Jan Vacek (Prof., Ph.D., Ing., FRSC)
Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry
Hněvotínská 3
775 15 Olomouc, Czech Republic
e-mail: jan.vacek@upol.cz
tel: +420 585 63 2303/+420 732 835 233
web: http://vacek.upol.cz
Education Activities and Position: J.V. is a full professor of medicinal chemistry and biochemistry, and a lecturer and supervisor for undergraduate and Ph.D. students at the Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Palacky University, Czech Republic. He started his independent academic carrier 16 years ago, when he finished PhD studies. For more details, see his webpage http://vacek.upol.cz.
Research Topics:
- redox properties of electron donors and electrophiles with biological relevance
- bioelectrochemistry and biophysical methods for nucleic acids and peptide/protein research
- sensors and microelectronics for the study of DNA- and protein-drug interactions
- functional polymers and the development of new microelectrode-based approaches
History:
- 1997-2001 – secondary school (Secondary technical school of chemistry in Brno)
- 2001-2005 – undergraduate study (Mendel university in Brno)
- 2005-2009 – Ph.D. study (Masaryk university in Brno)
- 2005-2009 – research position (Institute of Biophysics ASCR in Brno)
- 2009-2013 – assistant professor (Palacky University in Olomouc)
- 2013-2018 – associate professor (Palacky University in Olomouc)
- from 2018 – full professor (Palacky University in Olomouc)
- from 2023 – deputy head, at the Dep. Med. Chem. Biochem. (Palacky University in Olomouc)
Membership:
J.V. is a member of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Bioelectrochemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Society for Redox Biology & Medicine, Czech Chemical Society, Czech Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Czech Society of Clinical Biochemistry.
Research Fellowships:
University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, 2008, Hunan University, Changsha, China, 2011, University in Limoges, France, 2012. Later, short term scientific missions 2013–2023: Israel, Turkey, Serbia, Poland, France and USA.
Publications:
- J.V. is the author or co-author of more than 170 scientific papers,
- with more than 4,800 citations (Scopus),
- more than 200 presentations at scientific conferences,
- H-index 39.
J.V. is the (co)author of 4 books:
- J. Vacek, B. Klejdus: Chromatography in the Research of Phenolic Secondary Metabolites, In: Chromatography Types, Techniques and Methods (Ed.: T. J. Quintin), p. 323-345, Nova science Publishers, Inc. (ISBN: 978-1-60876-316-0), New York, 2010
- N. Cibicek, J. Vacek (Eds.): Principles and Applications of Analytical Methods in Laboratory Medicine, Palacky University (ISBN: 978-80-244-3951-8), Olomouc, 2014.
- J. Vacek, V. Ostatná: Bioelektrochemie, Palacky University (ISBN: 978-80-244-5763-5), Olomouc, 2020.
- Recently, J. Vacek et al. (Chapter 1) Helicenes: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications, Wiley-Vch, 2022.
Grant Projects (J.V. as principal investigator):
- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, No. 1468/2007
- The Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, No. P503/11/P312
- Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, No. FR-TI4/457
- The Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, No. 14-08032S
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology, EU COST Action BM1203 EU-ROS, COST Action CM1206 EXIL, COST Action CA15135 MuTaLig and recently COST Action CA16113 CliniMARK (J.V. as MC member)
- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, project No. LD14033
- OPPIK III Apl (2018-2020), CZ.01.1.02/0.0/0.0/16_084/0010374
- NAWA (Soft object impacts with the electrified liquid-liquid interfaces – SoftImpacts), 2024
- NAWA (Modern analytically-biomedical platform focused on innovation and creativity in the search for compounds of natural origin with protective and regenerative effects on human skin), 2026
- The Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, No. 26-24002S
Current (active) International Collaborations:
Milos Mojovic, Univ. Belgrade (Serbia) EPR techniques
Bruce Freeman, Univ. Pittsburgh (USA) Biochemistry of electrophiles
Renata Bilewicz, Univ. Warsaw (Poland) Electrochemistry of lipidic systems
Patrick Trouillas, Univ. Limoges (France) DFT calculations, lipid membrane dynamics
Jeanne Crassous, Univ. Rennes 1 (France) CD spectroscopy in solid state
Lukasz Loltorak, Univ. Lodz (Poland) ITIES electrochemistry
Barbara Rossi, Elettra – Sincrotrone (Italy) UVRR spectroscopy
Andreas Tzakosz, Univ. Ioannina (Greece) Protein NMR
Soner Dogan, Univ. Yeditepe (Turky) Biochemistry in vivo
Slawek Sek, Univ. Warsaw (Poland) Lipid membranes imaging, peptides
Awards:
Elsevier award for most cited paper – top 10 (JPBA) 2012. Participation Award of the 63rd Meeting of Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry, Lindau, 2013. Palacky University Career Award, 2014. Early Career Analytical Electrochemistry Prize of the International Society of Electrochemistry, 2014. Best Educational Material Prize, Czech Society of Clinical Biochemistry, 2015. Metrohm Prize 2016 for young electroanalytical chemists, 2016. Palacky University Career Award, 2019. Rector’s Certificate of Merit for Publications, 2021. Palacky University Dean Award, 2019 and 2023.
Five Selected Research Papers:
- Electrophilic characteristics and aqueous behavior of fatty acid nitroalkenes: Grippo V, Mojovic M, Pavicevic A, Kabelac M, Hubatka F, Turanek J, Zatloukalova M, Freeman BA, Vacek J. Redox Biol. 2021, (38) 101756. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2020.101756
- Cysteamine assay for the evaluation of bioactive electrophiles: Novák, D., Vrba, J., Zatloukalová, M., … Dorčák, V., Vacek, J. Free Radic. Biol. Med., 2021, 164, 381–389. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2021.01.007
- Cubosomal lipid formulation of nitroalkene fatty acids: Preparation, stability and biological effects: Zatloukalová M, Jedinák L, Riman D, Franková J, Novák D, Cytryniak A, Nazaruk E, Bilewicz R, Vrba J, Papoušková B, Kabeláč M, Vacek J. Redox Biol. 2021 (46) 102097. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2021.102097
- Electrocatalytic assay for monitoring methylglyoxal-mediated protein glycation: Havlikova, M., Zatloukalova, M., Ulrichova, J., Dobes, P., Vacek, J. Chem., 2015, 87(3) 1757–1763. doi: 10.1021/ac503705d
- Metallocene Voltammetric Reference Related to a Normal Hydrogen Electrode: Dorčák, V., Hrbáč, J., Janata, J., Vacek, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2025, 16(10) 2487–2491. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c03390
- Redox behaviour of nitro-fatty acids and their esters, Liška A., Chrenko D., Zatloukalová M., Klíma J., Papoušková B., Kabeláč M., Ludvík J., Pospíšil J., Vacek J. Electrochim. Acta, 2026, 545, 147698