Central European Institute of Technology

CEITEC

Company type	Nonprofit company
Industry	Life sciences and advanced materials and technologies
Genre	European centre of excellence
Founded	2011
Headquarters	Brno , Czech Republic
Key people	Pavel Tomančák (director)
Services	Research

The Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) (Czech: Středoevropský technologický institut) is an educational and research institution in Brno, Czech Republic. It is a centre specialising life sciences, advanced materials and nanotechnology research.

CEITEC was founded by a group of Brno universities (Masaryk University, Brno University of Technology, Mendel University, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno) and research institutes (Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine) and supported by both the South Moravian Region and the city of Brno.

Within CEITEC, a number of laboratories were built with instrumentation and facilities. CEITEC is member of EU-LIFE, an alliance of leading life sciences research centres in Europe.

Research Areas

CEITEC was the first scientific centre in the Czech Republic to integrate research and development in the field of life sciences, advanced materials and technologies to such an extent. The project is based on the interdisciplinary study of seven research areas which allows to study objects of living and inanimate nature at all available levels of complexity.

The knowledge and experience of scientists from the six research institutes involved is divided into various research groups according to their expertise. Of the total, the majority are under Masaryk University, whereas the rest under the Brno University of Technology, the Veterinary and Pharmaceutical University, the Institute of Physics of ASCR, the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and the Mendel University.

CEITEC Masaryk University

CEITEC Masaryk University (CEITEC MU) is an independent university institute that was established at Masaryk University as a part of CEITEC consortium. CEITEC MU is a part of the research infrastructure that was built in 2014 at the University Campus in Brno–Bohunice and it provides equipment and conditions for basic and applied research, especially in the field of life sciences. The centre employs scientists from many countries, who conduct their research in areas of structural biology; genomics and proteomics of plant systems; molecular medicine and neuroscience.

CEITEC Brno University of Technology

CEITEC Brno University of Technology is part of CEITEC's "scientific centre of excellence". Since 2016, it forms a key component of research infrastructure with facilities and conditions for both basic and applied research in advanced nanotechnology and micro-technology and advanced materials. There are two research areas at CEITEC BUT where a total of 12 research groups dealing with ceramic materials, cybernetics for material science, advanced polymer materials or smart nano-devices, experimental bio-photonics, preparation and characterisation of nanostructures, development of methods of analysis and measurement, as well as characterisation of materials and advanced coatings. Both research programs offer the possibility of PhD study.

In 2018, two ERC grants are launched at CEITEC BUT, one of which focuses on more efficient treatment of cancer, and the other deals with the development of new technologies of spectroscopy and microscopy. An important achievement is also the acquisition of FET Open projects and the solution of two Teaming in the first phase.

Core Facility

CEITEC offers access to 12 shared laboratories equipped with instrumentation in the field of life sciences, nanotechnology and advanced materials. Advanced instrumentation, funded by national and European projects, is available to both internal and external academic and corporate users from both the Czech Republic and abroad. Most of CEITEC's shared laboratories are part of the Czech Republic's Big Infrastructures for Research, Experimental Development and Innovation for the years 2016 to 2022. Various opportunities for open access and its financing, services and expertise.

CEITEC Nano

Research Infrastructure CEITEC Nano at the CEITEC BUT campus under Palackého vrch provides facilities, backgrounds and methods for research and development of nanotechnologies and advanced materials. The research infrastructure is concentrated in shared laboratories - Nanostructure Preparation Laboratories (cleanliness class 100, area 356 m2), Nanostructure Characterisation Laboratories (class 100 000, area 1 337 m2) and Structural Analysis Laboratories (class 100 000, area 300 m2). These laboratories in a dust-free, high-purity environment offer complete processes for the preparation and characterisation of nano-objects, up to sub-nanometer levels. The research infrastructure has been in operation since 2016 and is one of the largest clean laboratory facilities in the Czech Republic.

Selected grants

Currently, CEITEC has four holders of the ERC grant. It also focuses on the acquisition of international institutional projects (especially H2020), which help to increase the competitiveness of both scientists and the institute itself.

1.	Consolidator grant	Richard Štefl	Dynamic assembly and exchange of RNA polymerase II CTD factors
2.	Starting grant	Pavel Plevka	Structural study of human picornaviruses
3.	Starting grant	Vojtěch Adam	Towards the understanding a metal-tumour-metabolism
4.	Starting grant	Petr Neugebauer	THZ-FRASCAN-ESR: THZ frequency rapid scan for spin dynamics investigations of bulk and surface materials

Financing

Originally, the source of funding for the Center of Scientific Excellence CEITEC was the European Regional Development Fund, which was drawn from the Operational Program Research and Development for Innovation, Priority Axis 1 - European Centres of Excellence. The total budget of the CEITEC project amounts to 5.24 billion CZK. Currently, the CEITEC consortium does not have a common budget, each of the CEITECs has its own.