Head of the Laboratory of Structural Biochemistry of Immune Recognition at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Research profiles
Research interests
- Deciphering the mystery of life by understanding how life works on a molecular basis
- Rational design of therapeutic proteins and novel immunotherapeutics
- Living molecules: structural biology of the cell, structural immunology
- Transfer of knowledge and technology to real life and practical use
Vision for our research group
We are a well-functioning research team tackling exciting projects that bring health and prosperity!
Education
2019
Research internship
05-08/2019
Biophysics group, Institute of Applied Physics, Technical University of Vienna
2019
2018
Research internship
06-09/2018
Protein Technologies Facility, Biocenter, University of Vienna
2018
2005 – 2010
Doctoral programme
Biochemistry
Dept. of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University
2005 – 2010
2000 – 2005
Master programme
Biochemistry
Dept. of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University
2000 – 2005
Selected special courses and workshops
| 2020 | ARBRE-MOBIEU 2020 Plenary Meeting, Prague 24.-26. 2. 2020 (main organizer) |
| 2018 | FEBS Instruct MOBIEU Practical Course Hydrodynamic and thermodynamic analysis of biological macromolecules and their interactions (main organizer; 2020 – organizer) |
| 2017 | Proteins in Action (speaker) and Proteins for Life (main organizer) international conferences |
| 2016 | Workshop for the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic analysis of biological macromolecules and their interactions with SEDFIT and SEDPHAT |
| 2016 | FEBS Advanced Course Ligand Binding Theory and Practice (speaker; 2018 – tutor) |
| 2012 | EU-KTS Trans-national technology transfer manager junior / senior certified courses |
| 2011 | P-CUBE workshop on Advances in Protein Crystallization |
| 2009 | SPINE2 Discussion workshop on Eukaryotic expression (main organizer), SPINE2 course New strategies for cloning & expression of protein complexes in E. coli and insect cells |
| 2008 | SPINE2 Biophysical Characterization of Macromolecular Complexes workshop, EMBO Practical Course on the Structural Characterization of Macromolecular Complexes |
| 2007 | TeachSG workshop on Biological macromolecules and their ligands, techniques in X-ray structure analysis and docking, HSC6 – Hercules Specialized Course on Advances and New Applications of Synchrotron Radiation for Structural Biology, SPINE2 Discussion workshop on protein co-expression |
| 2004 | FEBS Advanced course – Advanced methods in protein crystallization |
Awards
| 2017 | Award for the best poster at the AUC2017 international conference from the British Biophysical Society |
| 2014 | Instruct Research & Development Pilot Project Award (structural biology of NK cell receptors) |
| 2014 | Award “Velemlok” for the best teachers in the last academic year based on the student questionnaire |
| 2010 | PhD. in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, doctoral thesis “Structure and function of C-type lectin NK cell receptors studied by recombinant expression and protein crystallography” |
| 2006 | Award for the best diploma thesis in 2005 from the director of the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences; Award for the best oral presentation given in “Young Section” of the 10th Work Meeting of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists, selected participant of FEBS Young Scientist Forum for Czech Republic at 31st FEBS Congress |
| 2005 | Graduated from the Faculty of Science of the Charles University, diploma thesis “Preparation and structural studies of protein CD69, receptor of human natural killer cells” |
| 2000 | Bronze medal at the 32nd International Chemistry Olympiad; Award from The Learned Society of the Czech Republic; Award from The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport for international representation |
Activities and positions
Author or co-author of 168 contributions at scientific meetings, 1 patent, and 47 publications in peer-reviewed journals (WoS), 1127 times cited (1017 times without self-citations; WoS), H-index 18. Responsible for 19 research grants and 1 award, involved in 4 other projects, organizer of 2 international training workshops and 2 international conferences, supervisor of 41 bachelor’s, 31 master’s, and 5 doctoral theses (4/7/2 ongoing), head of 2 practical courses, and teacher of 3 subjects in bachelor and master study programs in biochemistry.
