Petr Marsik

Biology Centre CAS, is a national public research institution founded in 2006 by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It brings together five previously separate scientific laboratories and service center providing administrative and technical services. Mission The Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences performs mainly fundamental and also applied research, and provides education in a number of biological disciplines. Research conducted at the Biology Centre predominantly addresses ecological themes, with a significant emphasis on biomedicine. The research involves collaboration across disciplines, use of diverse methodological approaches (molecular biology, genetics, taxonomy, field ecology, mathematical modelling, etc.), and a combination of analytical and holistic approaches to problem solving. Core facilities with shared equipment support all the Centre’s scientific institutes. Education is an important part of the activities of most researchers at the Biology Centre. In collaboration with several universities, primarily the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, the Centre tutors Ph.D. students in biophysics, botany, ecosystem biology, entomology, hydrobiology, molecular and cell biology and genetics, parasitology, physiology and developmental biology – animal or plant specialization, and zoology. Teaching and practical training of undergraduates is another important activity and many scientists from the Centre lecture at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Charles University in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno, the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Brno, and several other universities in the Czech Republic and abroad.