Brno Living Lab Open Day

Dear colleagues,

we would like to invite you to the Brno Living Lab Open Day.

Please, send the invitation also to our former colleagues and alumni.

Registration is available HERE.

Annual inventory

From 1st to 31st of October 2023 a regular annual inventory of assets will take place. Please ensure that all instruments and equipment listed in the asset register are present in the relevant laboratory/office by 30 September and through the whole inventory period. We would like to ask especially the lab managers for their cooperation and help. Thank you for your cooperation. 
If you have any questions, please contact Jaroslava Žaludová.

Controlling meetings - grant spending

Starting in September, the first Wednesday of each month, the Operations and Projects Department will meet with the representatives of the research groups responsible for the orders. The aim is to ensure a steady drawdown of project budgets and a smooth conclusion of the 2023 drawdown.

If you have any questions, please contact Šárka Palátová or Sylvia Bartośová.

Purchase requirements

Registered letters

All letters are sent as ordinary letters. In case you need to send them as registered letters,  "REGISTERED LETTER" must be written on the envelope.

Cash register

Personnel changes-IT department

Our colleague Martin Nováček from IT department left RECETOX. If you need anything, please use it-helpdesk@recetox.muni.cz or the web portal at https://it-helpdesk.recetox.muni.cz/.

Participants for the international BENCHMARKS project study

Do you have a garden in Brno, and are you interested in its soil quality?

Your garden can become one of 20 selected gardens, where soil will be collected and analyzed for quality and pollutants, such as heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, or pesticides.

If interested, please complete the form with your contact information and garden characteristics by September 13, 2023.

We will let you know by the end of October whether your garden will be selected. The actual soil sampling will take place in 2024. A discussion about the possible reasons and ways to improve the soil quality will follow. You will get in touch with experts who understand soil quality. Meeting with people and organizations interested in healthy soil is planned for November. You will receive an invitation if you fill in your email in the form.

Why this research?

Do you know that 60-70% of soils are rated as unhealthy? Such soils cannot perform well the essential functions. The EU is responding with Mission Soil, which should result in significant improvements. You can learn more about it in short videos (https://youtu.be/3hPlZqwwhhM and https://youtu.be/08w1fiKT1x0). The Mission Soil involves scientists, politicians, public administrations, agricultural and forestry companies, private companies, and citizens. It aims to identify causes of soil degradation, develop best practices for soil health assessment, and find ways to improve soil quality.

The international BENCHMARKS project is also part of the Mission Soil. As a case study realized in the Czech Republic, the BENCHMARKS project focuses on private and community gardens in Brno to define the soil condition and contaminants. As part of the long-term cooperation between the Brno City Council and RECETOX, Brno is once again becoming a living laboratory where environmental and human health issues are being addressed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact  prof. RNDr. Jakub Hofman, Ph.D.

Submitted Projects

MEYS - OP JAK call: Research infrastructures - submitted 3 projects to upgrade the instrumentation of large research infrastructures in 2024-2026: RECETOX RI 3 – RECETOX in the role of a coordinator, ACTRIS-CZ RI 3 and BBMRInv – RECETOX as a partner

New funded projects

Visegrad fund
Research network on the metabolome of cyanobacteria – CyanoMeta ( PI RCX doc. RNDr. Pavel Babica, Ph.D.)

MEYS – OP JAK call: Excellent research
SALVAGE (Saving lives through research in early cancer detection and prevention: Molecular, genomic and societal factors) - RECETOX as a partner, PI prof. RNDr. Jana Klánová, Ph.D.

Open calls

Czech Science Foundation

Lead Agency grants - GA CR in the role of partner organization (deadline according to the foreign agency - currently it is still possible to submit project proposals in cooperation with:

• Germany – DFG agency, continuous call
• USA – NSF agency, continuous call
• Austria – FWF agency, continuous call
• Switzerland – deadline 9.10. 2023

If you are interested in this call, please contact Monika Kellnerová.

Technology Agency of the Czech Republic

Program Prostředí pro život (“Environment for life programm”)
Deadline: 13.9. 2023
Applicants: enterprises and research organisations

Sub-programme 1: Operational research in the public interest; max. CZK 15 million/project; 85% support rate; duration of project 12 - 33 months
Expect proposals for projects that will be based on the needs of the public in the field of environmental law or will offer results that will be used by the public administration, in particular in the development or implementation of strategic and conceptual documents.
Obligation to have an application guarantor in the project (to be selected from among several institutions; deadline for submission is 24.8.2023).