| 2022 | COST Action CA21135 “IMMUNO-model” member |
| 2019 | COST Action CA18103 “INNOGLY” Management Committee member and member of the Communication, Training schools, and STSM committees |
| 2016 | COST Action CA15126 “MOBIEU” Management Committee member and STSM coordinator |
| 2016 | Reviewer of grant proposals submitted to the INTER-EXCELLENCE I & II programs of the MEYS CR |
| 2014 | Mentee program of the director of the BIOCEV institute |
| 2012 | Technological scout at the Charles University Centre for Knowledge and Technology Transfer (part-time) |
| 2011 | Member of Protein Production and Purification Partnership in Europe initiative (P4EU) |
| 2011 | Implementation of recombinant protein expression in HEK293 cells at the Department of Biochemistry |
| 2011 | Assistant at the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University (full-time) |
| 2007 | Implementation of analytical ultracentrifugation at the Department of Biochemistry |
| 2006 | Member of Czech Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (FEBS constituent society) |
Selected research projects
- Nanoscale organization of NK cell receptor-ligand complexes through the optics of quantitative single-molecule microscopy. Czech Science Foundation (23-08490L; trilateral international project), 2023-2026, principal investigator
- Glycan-dependent regulation of NK cell recognition: structural biology and novel methods of glycopeptide analysis. MEYS CR (LTC20078; in the frame of the COST Action CA18103 INNOGLY: Innovation with Glycans), 2020-2023, principal investigator
- Novel clinically relevant IL-2 immunotherapeutics for cancer treatment. Czech Science Foundation (20-13029S), 2020-2022, co-investigator
- New ligands for old receptors of human natural killer cells: structure, assembly within the immune synapse and potential for therapy. Czech Science Foundation (18-10687S), 2018-2021, principal investigator
- Utilization of integrative molecular biophysical approaches for the functional studies of human natural killer cell receptors and formation of their complexes with tumour ligands. MEYS CR (LTC17065; in the frame of the COST Action CA15126 MOBIEU: Molecular Biophysics in Europe), 2017-2020, principal investigator
- During 2016-2023, supervised MSc. and PhD. students were awarded 10 projects from the Charles University Grant Agency (161216, 927916, 1740318, 1378219, 1436020, 1436220, 318122, 358322, 173923, 285423), project leader
- Harnessing soluble forms of NK cell receptors and their ligands for the generation of novel anticancer immunotherapeutics. Czech Science Foundation (15-15181S), 2015-2017, principal investigator
- Participation in EU funded structural biology projects P-CUBE, BioStruct-X, Instruct, and iNEXT, 2011-2017, more than 10 accesses to various facilities abroad were granted to students of mine, including one two-month-long Instruct internship and two Instruct R&D Pilot Project awards, principal investigator at all applications
- SPINE2:Complexes. Integrated project EC 6FP No. LSH-2005-031220, coordinator prof. D. Stuart, Oxford University, 2006-2010, member of the research team at Institute of Microbiology, AS CR
The list of 10 most significant publications
The complete list at ORCID, Publons, or Research Gate; (*) as the corresponding author.
- Bláha J., Skálová T., Kalousková B., Skořepa O., Cmunt D., Grobárová V., Pazicky S., Poláchová E., Abreu C., Stránský J., Koval’ T., Dušková J., Zhao Y., Harlos K., Hašek J., Dohnálek J., Vaněk O.* (2022): Structure of the human NK cell NKR-P1:LLT1 receptor:ligand complex reveals clustering in the immune synapse. Nat Commun 13, 5022.
- Vaněk O.*, Kalousková B., Abreu C., Nejadebrahim S., Skořepa O. (2022): Natural killer cell-based strategies for immunotherapy of cancer. Adv Protein Chem Struct Biol 129, 91-133.
- Kalousková B., Skořepa O., Cmunt D., Abreu C., Krejčová K., Bláha J., Sieglová I., Král V., Fábry M., Pola R., Pechar M., Vaněk O.* (2021): Tumor marker B7-H6 bound to the coiled coil peptide-polymer conjugate enables targeted therapy by activating human natural killer cells. Biomedicines 9, 1597.
- Skořepa O., Pažický S., Kalousková B., Bláha J., Abreu C., Ječmen T., Rosůlek M., Fish A., Sedivy A., Harlos K., Dohnálek J., Skálová T., Vaněk O.* (2020): Natural killer cell activation receptor NKp30 oligomerization depends on its N-glycosylation. Cancers 12, 1998.
- Vaněk O.*, Celadová P., Skořepa O., Bláha J., Kalousková B., Dvorská A., Poláchová E., Pucholtová H., Kavan D., Pompach P., Hofbauerová K., Kopecký V. Jr., Mesci, A., Voigt S., Carlyle J. R. (2019): Production of recombinant soluble dimeric C-type lectin-like receptors of rat natural killer cells. Sci Rep 9, 17836.
- Škerlová J., Bláha J., Pachl P., Hofbauerová K., Kukačka Z., Man P., Pompach P., Novák P., Otwinowski Z., Brynda J., Vaněk O.*, Řezáčová P.* (2018): Crystal structure of native β-N-acetylhexosaminidase isolated from Aspergillus oryzae sheds light onto its substrate specificity, high stability, and regulation by propeptide. FEBS J 285, 580-598.
- Lynn G. M., Laga R., Darrah P. A., Ishizuka A. S., Balaci A. J., Dulcey A. E., Pechar M., Pola R., Gerner M. Y., Yamamoto A., Buechler C. R., Quinn K. M., Smelkinson M. G., Vaněk O., Cawood R., Hills T., Vasalatiy O., Kastenmüller K., Francica J. R., Stutts L., Tom J. K., Ryu K. A., Esser-Kahn A. P., Etrych T., Fisher K. D., Seymour L. W., Seder R. A. (2015): In vivo characterization of the physicochemical properties of polymer-linked TLR agonists that enhance vaccine immunogenicity. Nat Biotechnol 33, 1201-1210.
- Skálová T., Bláha J., Harlos K., Dušková J., Kovaľ T., Stránský J., Hašek J., Vaněk O., Dohnálek J. (2015): Four crystal structures of human LLT1, a ligand for human NKR-P1, in varied glycosylation and oligomerization state. Acta Cryst D 71, 578-591.
- Bláha J., Pachl P., Novák P., Vaněk O.* (2015): Expression and purification of soluble and stable ectodomain of natural killer cell receptor LLT1 through high-density transfection of suspension adapted HEK293S GnTI– cells. Protein Expr Purif 109, 7-13.
- Skálová T., Kotýnková K., Dušková J., Hašek J., Koval T., Kolenko P., Novák P., Man P., Hanč P., Vaněk O., Bezouška K., Dohnálek J. (2012): Mouse Clr-g, a ligand for NK cell activation receptor NKR-P1F: crystal structure and biophysical properties. J Immunol 189, 4881-4889.
Last updated 10. 1. 2024