Lukáš Spíchal received his MSc in Biology and Chemistry from Palacký University Olomouc in 2002 and his Ph.D. in Biology from the same university in 2005. Between 2002 and 2012, he completed research stays totalling 1.5 years at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
Since 2010, he has been a senior researcher at the Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research and its successor, the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN) at Palacký University Olomouc. He currently leads the CATRIN-BIO division and its research in plant phenotyping. From 2005 to 2019, he also served as a group leader at the Laboratory of Growth Regulators, jointly operated by the Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc, and the Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Experimental Botany from 2012 to 2016. In 2012, his team received the Best R&D Team award at the international Bioforum in Brno.
His research integrates chemical biology, agrochemical and biostimulant development, high-throughput bioassays, and advanced, data-driven plant phenotyping, with a particular focus on plant growth regulation, stress resilience, and the translation of research into agricultural applications. His recent work increasingly combines plant phenomics with computational approaches, artificial intelligence, and advanced sensing technologies. Recent publications include research on phenomics, crop-health sensors, and next-generation high-throughput phenotyping. His long-standing research in chemical biology includes plant hormones and their signalling, cytokinin metabolism and regulation, plant growth regulators, and bioactive compounds for agricultural applications. As of October 2026, his Web of Science record includes 132 publications, more than 5,000 citations, and an h-index of 42. In 2022, he was named a Highly Cited Researcher™ by Clarivate.
He has led and participated in major national and European research projects in basic and applied research and has played an important role in developing research infrastructure for plant phenotyping in the Czech Republic. In 2017, he founded the Czech Plant Phenotyping Network (CzPPN) and continues to serve as its coordinator. He represents the Czech Republic in the Support Group of EMPHASIS, the European research infrastructure for plant phenotyping, and has contributed to European activities in the field of plant biostimulants, including the CEN/TC 455 “Plant Biostimulants” technical committee.
Technology transfer is an important part of his research activities. He is an inventor or co-inventor of more than 30 granted patents, including technologies licensed to commercial partners and multinational companies. In 2011, he co-founded the spin-off company AgroBioChem, s.r.o., which collaborates with Palacký University on the development and commercialization of technologies and products for plant growth regulation. In 2025, he co-founded sense4plants s.r.o., which collaborates with CATRIN on plant sensing technologies.