Tomáš Fiala receives the Experientia Foundation Start-up Grant for 2025

Young scientist, Tomáš Fiala, is the new recipient of a three-year start-up grant from the Experientia Foundation. Tomáš currently works at ETH Zurich, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, having moved there after completing his PhD at Columbia University in New York. Tomáš’s research group will soon be established at the Department of Chemistry of Masaryk University’s Faculty of Science, where, together with his team, he will work on creating new chemical tools for studying the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

“Current science still has no idea what causes Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease, so medications only slow down the progression of the disease. However, we need a drug that will reverse the entire process. My goal is to use chemical probes to help clarify the origin of neurodegenerative diseases. This could completely change the approach to treating these diseases”, explained Tomáš, when describing the essence of his project. He is also looking forward to helping Czech science become a global leader in this field. “I think it is very important to have a small compact group of young scientists working together, as in the Experientia Foundation. I believe that we will coordinate our research and push Czech science in the right direction”, he added, noting that this is already the fifth research group established at Czech institutions thanks to the Experientia Foundation. To get his research group off the ground, Tomáš will receive a three-year start-up grant from the foundation totalling CZK 6,000,000, with a further CZK 2,100,000 added by the host institution, Masaryk University in Brno. Read the full interview with Tomáš here.

The Experientia Foundation has already provided support to 25 promising young chemists with scholarships for one-year internships abroad, giving them the opportunity to travel to leading scientific institutions around the world. This year, thanks to the start-up grant programme, another five young scientists were able to establish their own research groups in the Czech Republic after returning from abroad. The foundation also supports younger chemstry talents at primary and secondary schools (the Bezva chemie programme) and at universities (the Via Chimica award). In cooperation with the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, the Foundation helps make chemistry lessons throughout the Czech Republic more attractive as part of the 3U-Teachers Teach Teachers programme. It also funds the Rudolf Lukeš Award for excellent Czech chemists.

In total, the Experientia Foundation has allocated more than CZK 60,000,000 to support young scientists.

The Experientia Foundation was established by two outstanding Czech scientists, Hana and Dalimil Dvořák. Hana Dvořáková worked with Professor Antonín Holý developing antiviral substances at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Czech Academy of Sciences. Meanwhile, Dalimil Dvořák became a professor at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. They jointly established the Experientia Foundation in 2012 to support young scientists undertaking research in organic, bioorganic and medicinal chemistry. In doing so, they donated more than CZK 250,000,000 of their own funds, derived from licence fees for antiviral substances developed at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, stating “we wanted to give the money back to science, as that was where it came from”.

Press-quality photo Tomáš Fiala

For more information about the Experientia Foundation, visit www.experientia.cz

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Experientia Foundation team at +420 777 071 476 or experientia@experientia.cz.