MVDr. Kateřina Jirků, Ph.D.
Pomajbíková
Head of Laboratory - Laboratory of parasitic therapy
Veterinary and Medical Parasitology
Institute of Parasitology
+420-38-777-5470
pomajbikova@paru.cas.cz
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Kateřina graduated in veterinary medicine at the Veterinary and Pharmaceutical University in Brno, where she also completed her PhD studies. She began her scientific career in the third year of university, focusing on parasites of primates, including humans. She has participated in several field trips to Central and East Africa, where she worked with wild chimpanzees and gorillas. Further she also participated in the establishment of a diagnostic parasitological laboratory at a chimpanzee rehabilitation center in Kenya and as a volunteer in rabies vaccination in an endemic area in Northern Kenya. In addition, she was intensely interested in veterinary and human parasitology. After completing her doctoral studies, she founded a laboratory at the Institute of Parasitology of the Biological Center of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Oct 2013). This laboratory focuses mainly on research into the role of commensal protists and helminths in gut inflammatory diseases and in human health in general. In 2015, she received a prestigious scientific grant from the international grant agency "Human Frontier Science Organization" in the "Young Investigators" category together with her Canadian colleague Laura W. Parfrey (University of British Columbia, Vancouver). In the following years, she established cooperation with other prestigious institutions, such as Duke University (North Carolina, USA) or the Staten Serum Institute (Copenhagen, Denmark). In 2018, she was awarded the "Otto Wichterle" prize by the Czech Academy of Sciences for outstanding young scientists. Since 2017, she has been closely collaborating with the Department of Medical Biology of the University of South Bohemia on scientific projects and also guarantees the educational course "Fundamentals of Functional Anatomy". It also supervises students in bachelor, master and doctoral programs. (Research ID: G-9858-2014)Brief Profile
Education:
PhD studies - Department of Pathology and Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno (UVPS), 10/2008 - 6/2013, Ph.D.
graduate studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UVPS, 9/2001 - 6/2008, DVM.
Employment:
10/2013 - present: head of laboratory (Laboratory of Parasitic Therapy), Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (BC CAS)
1/2018 - present: position of a lecturer / researcher (part-time), Department of Medical Biology, South Bohemian University
10/2013 - 9/2018 - according to dispositions researcher and / or junior researcher, Deparment of Pathology and Parasitology, UVPS
Award:
2018 - 'Otto Wichterle' award of the Czech Academy of Sciences for outstanding young scientists
Research activities are generally focused on veterinary and human parasitology with emphasis on the following areas:
diversity of gut protist in Western human populations
role of eukaryotic symbionts (helminth, protist) in human health and disease
active components from eukaryotic symbionts with anti-inflammatory effect
host immune response to colonisation of eukaryotic symbionts
gut parasites of primates with focus on protists
parasites of domestic and wild-life animals
(Research ID: G-9858-2014)
Basics of functional anatomy
Department of medical biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia
