At the breakfast event hosted by Tomáš Kašpárek on Monday, October 7, the special guests were Jaroslav Štěrba and Regina Demlová, two key figures from the CREATIC Center of Excellence at the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University.
Despite the misty and chilly Monday morning, and the early start showing on some faces, the breakfast quickly gained momentum after some coffee and pastries. The three main speakers, Regina Demlová, Jaroslav Štěrba, and moderator Tomáš Kašpárek, enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere.
The one-hour discussion revolved around the Center of Excellence CREATIC (Central European Advanced Therapy and Immunotherapy Centre), which was established at the Faculty of Medicine on January 1, 2024. Regina Demlová serves as the Center’s director, while pediatric oncologist Jaroslav Štěrba and his team play a significant role in its operations.
This successful project, supported by the Teaming for Excellence scheme under the Horizon Europe program, was created with the aim of focusing on the research, development, and production of medicinal products for patients with diseases for which no medical solution currently exists. These include rare undiagnosed diseases, high-risk pediatric cancers, and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) for adult oncology patients.
An effectively connected consortium of partner institutions has been assembled to contribute to the common goal of building a personalized medicine center, helping to change legislation, and treating patients with rare diseases. Regina Demlová explained that while there are already similar centers in Europe, none are currently within a reasonable distance for patients in the Czech Republic. By combining research, clinical applications, and cooperation with hospitals in the region, CREATIC ensures access to these modern therapies for local patients. The outcome will be better accessibility to costly therapies at more affordable prices, contributing to the development of personalized medicine not only in the region but throughout Europe.
Regina Demlová also explained that modern personalized therapies involve taking live cells from the patient, transporting them to a laboratory, modifying them using gene therapy, cell therapy, or tissue engineering, and then returning them to the patient’s bedside.
The second guest, Jaroslav Štěrba, head of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the University Hospital Brno, provided insights from the perspective of a regional hospital’s clinical workplace. He and his team will serve as the link between pediatric patients and the CREATIC center. During the breakfast, he explained the precise procedures involved in this treatment and expressed hope that modern therapies will bring significant benefits. He has already seen a positive shift in pediatric patient survival rates compared to when he first started his career at the clinic.
Thanks to a question from the audience, we also learned that both of our guests have personal connections to their work. Jaroslav Štěrba admitted that he couldn’t shake the compulsion to constantly check his own children for signs of illness, while Regina Demlová shared her personal experience with an incurable autoimmune disease in her family.
We wish both guests much success in their future research activities and thank them for their efforts, which bring hope for effective treatment to patients who previously had limited therapy options.
If you’d like to learn more, listen to the full interview, which will be published on the Research Breakfast website.
The next Breakfast with a Scientist will be hosted by Daniel Schwarz on 5 November 2024. We will meet again at the University Campus Library.
In recent months, the Faculty of Medicine has been working on a gender audit to analyse the Faculty's approach to individual processes in terms of ensuring equality of opportunity and planning support activities in this area. The audit also serves as a basis for the development of the Masaryk University Gender Equality Plan 2025-2028.
On September 10, we gathered for the first post-summer breakfast at the University Campus Library with Stjepan Uldrijan and Tomáš Kašpárek. One of the main topics was applied research and its support at the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University.