Short presentations from five Masters' students about their scientific work

1. Adéla Olšovská
2. Peter Illes
3. Marek Živný
4. Frantisek Krakl
5. Kristyna Pokorna

Challenges of Energy Industry

Mankind has always needed energy, and we consume more energy than any of the past generations. Do we have any particular requirements on the energy supply? And how shall we eventually reach those requirements? Is Europe, and the Czech Republic, keeping pace with the rest of the world? Is Europe the only continent to spend money on renewables?

You are invited to attend next week's seminar on Wednesday 06.11, at 14:00 in CH3, which will include short presentations from five Masters' students on their ongoing research projects.
There may even be more halloween candy..

Advancing Solid-State NMR by Optimal Control

In the past decade, we have witnessed significant advancements in NMR hardware, including the availability of ultra-high magnetic fields (>28 Tesla) and specialized magic angle spinning (MAS) probes capable of rotating solid samples at ultra-high frequencies (up to 150 kHz). These developments open up new opportunities for obtaining highly resolved proton NMR spectra of solids, but they also present new challenges for existing experimental techniques and the design of new pulse sequences.

In this habilitation lecture, I will focus on the design of new and improved experiments in solid-state NMR using optimal control methods. Unlike the traditional approach, which relies on analytical theories and manual development of quantum mechanics for each case, numerical optimizations allow for automated design and simple testing of new ideas. Our work has focused on multidimensional spectroscopy of solid protein samples, where we have developed, for the first time, transverse mixing recoupling elements (TROP). These pulse sequence blocks systematically enhance sensitivity by a factor of for each indirectly sampled spectral dimension, accelerating the acquisition of emerging 5D spectra by an order of magnitude.

Almost everything you wanted to know about biomolecular NMR

The application of modern biomolecular NMR spectroscopy methods on proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes can reveal important molecular properties which are often inaccessible to other biophysical methods. Specifically, the inherent atomic resolution of NMR allows us to localize precisely interaction interfaces or changes in dynamics and molecular conformation. I will briefly explain how structural and dynamical features of molecules can be quickly qualitatively discussed using simple 1D 1 H and 2D N-H correlation spectra. Techniques for studies of interaction of proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes will be demonstrated along with use of spin labels using our recent work on protein-protein and protein-protein-DNA complexes.

Novel approaches in poly(2-oxazoline) synthesis for drug delivery and biocompatible coatings

The habilitation lecture focuses on the synthesis and development of novel poly(2-oxazoline)s (PAOx) with potential biomedical applications, particularly in drug delivery systems, surface biocompatibility, and responsive nanomaterials. The lecture will begin with a discussion on the development of an acylation protocol for polyethylene imine (PEI), enabling the synthesis of highly defined poly(2-oxazoline)s, which overcome the limitations of traditional cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP). The research further explores the conjugation of PAOx with therapeutic agents, demonstrating their efficacy in drug delivery applications. The introduction of novel amphiphilic gradient copolymers based on PAOx also offers new opportunities for encapsulating hydrophobic drugs and self-assembling into nanoparticles. Finally, the lecture will highlight the superior antifouling properties of poly(2-oxazine)s, presenting these polymers as highly efficient coatings for biomedical devices, surpassing traditional materials like polyethylene oxide.

Zeolites are crystalline microporous materials with application in diverse fields, especially in catalysis. The
ability to prepare zeolites with adequate physicochemical properties for a specific catalytic application is a matter of great interest, because it allows optimization of the entire chemical process. Nevertheless, directing the zeolite crystallization towards the material with the desired framework topology, crystal size, or chemical composition is not trivial, since several variables influence the nucleation and crystallization processes.

The lecture will present and discuss recent advances on the design of zeolite-based catalysts, where innovative rationalizations allow to generate precise metal active sites and maximize the stabilization of the key intermediates. These rationalized target zeolites will be applied as efficient catalysts in diverse environmental and industrial processes.