Sub-programme 2: Eco-innovation, technologies and practices for environmental protection; max. CZK 15 million/project; support rate 80%; duration of project 12-27 months;

The expected objective is to support eco-innovation and technologies and techniques in technical environmental protection, transfer of technologies, experience and knowledge base and to provide procedures to minimize risks arising from poor environmental quality to human health, their environment and nature.
GAMU In sub-programme 2, the focus is on the applicability of results.
If you are interested in this call, please contact Monika Kellnerová.

GAMU
Horizons (continuous call)
The support is intended for costs associated with the preparation of extremely prestigious and important projects of international donors (e.g. European Commission programmes).
The maximum amount of support is 400 thousand (if the applicant is the principal investigator) and 200 thousand (if the applicant is a co-PI).
For more information please contact Monika Kellnerová.

Horizon Europe
Open calls

Planned Calls

GAMU
Calls for the following programms will be launched in the Autumn:

• Career Restart (September) – Support for the integration of researchers after career breaks into research teams at Masaryk University.
• MUNI Scientist (September) - to be specified
• MASH (September) - Support for external successful scientists to create conditions for work and research at MUNI.
• Disocuri (September) - Support for funding successful DIOSCURI projects.
• MASH Junior Star (November) - support for young researchers (in collaboration with GACR Junior Star)
• Horizons (continuous call)
• Support for Excellent Theses (November)

We will inform you about the announcement via newsletter. For more information, please contact Monika Kellnerová.

Other

• EC: Webinar ERC grant competitions 2024 (20. 9. 2023) – online
• EC: Horizon Europe Cluster 6 Calls 2024 Brokerage Event (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment), (26. 9. 2023) – Brussels
• EC: Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment) v (27. - 28. 9. 2023) – hybrid
• EC: Horizon Implementation Day: Finding opportunities and submitting a proposal in Horizon Europe (5. 10. 2023) – online
• EC: Horizon Europe info day - Cluster 5 (Focusing on the twin green and digital transitions to achieve climate neutrality in Europe by 2050), (17. - 18. 10. 2023) – online
• EC: InfoDay Cluster 1 “Health” - Q&A on Calls 2024

Below you will find selected publications already available at WoS in last month. The list of other publications is available HERE.

• Pozo, K., Oyola, G., Jorquera, H., Gomez, V., Galbán-Malagón, C., Mena-Carrasco, M., Audy, O., Příbylová, P., Guida, Y., Estellano, V. H., Lammel, G., & Klánová, J. (2023). Environmental signature and health risk assessment of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) emitted from a landfill fire in Santiago de Chile. Environmental Pollution, 330, 121648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121648
• Šauer, P., Vrana, B., Escher, B. I., Grabic, R., Toušová, Z., Krauss, M., von der Ohe, P. C., König, M., Grabicová, K., Mikušová, P., Prokeš, R., Sobotka, J., Fialová, P., Novák, J., Brack, W., & Hilscherová, K. (2023). Bioanalytical and chemical characterization of organic micropollutant mixtures in long-term exposed passive samplers from the Joint Danube Survey 4: Setting a baseline for water quality monitoring. Environment International, 178, 107957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.107957
• Mareckova, K., Pacinkova, A., Marecek, R., Sebejova, L., Izakovicova Holla, L., Klanova, J., Brazdil, M., & Nikolova, Y. S. (2023). Longitudinal study of epigenetic aging and its relationship with brain aging and cognitive skills in young adulthood. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1215957
• Vavra, O., Beranek, J., Stourac, J., Surkovsky, M., Filipovic, J., Damborsky, J., Martinovic, J., & Bednar, D. (2023). pyCaverDock: Python implementation of the popular tool for analysis of ligand transport with advanced caching and batch calculation support. Bioinformatics, 39(8). https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btad443

• Garden party at Kotlářská 2023 - September 18

• Open Day- September 23
• Researchers’ Night - October 6

PhD Day 2023

PhD Day is an event that provides information on doctoral studies - program structure, students' rights and responsibilities, funding options,students experience, etc. It is an opportunity to meet colleagues from various programs and faculties. This event is ideal for those starting their PhD studies or considering it. 

Date&time: October 6, 2023, 9:00 – 12:00
Venue: Library of the University Campus Bohunice.

Further information about the event will be emailed and posted on the PhD website.
Detailed programme available HERE.
Register HERE.