We received a total of four projects from the Czech Science Foundation (GACR, Standard Projects), twice as principal recipient and twice as co-recipient.
1) Advanced thin film photocatalysts on a basis of graphitic carbon nitride (23-06843S, P106), the investigator is Doc. Dr. Ing. Petr Klusoň from the Research Group of Microreactors, the first co-investigator is Doc. RNDr. Tomáš Homola, Ph.D. from FS MU in Brno, and the second co-investigator is Ing. Petr Dzik, Ph.D. from FCH BUT in Brno. The aim of the project is to design, synthesize, characterize, and practically test a novel supramolecular light-sensitive material g-C3N4 in the form of thin films and coatings prepared by the materials printing approach, and to modify its functionality via a rational use of low-temperature plasma.
2) Study of galectin-glycan interactions using fluoroglycomimetics (23-05146S, P207), the investigator is Mgr. Jindřich Karban, Ph.D. from the Research Group of Bioorganic Chemistry and Biomaterials, and the co-investigator is Dr. rer. nat. Viktoria Heine, Ph.D. from the Institute of Microbiology of the CAS, v.v.i. The goals of this project are the chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of mono- and multivalent fluoroglycomimetic galectin ligands and their use to investigate binding to galectins employing a variety of biochemical and NMR methods and to identify high-affinity selective ligands.
3) Modular approach towards chiral membranes for scalable enantioseparation of racemic drugs (23-06152S, P106), co-investigator is Ing. Pavel Izák, Ph.D., DSc. from the Research Group of Membrane Separations, and the investigator is Ing. Michal Kohout, Ph.D. from FCHT UCT in Prague. The project aims to develop a modular approach toward the preparation of chiral membranes bearing various chiral selectors for the chiral resolution of a racemic mixture of choice with a particular focus on the chiral separation of pharmaceutically important substances.
4) Development of Electroanalytical Methods for Interaction of Galectins and Glycomimetic Ligands – New Potential Anticancer Drugs (23-06115S, P206), co-investigator is Mgr. Jindřich Karban, Ph.D. from the Research Group of Bioorganic Chemistry and Biomaterials, and the investigator is RNDr. Aleš Daňhel Ph.D. from the Institute of Biophysics of the CAS, v.v.i. in Brno. The goals of the projects are a synthesis of novel organometallic galectin ligands based on the electroactive ferrocene or ruthenium arenes, the development of spectro-electrochemical methods for characterization of the ligands and for the galectins-ligand interaction studies, and the selection of the ligands as potential galectin inhibitors.