UCT PRAGUE

University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (UCT Prague) is a public university providing education, scientific, research and development activities. The UCT Prague is known for both the depth and broadness of its educational and research activities in almost all branches of chemistry, i.e. chemical engineering, food chemistry and technology, biochemistry, refining, water-treatment, biological sciences and technologies, as well as environment protection, materials sciences and others. The UCT Prague consists of four faculties, Faculty of Chemical Technology, Faculty of Environmental Technology, Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology, and Faculty of Chemical Engineering. The UCT Prague currently comprises 322 researchers and 507 academics including 65 professors and 115 associate professors. It is accredited to provide three-year Bachelor programmes, two-year Master programmes (ending with the Engineer title), and PhD programmes. The total enrolment at the UCT Prague is about 3800 Master and Bachelor students and 800 PhD students. The UCT Prague turned out a number of outstanding chemists, among them Professor Otto Wichterle, the inventor of soft contact lenses in the 1950s, or Vladimir Prelog, professor at the ETH Zürich who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1975. The annual turnover associated with research, education, and dissemination activities is approx. 50 mil EUR.

Prof. Tomas Ruml is the dean of the Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology and the head of the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague (UCT Prague). He is a widely recognized expert in the field of virology and molecular biology; he has published over 100 original papers in prestigious journals including Nature, PNAS or EMBO Journal. His research team has participated in many international and national projects including the NIH (R01) and Fogarty US projects. He initiated and organized three reputable international symposia Retrovirus Assembly Meetings in years 2000 through 2008. He established new study program Forensic analysis and new lecture courses on Molecular genetics, and Genetic engineering. He won the award of minister of Education, Youth and Sports: "For extraordinary results in research" in 2012, rector’s award: "For outstanding research and successful promotion of science" in 2014 and Award of the president of Vietnam for "Merit for understanding between nations" in 2015

Prof Jana Hajslova is the head of the Department of Food Analysis and Nutrition, Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague (UCT Prague) and chairs Accredited (ISO17025) Laboratory "Food Quality and Safety". She is a widely recognized expert in the field of food / environmental chemistry and analysis; she has published more than 250 original papers on development of advanced analytical strategies of contaminants, residues, natural toxins and other biologically active compounds, authentication and metabolomics. Her research team has participated in many international and national projects at both research and management levels, including the EC 5 - 7th Framework Programme, HORIZON 2020, several COSTs and EEA and Norwegian grants. Prof Hajslova together with her PhD students has been involved in various bilateral international research activities; under her supervision, close collaboration with many world-renowned institutions, such as WHO, FAO, USDA and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has been established. Currently she is the Czech Republic delegate in HORIZON 2020 SOCIETAL CHALLENGE 2: "Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and maritime and inland water research and the Bioeconomy" committee. As the chairwomen, she had a key input in establishing a series of very reputable international symposia "Recent Advances in Food Analysis" series in 2003-2015.

Assoc. Prof. Milena Stranska is an expert in the field of mycotoxins analysis. Recently she also specializes on metabolomic studies of food and also human samples and bioprospection of biologically active compounds. Her main scientific focus is: (i) Target/non-target analysis of food contaminants and health beneficial biologically active compounds: Development, optimization, and validation of analytical methods based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for analysis of contaminants and health beneficial compounds in foods. (ii) Metabolomic fingerprinting / profiling: Exploiting of high-resolution mass spectrometry for performing of studies focused on food authenticity and food frauds revealing. (iii) Bioprospecting: Research focused on characterization of new natural resources suitable for isolation of biologically active compounds exploitable in food / pharmaceutical research / industry; implementation of methods for biological activity testing (antioxidant, enzyme inhibitory, etc.); utilization of high resolution mass spectrometry for non-target screening of unknown compounds responsible for the biological activity, compounds identification and characterization. She published more than 25 original publication in impacted papers with more than 500 citations (without self-citations), several of them were awarded as the most cited papers in the respective journal. Among other awards, she got the Award of the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports for undergraduates and graduates for outstanding achievements in the research, and creative activity in the field of chemistry and food analysis in 2014, and Prize of the rector of the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague awarded to young academics for their excellent scientific results in 2015.

Dr Michaela Rumlova has over 15 years of experience in virology and molecular biology. Her activities are focused on the cellular metabolic pathways and effects of viral infection on human cells. Dr Rumlova co-organized three Retrovirus Assembly Meetings. She he has published 45 original papers in prestigious journals including Nature, PNAS or EMBO Journal. She taught student laboratory courses on Microbiology and Molecular biology. She received an Otto Witchterle award (in 2004) given to "outstanding young researchers".

Dr Monika Tomaniova has over 15 years experiences in assessment of food quality and safety. Her activities are focused on the development and validation of analytical methods mostly for organic contaminants in food and environment, food authentication and data interpretation. Beside this, she is high-experienced and well-qualified in knowledge transfer activities; she was and still is WP leader for making an impact & training & dissemination activities of several EU FP6, FP7 and H2020 projects. Dr Tomaniova was also chair of the organizing committee of series of international symposia "Recent Advances in Food Analysis" in 2007-2015. Until now she either chaired organizing committee or co-organized dozens of international conferences and workshops and many training events.

Dr. Jitka Viktorova is an excellent young scientist interested in the field of biologically active compounds. Her activities are focused on evaluation of beneficial properties of compounds isolated from natural sources and determination of their cyto- and genotoxicity. Beside this, she is an expert in cloning and heterologous expression in bacteria and plants. Due this expertise, in 2009 she received an Unipetrol award for outstanding young researchers. Moreover, Dr. Viktorova published several original research papers. In addition, she is active in education in lecturing on Genetically modified organisms and student laboratory courses on Microbiology.

Marie Fenclova is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Food Analysis and Nutrition, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (UCT). Her activities are focused on the development, optimization and validation of analytical methods for target / non-target analysis of contaminants (mycotoxins, "masked" mycotoxins, cocktails of contaminants), food additives (preservatives, organic acids), positive bioactive compounds (phytohormones, sesquiterpene lactones, antioxidants) and drugs (statins) in various sample matrices. She is also interested in the analysis of the human plasma / serum and cells metabolome and lipidome for the studying of the effects of the food / environmental contaminants, positive bioactive compounds or drugs on the human organism. For these purposes, she is experienced in the utilization of various liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based instrumental techniques (high performance and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography, preparative liquid chromatography, tandem mass spectrometry, high-resolution mass spectrometry, ion mobility).