National projects

Losses in crop production due to plant diseases average 20 % worldwide and severely limit production, quality, and safety of food. The main culprits, besides viruses, are fungi, bacteria and oomycetes. Practice of crop protection has been progressively reoriented towards reduction of a number of active ingredients in pesticides to those that are more selective and l...

Goal of the project is to investigate possibility of bacteriophage therapy in periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) treatment. The number of joint implants is increasing every year, as they nearly eliminate pain and contribute significantly to better mobility of the patients affected with end stage joint derangements. Along with increasing number of patients with jo...

Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a urinary bladder disorder with no obvious histopathology or bacterial infection. Its prevalence is up to 2% in females, diagnosed annually, and its incidence is increasing globally. Since the etiology of IC is poorly understood, this illness still lacks an efficient cure, as the current treatment is still not successful in more than a ...

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are one of the most prevalent sensually transmitted pathogens, responsible for more than 5 % of all cancers in humans, including cervical cancer and HPV-associated head-and-neck cancer. APOBEC3 (A3) proteins are cytidine deaminases that are capable of DNA and RNA editing. DNA-editing activity represent a key part of the innate immune response to viral infections. Howev...

Iodine is the heaviest essential trace element required by the higher living organisms. It is incorporated in T3/T4 hormones responsible for regulation of basal metabolism of almost any cell. T3 and T4 hormones are produced in the thyroid gland. The thyroid hormone metabolism involves selenium containing deiodinases and additional selenoperoxidases and thioredoxin p...