On-line attendance is possible upon request 1 day in advance at jan.prech@natur.cuni.cz

Spectral peculiarity and criticality of a human connectome

In the talk, I will present our study on the spectral analysis of structural connectomes from various organisms, utilizing open-access data.  We have uncovered exciting new insights into the human brain's connectome. One of our key findings is that the spectral density of the human connectome deviates more significantly from that of a random network compared to other organisms.  For most animals, their connectomes can be closely replicated by a network evolution model that favors the formation of 3-cycles. However, in the case of the human brain, preserving local clustering was essential to accurately model its connectome. Furthermore, the spectral statistics of the human connectome align with a critical regime observed in condensed matter physics, which is a hybrid of Wigner-Dyson and Poisson distributions. This result strongly supports the intriguing hypothesis that the human brain operates at a critical state, a concept that has been widely debated.
 

Electrolytes and interphases in Post Li batteries

Large research efforts are devoted to the Li-ion battery technology, which is now mature and plays a major role in the field of portable electronics and electromobility. Aside from controversial debates on lithium and other critical raw materials supply, the development of new battery chemistries is appealing, especially in large scale stationary applications for which cost is a critical aspect. Interesting alternatives are to use sodium, calcium or magnesium instead of lithium. Current efforts on these alternative technologies are mostly devoted to the search of new electrode materials, while studies dealing with the electrolyte are much scarcer.

Electrolytes (combination of salt, solvent and additives) play a crucial role in the battery performances. Among other important requirements, the electrolyte must ensure fast mobility of electroactive species (cations) from one electrode to the other, it must wet properly the separators and the electrodes, it should remain stable in contact with fully charged electrodes (large electrochemical stability window) or lead to the formation of stable interphase preventing continuous electrolyte decomposition.

In this seminar, I will introduce the main selection criteria for electrolyte components and show comparative studies of various post-Li electrolyte formulations and their physico-chemical properties (viscosity, ionic conductivity, electrochemical and thermal stabilities). Results will be discussed together with cation solvation trends and investigations on the electrode/electrolyte interface and its impact on the performance of Na, Ca and Mg based cells. Finally, the reliability of electrochemical setups to test new electrode and electrolytes for post-Li battery will also be discussed.

14.5.

• 13.00 Arrival and Accommodation
• 14.30-14.45 Opening - Tomáš Obšil
• 14.45-15.15 Introductory lectures of PhD students (1 year students - 5 min – 5 slides/each) : 01 - Martin Orságh, 02 - Ipsita Padhee, 03 - Jun Xie, 04 - Daria Sudakova, 05 – Andrej Šmelko
• 15.15-16.15 Future plans – Assistant Professors (6-8 min) : 01 – Lucie Nová, 02 – Oleg Rud, 03 – Pavla Eliášová, 04 – Jan Přech, 05 – Michal Mazur, 06 – Ondřej Sedláček, 07 – Junji He
• 16.15-16.25 Presentation of NMR Laboratory (Z. Tošner)
• 16.30-18.00 Free afternoon – volleyball (P. Eliášová, M. Mazur)
• 18.30 Dinner at the fire (it depends on the weather)

15.5.

• 9.00-10.40 Lectures of PhD students (5 x 15 min + 5 min discussion): 01 - Manayath Panakkal, 02 - David Šorm, 03 - Zuzana Vosáhlová, 04 - Klára Kohoutová, 05 - Behlssen Hleli
• 10.40-11.00 Coffee break
• 11.00-12.20 Lectures of PhD students (4 x 15 min + 5 min discussion): 06 - Sebastian Pineda, 07 - Anastasia Kurbanova, 08 - Indranil Saha, 09 – Min Li
• 12.30-14.00 Lunch
• 14.00-15.20 Postdoc Lectures (4 x 15 min + 5 min discussion): Po01 - Subha Samantha, Po02 – Luis Carracosa, Po03 – Zhaobo Zhou, Po04 - Carlos Bornes
• 15.30-16.00 Coffee break
• 16.00-18.00 Pavla Hubálková (Charles University), Otakar Fojt (British Embassy Prague) Communication in Science
• 19.00 Dinner

16.5.

• 8.00 Breakfast and Departure