Jan Sýkora
Role: Researcher at the University of; Chemical Technology, founder and managing director of Pharmacan s.r.o. Field of study: analytical chemistry Employer: UCT Prague, Pharmacan s.r.o., before: Czech Academy of Science Language: Czech, English Mentees: Students What can I help my mentee with?
|
Honza came to study at the University of Science and Technology in a roundabout way, although chemistry has been with him since primary school. Eventually he chose crystal chemistry for his master's degree and then crystallography for his doctoral studies. While he was learning the "craft" of X-ray structural analysis at UCT, he looked for techniques that could demonstrate the structure of a given substance in a form other than a perfect crystal. Then came an offer to work in an NMR laboratory at one of the institutes of the Academy of Sciences after his PhD. Since then, crystal structures have remained but a hobby, and for 20 years he has devoted himself fully to the NMR spectroscopy analysis of organic substances. Gradually he found a liking for the analysis of complicated mixtures such as reaction mixtures, extracts of natural substances or biological matrices. Since 2023, he has been working at UCT again, where he is trying to create a team that would deal with NMR metabolomics as a diagnostic method.
During his 20 years in the environment of the Academy of Sciences, he has worked his way up from an inexperienced postdoc, researcher, head of the scientific department to deputy director. He has supervised student work at all levels in the fields of organic chemistry, organic technology and analytical chemistry at the University of Science and Technology. In 2016, he and his colleagues went through the martyrdom of setting up a spin-off company in an academic environment. Their company, which focuses on the isolation of cannabinoids from cannabis, was certified by State Institute for Drug Control to produce medicinal substances this year.