Thanks to CATRIN, Palacký University has received four MSCA PF grants, the second highest number in Czechia

Out of 33 grants awarded to the Czech Republic due to its success in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF) 2025 call, four are going to CATRIN at Palacký University.  This puts the oldest Moravian university in second place behind Masaryk University on the national level. The Horizon Europe program allows Czech institutions to attract talented scientists or send their postdoctoral students abroad.

Thanks to their success in the fierce competition of more than 17,000 applications, young scientists at CATRIN will be able to focus on research topics in the fields of photochemistry, biomedicine, and organic chemistry. Palacký University submitted 60 applications, and four applicants from CATRIN succeeded. A total of 15 institutions in the Czech Republic have been awarded funding, with CATRIN surpassing much larger entities such as Charles University (2 projects), the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (2), and the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (2) in terms of the number of granted projects, and receiving more projects than the whole country of Hungary, Slovakia, and Estonia to list a few examples.

“MSCA PF is one of the calls we have been participating in for a long time. I am glad that, just like last year, we were successful and received four grants directly from the main call. Thanks to this, talented junior scientists will receive support. I would like to thank my colleagues from the CATRIN grant office for their support in preparing grant applications as well as the supervisors who contributed significantly to the high scientific quality and thus the success of the projects. Without  their work we would not have achieved these results,” said CATRIN Director Pavel Banáš.

Two of the successful grantees will work on their projects in the Innovative Chemistry research group, and the Nanomaterials in Biomedicine, and Carbon Nanostructures, Biomolecules, and Simulations research groups will welcome one postdoc each.

“In the LUCENT project, my goal is to develop an intelligent, 3D-printed patch with microneedles for light-activated cancer treatment. The device will combine two light-activated materials: the natural pigment phycocyanin, which produces reactive oxygen species and provides optical feedback, and biocompatible carbon nanodots, which generate mild heat and increase the effectiveness of treatment in areas with low oxygen content. Together, they will enable localized, self-regulating therapy activated by low-power red light, suitable for both outpatient and home use,” said Chiara Olla from the University of Cagliari in Italy in her grant application.

“I am very happy about the project awarded project, not only because the candidate succeeded in the face of enormous international competition, but also because the effort we put into preparing the project over the summer has paid off. We will soon welcome a very talented scientist from Sardinia to our team and open up a new research topic. I believe that together we will fulfill the mission of MSCA PF projects, which is to support the career development of researchers, while also strengthening international cooperation. After all, the project is also the result of cooperation between the universities in Olomouc and Cagliari, which we started more than four years ago and have continued to develop, for example with the help of the COSY COST and TECHSCALE projects,” added one of the supervisors, Michal Otyepka.

A total of 1,610 postdoctoral researchers in 45 European countries received financial support, with a success rate of 9.6 percent.

The next call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will open on April 9, 2026. More about possible cooperation with CATRIN can be found at https://www.catrin.com/msca-pf/.

This year marks a major milestone, as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) program celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Since 1996, the program has played a key role in promoting research and innovation and has supported more than 150,000 researchers, including 23 Nobel Prize winners.

A list of successful applicants

Emis Ingenito: Enzyme-integrated high-throughput Multicomponent synthesis for Echo-enabled Rapid molecule generation and Assay in Lead Discovery (supervisor: Alexander Dömling)

Thiago Moreira Pereira: Scaling the Unreachable: Acoustic Droplet Ejection for DNA-Encoded Library Multicomponent Synthesis (supervisor: Alexander Dömling)

Chiara Olla: Light-triggered Ultra-precise Carbon-enhanced phycocyanin Engineered Needles for Therapy (supervisor: Michal Otyepka)

Endris Hanurry: Multifunctional Nanogel for Prolonged Immunoregulation and ECM Remodelling in Post-Surgical Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma: Organ-on-Chip Mode (supervisor Kateřina Poláková)