Prof. MUDr. Aleksi Šedo, DrSc.
Principal investigator of the project and Director of the National Institute for Cancer Research
Head of the Prague node
Home institution: First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University
Aleksi Šedo is head of the Institute of Biochemistry and Experimental Oncology of the First Faculty of Medicine and head of one of the programmes of the Centre for Tumour Ecology, which is an Operational Programme for Research, Development, and Education co-financed by the EU. He works mainly in applied biomedical research focused on the regulation and signaling of cell proliferation and differentiation and on innovative goals in the diagnostics and therapy of tumours. He is the author of numerous studies, patents, and dozens of scientific publications. Šedo is an internationally respected scientist especially in the field of study of proteases and of the microenvironment of malignant glioblastomas. In 2012–2020, he served as Dean of the First Faculty of Medicine, earlier was a visiting professor in Pisa, researcher at the Institut Curie in Paris, and a senior scientist in research and development at the Procter & Gamble centre in Frankfurt am Main. He is a member of the Scientific Board of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, member of the board of the Czech Health Research Council, of the Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, and the founding head of the Neurooncology Section of the Czech Society for Oncology (under the Czech Medical Association of Jan Evangelista Purkyně), and member of the Czech Medical Academy.
Prof. MUDr. Jaroslav Štěrba, Ph.D.
Designated Scientific Director of the National Institute for Cancer Research
Head of the Brno node
Home institution: Faculty of Medicine of the Masaryk University
Jiří Štěrba is head of the Department of Children’s Oncology of the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University and University Hospital Brno and member of several national and international scholarly societies, such as the Children's Oncology Group (USA), European Bone and Marrow Transplant Group, or the International Society of Pediatric Oncology, and for the second time also a member of the Paediatric Committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). His work is in the long term focused on research of personalised anti-cancer vaccines, which combine standard treatment with targeted and immunotherapeutic methods. His scientific activity focuses on innovative therapeutic approaches and mechanisms of immune response in cancers. Professor Štěrba has published over 150 original academic articles in impacted international scientific journals and his works have been cited over 5,000 times. He is the author or co-author of many scientific publications and is actively involved in the training of young physicians and scientists. Professor Štěrba’s work contributes not only to progress in our understanding of paediatric tumours but also to an improvement in the quality of life of paediatric and adolescent patients.
Doc. MUDr. Marián Hajdúch, Ph.D.
Medical Director of the National Institute for Cancer Research
Head of the Olomouc node
Home institution: Faculty of Medicine of Palacký University
Marián Hajdúch is the founding director of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of Palacký University and director of EATRIS-CZ, which is Czech national hub of the European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine. He is active mainly in translational but also basic research with focus on the molecular foundation of tumours and infectious diseases, identification of new biomarkers, therapeutic goals, and new pharmaceuticals. He is the founder of personalised medicine in the Czech Republic. Hajdúch served as national coordinator of testing during the Covid-19 pandemic. He is the author of dozens of scientific publications and holder of over 40 pharmaceutical patents. He currently serves as member of Science, Research, and Innovation Council, is head of its Bioethics Committee, vice-president of the Cancer Research Foundation, and member of the steering committee of Early Cancer Detection Europe. For twelve years, he participated in the management of European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine EATRIS-ERIC.
Board of the National Institute for Cancer Research
- prof. MUDr. Aleksi Šedo, DrSc., 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy
- prof. RNDr. Ondřej Slabý, Ph.D., Lékařská fakulta a CEITEC Masarykovy Univerzity
- doc. MUDr. Marián Hajdúch, Ph.D., Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého
- MUDr. Ludmila Boublíková, Ph.D., 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy
- MUDr. Petr Džubák, Ph.D., Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého
- prof. Ing. Michal Hocek, CSc., DSc., Ústav organické chemie a biochemie AV ČR
- prof. MUDr. Pavel Klener, Ph.D., 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy
- prof. MUDr. Karel Smetana, DrSc., 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy
- prof. MUDr. Marek Svoboda, Ph.D., Masarykův onkologický ústav
- prof. MUDr. Jan Trka, Ph.D., 2. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy