Michal Holčapek, a researcher in Analytical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemical Technology of the University of Pardubice has won the Czech Brains Jury’s Extraordinary Award for 2024. With the Czech Brain Award (Česká hlava) being the most prestigious research award in the Czech Republic, Michal Holčapek won the award for his research into lipids and discovery of a method that can diagnose the pancreatic cancer from blood analysis only.The 2024 award ceremony was broadcast live by the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10213906625-ceska-hlava/22454416015/">Czech Television</a>.The Czech Brains Award is the most prestigious award available to researchers in the Czech Republic. The award has been been presented in several categories since 2002. Since 2007 the Czech Brains Initiative has organized a similar award for secondary-school students called Little Czech Brain (Česká hlavička). Last year, Ing. Barbora Kamenická, Ph.D., a graduate from the University of Pardubice, received the award in the Doctorandus category for technical sciences.Professor Michal Holčapek has been researching lipid analysis for a long time with special focus on the detection of some cancer types. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive tumours with 80% of the cases being diagnosed too late for the therapy to be effective and thus a 5-year survival rate of less than 10%. For more than 20 years, Professor Holčapek’s team has focused on lipidomic analysis using mass spectroscopy combined with liquid or supercritical fluid chromatography, which enabled them to develop a number of validated analytical methods for detailed description of lipids in biological samples. Thanks to their research, it was possible to develop new screening methods to improve early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.The method is based on lipidomic analysis of blood, which determines the concentrations of more than 150 lipids. Thanks to the data from patients with pancreatic cancer and healthy individuals, a statistical model is created that can determine whether the patient suffers from the cancer with a certainty of 95%. The blood test has a number of advantages: it only requires a blood sample and it is reliable to detect even early stages of cancer and thus diagnose the cancer even before the onset of the first symptoms. In addition, similar concentrations of lipids have been observed in other cancer types, showing potential of a universal test for more types of cancer.Lipidica, a.s., a spin-off company founded by the University of Pardubice and FONS JK Group, a.s. is conducting the clinical trials in cooperation with Masaryk Oncological Institute in Brno, Olomouc University Hospital and another 13 hospitals across the Czech Republic. If the method is proved to be accurate and reliable in clinical testing, it can become a basis for national screening programme for those with high risk of pancreatic cancer, which would be unprecedented worldwide. In the long run, the team hopes to cover other types of cancer and implement a simple blood test into clinical practice, which would increase the chances of patients’ survival.<h3>Other laureates of the Czech Brains Award in 2024</h3><h5>Czech Brains National government award</h5><ul><li>Prof. Tomáš Jungwirth, Ph.D., Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences</li></ul><h5>INVENTION Award</h5><ul><li>Mgr. Jan Dobeš, Ph.D., Charles University, Faculty of Science</li></ul><h5>INDUSTRIE Award</h5><ul><li>Bene Meat Technologies a.s.</li></ul><h5>Doctorandus Award for technical sciences</h5><ul><li>Ing. David Vojna, Ph.D., Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences</li></ul><h5>Doctorandus Award for natural sciences</h5><ul><li>RNDr. Jakub Podgorný, Ph.D., Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences</li></ul><h5>LOREM Award</h5><ul><li>prof. PharmDr. Petr Pávek, Ph.D., Charles University, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové</li></ul><h5>Award of the Minister of the Environment</h5><ul><li>doc. Mgr. Lukáš Trakal, Ph.D., Czech University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environment &nbsp;</li></ul>

Michal Holčapek Winning the Czech Brains Award 

Bioinert UHPLC system improves sensitivity and peak shapes for ionic metabolites

Scientists from the University of Pardubice (UPCE) are part of a research consortium that has proposed best practices for the statistical processing and visualization of lipid analysis data. The publication, co-authored by analytical chemists from the team of Prof. Michal Holčapek at the Faculty of Chemical Technology, UPCE, highlights the most effective methods and tools in the programming languages R and Python for statistical data analysis and visualization. This article was published this week in the prestigious journal <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63751-1.epdf?sharing_token=d4BwtQ-cAQDoolqvF-6sqdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OCEr0hjE30S42RZ9Ec1dYJcqvfGdGaZCQhcrfF99X6je-n0SbLMQm5hl5EWu8YMr27kHqcYx8HhbhXVNVJnC1OwSo7QrDqTDTqlZQXJbaXH4CVNPLxU9Be0MTUl6bx0qg%3D">Nature Communications</a>.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/UPCE_Vedci_z_Univerzity_Pardubice_maji_dalsi_publikaci_v_prestiznim_casopise_Nature_Communications_2669200654.jpg" alt="UPCE: Scientists from the University of Pardubice have another publication in the prestigious journal Nature Communications" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_UPCE_Vedci_z_Univerzity_Pardubice_maji_dalsi_publikaci_v_prestiznim_casopise_Nature_Communications_2669200654.jpg 234w," sizes="100vw" width="1349" height="900">A multidisciplinary team of experts in lipidomics, metabolomics, programming, and statistics prepared a comprehensive review summarizing methods and tools in R and Python. Lipidomics and metabolomics based on mass spectrometry are among the fastest-growing “omics” technologies today. Their application provides critical biological insights and generates extensive datasets. However, this requires appropriate statistical analysis and visualization. A shortage of specialists able to efficiently process such data remains a major barrier to fully leveraging these methods.“Originally, I just wanted my PhD student, Jakub Idkowiak, to summarize the R scripts he used for data visualization so that other members of my group could benefit. Step by step, thanks to Jakub’s initiative, the scope expanded considerably, ultimately resulting in this comprehensive article co-authored by 20 researchers from 19 institutions across five countries,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://lcms.labrulez.com/articles?search=hol%C4%8Dapek">Prof. Michal Holčapek</a> from the Faculty of Chemical Technology, University of Pardubice.Drawing on numerous discussions at conferences and experience from peer review, the authors identified the need for a coherent and accessible overview of available tools. Their proposal provides scientists at all levels of expertise with verified, robust, and user-friendly solutions that had previously been scattered across different platforms.&nbsp;An important outcome of the project is a GitBook library containing an extensive database of codes for data visualization and statistical processing, along with usage instructions. The resource, titled <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://laboratory-of-lipid-metabolism-a.gitbook.io/omics-data-visualization-in-r-and-python/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Omics Data Visualization in R and Python</a>., responds to strong demand from the scientific community. At international lipidomics and metabolomics conferences, workshops and lectures on using R for statistical analysis and visualization are among the most attended sessions, generating strong interest and active interaction on social media.For Prof. Holčapek’s research team, which has studied lipid analysis for more than 20 years, this is already the fifth publication in Nature Communications within the past five years. The group of analytical chemists from UPCE first gained international attention with a commentary addressing issues in lipidomics data reporting. Their <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27765-9">second publication</a> described the discovery of a method for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://lcms.labrulez.com/article/4857">detecting pancreatic cancer from a simple blood sample using lipid analysis</a>. This breakthrough, published in 2022, is ranked among the top one percent most cited papers in biology and biochemistry according to the Web of Science database. The university has obtained a European patent for the method, and the spin-off company Lipidica is currently conducting clinical trials.

Scientists from the University of Pardubice featured again in Nature Communications

Best practices and tools in R and Python for statistical processing and visualization of lipidomics and metabolomics data

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Best practices and tools in R and Python for statistical processing and visualization of lipidomics and metabolomics data

Scientists from the University of Pardubice featured again in Nature Communications

Bioinert UHPLC system improves sensitivity and peak shapes for ionic metabolites

Michal Holčapek Winning the Czech Brains Award

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