From 22 to 28 February 2023, I was in a business trip at Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, in Gelnhausen (Germany). The aim of this stay was to advance a research project about the long-term trends of alien species in Europe.
From 26 June to 18 July 2022, I was in a business trip at Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, in Gelnhausen (Germany). The aim of this stay was to conduct research on trophic changes of some macroinvertebrates over long time series.
From February 20th to March 21st, 2022, I completed a one-month research internship at the Fraunhofer IMTE research institute in Büsum, in collaboration with Kristian Albrecht University in Kiel. During this internship, I was involved in various tasks, such as planning, building, and operating different systems, including recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). Additionally, I gained valuable knowledge and experience in various techniques related to the formulation and development of feed for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).
In addition to my involvement in the day-to-day operation of aquaculture systems, I also participated in sampling and data analysis. I am grateful for the support, including funding, provided by FROV JU and Erasmus+ for this valuable internship opportunity.
During the period from March 1st to May 31st, 2023, I completed a three-month internship at the University of Cologne, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institute of Zoology – General Ecology, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jost Borcherding and Dr. Lisa Heermann.
I conducted a series of laboratory experiments at the field Research Station aimed to delve into predator-prey interactions, specifically exploring the potential successful control exerted by native juvenile burbot Lota lota on non-indigenous invasive gobiid species round goby Neogobius melanostomus (Pallas, 1814) and a relatively new Caucasian dwarf goby Knipowitschia caucasica (Berg, 1916), both prevalent in the Lower Rhine and its surrounding waters.
The additional key focus of our investigation sought to observe dwarf goby activity, behaviour, and habitat preferences and the influence of local predation risk on these aspects, together with potential anti-predatory responses, since information about this new alien Gobiidae species is still limited.
In addition to the laboratory experiments, I actively engaged in various fieldwork and activities associated with diverse research projects and collaborations led by the Institute. This involvement expanded my hands-on experience in other freshwater fish sampling techniques, including beach seine fishing and gill net sampling. The knowledge and practical skills gained during my stay at the host institute are actively applied in my current laboratory work and are anticipated to contribute substantially to future research endeavours.
From 16th to 21th October 2023, I visited the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Greece. The practical training was mainly focused on the incubation of the pathogens in vitro and their inactivation for fish immune system stimulation experiments. Furthermore, the data management, results analysis and interpretation were explained as well as the related theoretical knowledge. The possibilities for future collaboration were discussed with the local researchers. Moreover, I had an opportunity to visit the local laboratories and other departments to get a deeper insight into Greek aquaculture science. The travel was financially supported by the Erasmus+ project.
On 02.11.2023 and 03.11.2023, Oleksandr Malinovskyi and Petr Dobrovolný travelled to Hungary to purchase pikeperch for experiments and reproduction in controlled conditions. The destination place was Fodina Fish, Kft., which specialises in pikeperch breeding by combining flow-through systems and aquaculture ponds based on an unused sand mine. The management of Fodina Fish showed an interest in cooperation, both in buying/selling fish and organising experiments.
From October 2 to December 1, 2023, I completed a two-month research internship at the NAIK HAKI Research Institute in Sarvas, in collaboration with. During this internship, I was involved in various tasks such as artificial spawning, determination of oocyte quality in broodstock fish of pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) followed by rearing and spawning of hatchlings in recirculating aquaculture system (RAS).
In addition to my involvement in the day-to-day operation of aquaculture systems, I also participated in sampling and data analysis. I am grateful for the support, including funding, provided by the FFPW USB and the Erasmus+ for this valuable internship opportunity.
I completed a two-month traineeship at the University of Iceland in cooperation with Benchmark Genetics Iceland from 16th April to 18th June 2023—the internship aimed to gain experience in aquacultural-scale and field fish sperm cryopreservation. During my stay, I learned several methods for big-scale cryopreservation of Atlantic salmon sperm and methods for obtaining from this sperm offspring in industrial quantities. Also, I help optimize cryopreservation methods for field cryopreservation of sperm from local lines of Arctic charr. These skills were applied to develop a new, more effective method for cryopreservation of sperm from the Salmonidae family. I would like to thank the South Bohemia University and ERASMUS+ grant for funding my stay in Iceland.
