Congratulations to Martin Ullrich and Jan Holan who have successfully defended their PhD theses on Friday 27 November. Well done you two, and good luck in your new jobs!

Great success of our undergraduate students in SVK Student Scientific Competition again! 6 places in this years’ chemical engineering experimental section go to members of the Chobotix group: Peter Ševčenko, Juraj Petrík and Matěj Novák bring home bronze from their respective sections, Martin Kalný takes silver and Denisa Lizoňová and Viktorie Čermochová have won her section. Excellent job, everyone!

Congratulations to Marek Soltys for winning the best poster award at the Chemical Engineering conference CHISA 2015. Overall, the Chobotix group had a strong presence at the conference, with the following contributions:

Invited talk
Jitka Čejková: Netradiční řešení bludišť pomocí biologické a umělé chemotaxe
Oral presentations
Marek Šoltys: Ovlivnění rychlosti rozpouštění látek jejich sorpcí do porézních nosičů
Kateřina Punčochová: Combination of microscopic techniques for visualization and explanation of the dissolution behavior of poorly soluble drug in solid dispersion
Monika Majerská: Vývoj perfúzneho modelu tkaniva na štúdium špecifickej adhézie funkcionalizovaných nanočastíc
Alexandra Karasová: Modifikace povrchu silikových částic protilátkami pro využití interakce antigen-protilátka při cíleném doručování léčiv
David Smrčka: Simultánní měření rozpouštění a rozpadu granulí s vysokým obsahem léčivé látky
Poster presentations
Beyza Ayse Aysan: Superparametric Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONs) in Microchemical Systems
Michaela Gajdošová: Effect of Viscosity Grade of HPMC on Polymer Swelling Kinetics Studied by Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Petra Janská: Studium kolektivního chování kapek dekanolu pomocí robota Evobot
Tereza Herinková: Modelování inženýrských procesů v chemické robotice
Nguyen To Quyen: Nebiologická chemotaxe – charakterizace systému dekanol-dekanoát-sůl
Zuzana Ruberová: Fabrication of compartmentalized hydrogel microparticles on the microfluidic chip
Ondřej Rychecký: Kultivace trojrozměrných agregátů buněk uvnitř tekutých kuliček
Nina Sarvašová: Štúdium adhézie v 3D perfúznych prostrediach
Marek Šoltys: Syntéza porézních křemičitých nanočástic s enkapsulovaným magnetitem pro přípravu membrán

Many congratulations to Katka Punčochová for winning a 2-year scholarship awarded by the Czech Microscopy Society (ČSMS) in a highly competitive three-round competition. Her project will be concerned with the combination of several imaging and microscopic techniques to investigate the mechanisms of poorly soluble drug release from amorphous solid dispersons. Well deserved, and good luck!

Many congratulations to Marek Soltys for defending his MSc thesis and successfully passing the State exams, thus joining the ranks of graduate Engineers! We hare pleased that Marek continues the journey and joins our lab a PhD study programme. Welcome, and all the best!

Many congratulations to Marie Prajzlerová, Nikola To Quyen Nguyen, Tereza Herinková and Viktorie Čermochová for defending their bachelor’s theses and passing the state exams, thus successfully completing the first stage of their studies. Well done, and good luck in further studies!

The Advanced Nano-Formulation Laboratory was officially opened today by prof. Štěpánek in the presence of distinguished guests, among them the Director of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, prof. Jiří Drahoš, and the Head of Department of Chemical Engineering, prof. Michal Přibyl. This state-of-the-art facility will house the increasing number of students, projects and instruments of the Chobotix group, with a special focus on research in the area of structured nano-carriers and novel pharmaceutical formulations.

Matej Novak progressed to the national round of the FameLab competition where he won the British Council prize for a second place overall. Many congratulations and enjoy your trip to the Cheltham Science Festival!

Many congratulation to Miška Gajdošová for winning the Best Oral Presentation Award at the 3rd International Conference on Chemical Technology (ICCT) for a contribution titled “Polymer Swelling Kinetics of Binary Matrices Containing Hydrophobic Additive Studied by Magnetic Resonance Imaging” by M. Gajdošová, D. Pěček, N. Sarvašová and F. Štěpánek.

Many congratulations to our former colleague Petra for the birth of beautiful baby boy Jiri (3.5 kg, 50 cm). Both mother and baby are doing well. All the best from the entire Chobotix team!