prof. RNDr. Robert Vácha, PhD.

Research Group Leader Senior, Robert Vácha Research Group

office: bldg. C04/213
Kamenice 753/5
625 00 Brno

phone:	+420 549 49 6846
e‑mail:

social and academic networks:

Curriculum Vitae

Person-Related Identification Information

Department

Employment - Position

Education and Academic Qualifications

09/05 - 06/09 Ph.D. at Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, Specialization: Simulation of chemical properties of nano- a biostructures; Thesis under supervision of Pavel Jungwirth: Molecular simulations of surfaces of aqueous solutions
09/07 - 06/09 International Max Planck Research School for "Dynamical Processes in Atoms, Molecules and Solids" in Dresden, Germany
09/99 - 05/05 Ms. at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, Specialization: Physics - Biophysics and Chemical Physics; all exams passed with grade A - graduated with honor Thesis under supervision of Pavel Jungwirth: Molecular simulation of molecular and ion interactions at the air/water interface

Employment

Since 07/17 Group leader at CEITEC, Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)
10/11 - 06/17 Associate professor/Researcher at CEITEC and Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)
08/11 - 10/11 Postdoctoral Research Associate in group of Mikael Lund, Department of Chemistry, Lund University (Sweden): Coarse grained models of amyloids, Dynamic Monte Carlo (DMC) technique
08/09 - 07/11 Postdoctoral Research Associate in group of Daan Frenkel, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge (UK): Coarse grained modelling of phospholipid membranes and proteins, Molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) techniques
02/04 - 09/09 Research assistant in group of Pavel Jungwirth at Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic: Hosting institute for my Ph.D. study: Atomistic simulations of molecules and ions at water interfaces
05/03 - 12/03 Research assistant in group of Pavel Jungwirth at Institute of Physical Chemistry J. Heyrovský, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic: Molecular dynamics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at air/water interface

Teaching Activities

Since 2017 Lecturing - Problems and issues of molecular modelling C9926 Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Since 2016 Lecturing - Seminar of molecular modelling F1170 Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Since 2015 Lecturing - Physics of biopolymers F8510 Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Since 2013 Lecturing - Interactions of proteins and membranes – introduction to soft matter NBCM147, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Since 2012 Lecturing - Introduction to soft matter models of membranes and proteins C9925, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
2010 - 2011 Supervisions of Thermodynamics and Kinetics at Churchill College, Cambridge (3 small groups of three 1st year students)
2010 - 2011 Mentoring 5 students (2 Ph.D. and 3 MSc.)
2009 - 2010 Supervisions of Statistical Mechanics at Chemistry Department, University of Cambridge (small group teaching of three 3rd year students)
2007 - 2008 Assisting teacher at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague - Classical molecular dynamics (12 students of 4th year)
2006 - 2007 Assisting teacher at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague - Classical and quantum molecular dynamics (10 students of 4th year)

Grants

2017 - 2020 Czech Science Foundation grant (GACR) – PI, Amphiphilic Peptides at Phospholipid Membranes, 3 years (180 000 EUR)
2017 - 2020 Grant Agency of Masaryk University (GAMU) – co-PI, Computational chemistry for Wnt signaling pathway, 3 years (190 000 EUR)
2016 - 2019 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Program Interreg V-A Austria-Czech Republic – co-applicant, Protein Dynamic Center (PDC), 3 years (898 000 EUR)
2014 - 2016 Czech Science Foundation grant (GACR) – PI, Self-assembly of patchy spherocylinders, 3 years (160 000 EUR)
2008 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) - grant for two-month fellowship at Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Japan. Investigation and application of novel free energy calculations
2008 Grant Agency of Charles University GAUK – 1 year grant, Czech Republic Creation on investigation of mixed phospholipid membrane with atomistic resolution by means of computer simulations (4 600 EUR)

Internship

11/08 - 12/08 Fellowship in group of Nobuyuki Matubayasi at Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University in Japan: Investigation and application of novel free energy calculations
09/07 - 09/07 Short fellowship in group of Max Berkowitz at University of North Carolina, USA: Ions behaviour at water/phospholipid membranes interface
07/06 - 08/06 Fellowship in group of Rainer Böckmann at University of Saarland, Germany: Development of new all atom classical and polarizable forcefield for lipids
01/02 - 06/02 Student project in JRM Laboratory at Kansas State University, USA: Fragmentation of diatomic molecules following multiple capture of a slow highly charged ion

Invited Lectures

2018 43rd FEBS Congress Prague, Czech Republic
2018 CECAM workshop - Nano-structured soft matter: a synergy of approaches to amphiphilic and block copolymer systems, Lincoln, United Kingdom
2018 CECAM workshop - Frontiers in Computational Biophysics, Lugano, Switzerland
2017 CECAM workshop - The future of biomembrane simulations: hidden pitfalls and future challenges, Lyon, France
2017 Joint Meeting of Czech and German Biophysicists, Hünfeld, Germany
2016 Organizing Molecular Matter - A soft matter symposium, Lund, Sweden
2015 CEITEC/ICRC Annual Conference, Brno, Czech Republic
2013 TAPPO workshop, Levi, Finland
2012 CECAM workshop - Design of Self-assembling Materials, Vienna, Austria
2012 Telluride Science Research Center - Protein and Peptide Interactions in Cellular Environments, Telluride, CO, USA
2011 ACS national meeting, Denver, USA
2010 Hofmesiter fest – Conference about Hofmeister series and ion specificity, Prague

Awards Related to Science and Research

2010 - 2013 Junior Research Fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge Higly competitive and prestigious research fellowship
2010 Bolzano prize in natural sciences - Charles University in Prague The two best Ph.D. thesis in natural sciences at Charles University per years
1999 - 2004 Scholarship for 50 best students in year (about 10% of all students)

2018/10/11