On 20-22.2. I attended the meeting of the AIHAB AI-powered Forecast for Harmful Algal Blooms project held in Dublin, Ireland. The project is in its second year of solution, and further work progress was planned at the meeting.
There are 7 European research institutions in the project. FROV's involvement is primarily in the area of data management coordination and satellite data processing.
I visited Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, from November to December 2023, as part of my post-doctoral research plan funded by the GACR project (23-06426S). The Inaba Laboratory boasts extensive expertise in the field of proteomics, and they have a pleasant research atmosphere. During my stay, the study was focused on the responsible proteins and signaling pathways involved in sperm activation, achieved through the analysis of proteomics profiling of Japanese eel sperm before and after activation. This short visit helped me learn new scientific techniques that are critical to the progress of the GACR program and helped me establish valuable research collaborations.
Team from Laboratory of signal and image Processing (Nové Hrady) - Ing. J. Urban Ph.D, Mgr. P. Urbanova and Msc. Ievgen Koliada went 28th February to the meeting with Msc, Dr. Ch. Bauer in Karlstein, Austria. We discussed future cooperation on the project on monitoring fish ladders. The site wan inspected. Needed measurements for systém installation were performer.
As a commission member I participated the evaluation of universities and research institutions in agriculture for the Research Council of Lithuania from 1st May to 5th May 2023. The evaluation will directly affect the institutional funding for the next five years.
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Pavel Kozák, Ph.D., The FFPWS USB Dean
We participated in the english course organized by the IELS Malta (Institute of English Language Studies) educational organization in Malta as part of the ERASMUS+ program from 27. 8. to 2. 9. 2023. It was an intensive general english course.
Adéla Minaříková, Michaela Vazačová
Thanks to the Erasmus+ program from 25. 04. to 29. 04. 2022 I visited Prof. Everaldo Attard group at the University of Malta, Malta. My main concern was to improve the international relations between this organization and University of South Bohemia. Additionally, I presented several lectures and had a training course of Fish Handling Techniques for marine fish species. My attendance was very productive. I got many new contacts that will could have a positive impact on our future collaboration.
On 20 - 24.11. 2023 we participated in the 41st International Conference on Environmental & Food Monitoring (ISEAC-41), Amsterdam, Netherlands. Here, we presented contributions on topics related to our research and the results achieved within the EXPRO project regarding untargeted LC-MS analysis – „Two-stage LC/HRMS workflow for identification of effect drivers in passive sampler extracts after their selective recovery by pull-down assay“ (Roman Grabic) and „Two-dimensional fractionation procedure followed by HPLC-HRMS as a tool for the identification of compounds from treated wastewater interacting with Aryl hydrocarbon receptor“ (Andrea Vojs Staňová).
Under Erasmus+ mobility funding program, I took a ten-day visit to Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences (IHA), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), from 23rd April 2023 to 4th May 2023, to advance my knowledge about nutrition and feeding procedures for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). I also had one presentation on the topic of insect as feed.
On November 23-24, 2023, I (Petr Císař) took part in a coordination meeting for the preparation of the INFRADEV project in Paris. The aim of the project is to obtain funding for the creation of an ESFRI application focused on research in the field of livestock breeding. FROV's involvement is in the field of fish breeding, modern technologies for their monitoring, agroecology and data management. The project is coordinated by INRAE and there are 7 partners in the consortium.
On 6-11 November 2023 I participated in the Green Deal Biotechnology international conference in Poznan, Poland, where I participated as a key note speaker with a lecture on Surrogate Reproduction.
From September 7th to 10th, 2023, I attended the 3rd Meeting of Visegrad Group Society for Developmental Biology held in Warsaw. The results of my work were presented by my supervisor prof. Marianne E Bronner as a part of her invited lecture and I also presented results of my research on the neural crest of sturgeon through a poster presentation.
On 16.-20. On May 2022, I undertook a business trip to Portugal under the Erasmus + program. The goal of the trip was exchange of experience in field of R+D, services and research, comparing with system in the Czech Republic Cooperation with the companies, networking and meeting colleagues from similar agencies and departments.
