Better Diagnosis and Better Care - The Faculty of Medicine has won the MUNI Innovation Award twice
The Business Research Forum, a fair of opportunities for cooperation between Masaryk University and the application sector, took place for the fifth time in the atrium of CEITEC. For the second time, it also included the presentation of the MUNI Innovation Award for exceptional innovative achievements that have been successfully implemented in practice, have helped to improve products or services, or have otherwise contributed to increasing the social relevance of Masaryk University's research activities.
While in the autumn of 2021 the Faculty of Medicine of MU was at least partially represented only by the Head of the Department of Biology, Prof. RNDr. Ondřej Slabý, Ph.D., who was awarded for innovative methods in oncological diagnostics, this year two projects are connected with our faculty.
Mgr. Karla Plevová, Ph.D., working at the Centre of Molecular Medicine at CEITEC and the Institute of Medical Genetics and Genomics, a joint workplace of the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University and the University Hospital Brno, succeeded with her colleagues Mgr. Veronika Navrkalová, Ph.D., Mgr. Tomáš Reigl and Mgr. Ing. Jakub Pawel Porc - from the Šarka Pospíšilová Research Group, with the analytical tool LYNX, used for more accurate diagnosis of haemato-oncology patients. The tool is unique in that it combines both laboratory and analytical parts and is able to analyse different types of molecular markers in a single process. It is based on next-generation sequencing, the results of which are presented to the user after analysis in an easily interpretable form in the form of interactive reports.
The second laureate associated with the faculty is the head of the Department of Medical Psychology and Psychosomatics, Assoc. PhDr. Miroslav Světlák, Ph.D., who is behind the idea and development of the MOU MindCare mobile application. The eight-week therapeutic programmes facilitating the adoption of mental health support principles are already used by patients of the Masaryk Cancer Institute, but with the development of eHealth, the app could find much wider use.
Thirty-one nominations were received in total in the second year of the MUNI Innovation Award, most of them from the faculties of Informatics, Philosophy, Medicine and Economics and Administration. The expert committee selected eleven ventures with the greatest innovative potential or social impact, whose authors will share one million crowns among themselves.
