MVDr. Kateřina Jirků, Ph.D.
Maiden:Pomajbíková
Job Position: Head of Laboratory - Laboratory of parasitic therapy
Phone:
+420-38-777-5470
E-mail:
pomajbikova@paru.cas.cz
Room:
126
Brief Profile
Kateřina is the head of a laboratory at the Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, which she founded in 2013. The laboratory focuses on the role of intestinal protozoa and helminths in the gut microbiome and their impact on human health, particularly in relation to inflammatory diseases.
She graduated in veterinary medicine from the University of Veterinary Sciences in Brno, where she also completed her doctoral studies. Her scientific career began during her third year at university, when she focused on the parasites of primates, including humans. During expeditions to Central and East Africa, she worked with wild chimpanzees and gorillas, helped establish a diagnostic parasitology laboratory at a chimpanzee rehabilitation center in Kenya, and participated in a development project for rabies vaccination in northern Kenya under the auspices of Veterinarians Without Borders.
In 2015, she and her Canadian colleague Laura W. Parfrey received a prestigious grant from the Human Frontier Science Organization, which enabled collaborations with leading research institutions in Europe and the USA. For her scientific contributions, she was awarded the Otto Wichterle Award by the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2018.
Since 2017, she has been collaborating with the Department of Medical Biology at the University of South Bohemia, where she serves as the guarantor of the course "Fundamentals of Functional Anatomy" and supervises bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students.
(Research ID: G-9858-2014)
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PhD studies - Department of Pathology and Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno (UVPS), 10/2008 - 6/2013, Ph.D.
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graduate studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UVPS, 9/2001 - 6/2008, DVM.
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10/2013 - present: head of laboratory (Laboratory of Parasitic Therapy), Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (BC CAS)
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1/2018 - present: position of a lecturer / researcher (part-time), Department of Medical Biology, South Bohemian University
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10/2013 - 9/2018 - according to dispositions researcher and / or junior researcher, Deparment of Pathology and Parasitology, UVPS
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2018 - 'Otto Wichterle' award of the Czech Academy of Sciences for outstanding young scientists
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diversity of gut protist in Western human populations
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role of eukaryotic symbionts (helminth, protist) in human health and disease
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active components from eukaryotic symbionts with anti-inflammatory effect
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host immune response to colonisation of eukaryotic symbionts
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gut parasites of primates with focus on protists
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parasites of domestic and wild-life animals
Basics of functional anatomy
Department of medical biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia
