🚀 Big news from Prague! Vít Svoboda from the Department of Physical Chemistry, UCT Prague, made it to the Top 5 finalists worldwide in the Dream Chemistry Award 2025 with his visionary project “From Molecular Chirality to Petahertz Quantum Computing.” First ever finalist from 🇨🇿! 👏
Why does it matter? It paves the way for cheaper, more efficient catalysis, new magnetic materials, and even the fight against antibiotic resistance. After light activation, the new molecules can kill more than 99.99% of dangerous pathogens – but only exactly where you shine the light.
🔬💡 Scientists from UCT Prague and IOCB have developed a photoswitch that rewrites the rules of photochemistry – its so-called triplet state lasts hours instead of milliseconds!
👉 In our interview, he looks back on his student days and the path to this groundbreaking medicine: “Do what you enjoy, but always ask yourself how it can benefit people and society.”
🌍 A major breakthrough in the fight against HIV! The FDA has approved Lenacapavir, a new drug developed at Gilead Sciences with a key contribution from Czech scientist Prof. Tomáš Cihlář – a proud graduate of UCT Prague.
🚀 New paper from the Department of Inorganic Technology, UCT Prague!
Prof. Fíla’s team developed composite PIM-1 membranes that efficiently separate CO₂ from gas mixtures – a promising step for cleaner energy and lower emissions.
➡️ The research is being conducted in collaboration with the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences and is supported by the Czech Science Foundation.
The result will be new materials that will contribute to cleaner water and energy. 🌊⚡
☀️The sun as a chemical tool A team led by Prof. Josef Krýsa from the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague is developing photoelectrochemical cells – devices that use sunlight for the oxidative removal of pollutants from water and the photoelectrosynthesis of valuable chemical compounds.
Thanks to a cutting-edge experiment and calculations, a team led by Vít Svoboda from UCT Prague has managed to describe the ultrafast breakdown of a silane cation after photoionisation – in timescales of less than 150 fs!
The conference was held at the Pyramida Hotel with the support of Concrea and was attended by over 200 scientists and students from 30 countries, not only from Europe but also from overseas, e.g. Taiwan, Canada, USA.
Researchers from the Institute of Physics of the AV ČR (Dr. Alexej Bubnov, Dr. Vladimíra Novotná) and UCT Prague (Prof. Michal Kohout) organized a prestigious European conference on liquid crystals in June.
📍 The best result of the Czech Republic since the establishment of the independent republic 📍 The most populous IChO since the founding in 1968 in Prague
Thanks to all the teachers who give their time and energy to the students - thanks to you, the Czech Republic is a chemical superpower! 🇨🇿💙
...With the exception of one student, he beat competitors from all over the world! It is a huge success for the Czech Republic, Czech chemistry and all the dedicated teachers who prepare the students." - Jiří Ledvinka, UCT Prague
💬 "The tasks were harder than usual this year, especially the practice was very time consuming. Vašek was at IChO for the third time this year, expectations were high, but we were all shocked at the award ceremony...
🥇 Václav Verner (PORG) won 2nd place in the world 🥈 Matěj Pěnička (Gymnázium Nad Alejí) 🥈 Ondřej Michal (Gymnázium Botičská) 🥉 Adam Horák (Gymnázium Hranice)
🎉 Historic success of Czech students at the International Chemistry Olympiad! From Dubai, our high school students brought home a gold, two silvers and a bronze - in a competition of 356 competitors from 90 countries. 🧪🌍
🧪 The key output is a point rating system to determine the safe concentration of hydrogen in a mixture with natural gas for operational underground storage technologies.
🤝 The project was supported by TA ČR, the researchers are Klára Kuchťáková, Tomáš Prošek and Václav Šefl.
🔬 UCT has entered into a licensing agreement with RWE Gas Storage West GmbH for the results of research into the safe storage of hydrogen and natural gas mixtures in underground storage tanks.
