his natural curiosity, Šimon enthusiastically assists his parents in their experimental work and has quickly become an integral member of the research team.

Iva Synková is a PhD student in the Applied Geology program at the Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University. Her main area of interest is fungal ecology and geomycology. In her research, she focuses on the halogen content in the fruiting bodies of higher fungi, particularly on the accumulation, phylogenetic, and distributional dependencies of chlorine and bromine, as well as their interactions with soil. She conducts her research at the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS in the Radioanalytical Methods group, where she utilizes instrumental neutron activation analysis. In addition to her scientific work, she and her husband face the daily challenge of raising their five curious children, aged 3 to 8.

Anna Zavřelová is a PhD student at the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, and a mother to a two-year-old son. In her research, she focuses on protozoan parasites, particularly Giardia intestinalis, the most common protozoal intestinal infection in humans. Giardiasis affects hundreds of millions annually, causing gastrointestinal symptoms, eventually leading to malnutrition and impaired development, especially in children. Using a repurposing drug screen, Anna identified a novel compound effective against Giardia, which is also being tested in clinical trials for bacterial infections. She also investigates vault ribonucleoproteins in Trypanosoma brucei, contributing to the understanding of these cellular structures, which may influence parasite survival and function. This fellowship will help her finish her PhD and allow her to take her son along on an international research internship.