The recently established the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine (IMTM, www.imtm.cz), Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University in Olomouc is one of the most influential research projects carried out in the Czech Republic. The IMTM's mission is basic and translational biomedical research with the goal to understand the underlying causes of cancer and infectious diseases and to develop fu­ture human medicines and diagnostics. The initiator of its formation was the Palacky University in Olomouc in close partnership with the University Hospital in Olomouc, the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Formation of the IMTM is funded via infrastructural project Biomedicine for Regional Development and Human Resources (BIOMEDREG) financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the national budget of the Czech Republic through the Operational Program Research and Development for Innovation.

Current IMTM research programmes:

• The programme Molecular Basis of Diseases and Molecular Targets aims to identify, describe and understand the metabolic and signalling pathways, and genetic and epigenetic causes of human disease with special focus on cancer, inflammatory and infectious diseases. The outcome of this programme is the identification of target molecules for which drug or biomarker can be designed to influence the disease outcome.
• The Medicinal Chemistry programme concentrates on synthesis, isolation and/or optimization of novel organic com­pounds with potential biological activity with focus on spe­cific classes of new compounds, their derivatization, and structure modification in response to biological activity. In-solution and solid-phase synthesis combinatorial chemistry plays a crucial role in establishment of scaffolds modification collections. The outcomes of this programme are new hits and new optimized lead compounds.
• The Chemical Biology and Experimental Therapeutics programme provides high throughput (HIS) screening on a broad diversity of assays and detection platforms. The programme is responsible for, and provides feedback information to, all the stages in the lead generation pipeline. Our HTS platform is industry strong, modular and flexible, and allows testing in BSL3 and BSL2+ environment, screening in combination with ionizing radiation, mass spectrometry, high content analysis and others. The outcomes of this programme are pre-clinical and clinical candidate molecules for further proof-of-concept clinical trials.
• The main focus of the Biomarkers – Identification and Validation research programme is identification, validation and implementation of new biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic and predictive purposes. Unique tissue bank collections in combination with complex genomic, metabolomic and proteomic analyses, and complex analysis of biomolecules modulating signal and regulation pathways in normal and diseased cells, form the base of our biomarker discovery engine. The outcomes of this programme are new validated biomarkers and certified diagnostics.
• The main goal of the Pharmacology and Toxicology programme is to elucidate toxicity, the modes of absorption and transformation of active substances by the experimental organisms and in clinical trials. The outcomes of this programme are optimized administration routes, basic preclinical ADME/Tox data and pharmacokinetics in clinical trials.
• The Translational Medicine programme removes barriers to multidisciplinary collaboration by pointing out clinically relevant problems on one hand, while on the other validating discoveries from molecular targets, biomarker and drug discovery pipelines in proof-of-concept clinical trials. In addition to facilitating the exchange of information, the programme collects and comparatively analyzes clinical information and provides support for clinical trials phase I–III. The outcomes of this programme are drugs and biomarker validated in proof-of-concept clinical trials.

The research programmes are supported by nine core facilities that provide their expertise and technical support in their respective fields to all the research programmes. These core facilities are: Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Animal Models and Imaging, Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Cell Biology, Combinatorial Chemistry, Radiochemistry and uHTS/HCA screening platform.

Come4Experience programme

The IMTM opens attractive positions for foreign young scientists to enhance multidisciplinary knowledge, cultural complexity and internationality of its team. As an employee you will experience European culture, society and life. Apply for a PhD. or postdoctoral position at http://www.imtm.cz webpage or send your CV to the IMTM director Mr. Marian Hajduch (marian.hajduch@upol.cz). Professionals with strong character, team spirit and excellent scientific results are requested in the following research areas: medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, informatics for life sciences, biostatistics and/or applied mathematics and robotics.

The new team members will be provided by sufficient funds to cover living costs and travel expenses, will be integrated to IMTM employees free time activities, will gain full access to IMTM research equipment and as a team members will solve complex health related challenges. Their significant contribution will be mentioned in the IMTM scientific publications and patents. Moreover they will have an opportunity to attend the Palacky University student courses to extend their knowledge or represent the IMTM at the conferences. The IMTM official language is English.