Study plan

The main goal of the final state doctoral examination (FSDE) is to verify the student's general knowledge in the field of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Advanced Biochemistry, Clinical Biochemistry, Immunochemistry and Molecular Biology and acquaintance with scholarly methods of research; and the deep orientation in the subject of the doctoral thesis. A student can apply for this examination when he/she has met all the requirements prescribed by the curriculum, typically after the 4th semester. If the FSDE will be held apart from the PhD Thesis defence, the student should prepare 10-20 pages text covering the aim and hypothesis of the Thesis, the literature search and he/she can also include the preliminary results.
The examination committee has a minimum of five members, one of them being the thesis supervisor, and at least two are not employed at the Masaryk University. A month before the examination, the student is assigned three different examination topics to study for beforehand. These topics are comprehensive and are not restricted to the content of graduate courses. The examination has the form of a one-hour interview between the doctoral student and the members of the committee. The committee announces the assessment of the examination obtained by secret voting immediately after the examination has been completed.
A student who successfully passes the state examination can then advance to the dissertation defence which takes place the same day or at a later date. The candidate presents a thesis which embodies original and published research, complies with the generally accepted norms and is approved by the PhD supervisor. The thesis is evaluated by two independent external referees, who submit the written reports. The defence is conducted as a session open to the public, with the candidate, the two referees, the supervisor and additional committee members. At the beginning the student summarizes his/her results (20 min), the referees then read their reports in which they put forward their questions and views on scientific relevance, methodology and results, and, finally, the student answers questions posed by the referees, committee members and other audiences. The committee then secretly votes to decide on the final assessment that is announced to the student.

- Research training (cca 60 - 70% workload)
The largest part of the doctoral training is the independent work on the PhD thesis as well as the collaboration in a team environment (at least 25 hours per week). The student is committed to work on the thesis according to the schedule in the plan approved by the supervisor, both theoretically and practically including the results evaluation. The student regularly summarizes the progress of the research work at his/her group meetings and seminars that are evaluated by the supervisor every semester and by the supervisor along with the doctoral board once a year.
Each PhD student should attend at least one international scientific conference as a speaker or poster presenting author. He/she is also expected to do the bulk of thesubstantial work in writing papers on the his/her own research findings.
- Academic training (15 - 20% workload)
The academic training complements the research work by giving students theoretical background and developing broader perspectives on thinking about science. Each student has to take at least 4 courses. The student, with the agreement of his/her supervisor, selects courses according his/her research orientation mostly from those offered by the Faculty of Science, or within the MU. Master level courses can only be taken if these were not a part of the student's master degree. External courses are also acceptable upon approval by doctoral board. In exceptional case, individual literature study of specific topics relevant to the thesis work that are not covered by existing courses, terminated by an examination, can be included and considered to be equivalent to one regular course.
All PhD students are required to attend and participate in group meetings and research seminars that take place weekly at the Department of Biochemistry and provide a forum for presentations and discussion of their ongoing research. The requirement is attendance at a total of 60 seminars during PhD studies and presentation at min. 3 seminars.
- Language skills and international competitiveness (cca 5 - 10 % workload)
The students for whom English is not the native language are expected to improve their skills in order to prepare him/herself for the challenges of their chosen profession in international environment. Each student is required to give a 15-20 min public presentation in English, followed by discussion with the audience. The students should also make use of the offer of international exchange programmes and other sources of support to undertake a compulsory study stay for at least 1 month at one of the partner universities or research institutes.
- Development of pedagogical competence (cca 5 – 10% workload)
The programme offers the opportunity to gain practical educational experience, enabling them to acquire and develop their teaching skills. Teaching duties involve 100 contact hours that are expected to be collected mostly by participating in the first and second cycle education. The Department of Biochemistry has several laboratory courses that are considered particularly appropriate for PhD students where they can realize their outputs from the MU Development Fund. Other possibilities include, among others, help in performing workshops and summer schools, science demonstrations for lab visitors and popularizing lectures at secondary and elementary schools.
- Soft skills development
As a part of the PhD program, the students are encouraged to write and submit a competitive grant proposal to obtain funding either from the Grant Agency of MU or others. In case of acceptance of the project, they take responsibility for technical execution as well as schedule and budget management.

Analysis of biologically important substances by capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry
Supervisor: Ing. František Foret, CSc., učo 203649

Drop microfluidics in bioanalytical chemistry
Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Zdeněk Glatz, CSc., učo 1865

Application modern ambient ionisation techniques - DART and DESI in bioanalytical chemistry
Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Zdeněk Glatz, CSc., učo 1865

Analysis of microbiome changes in biotechnological processes and human health
Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Jan Lochman, Ph.D., učo 13418

Biochips for affinity assays
Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Petr Skládal, CSc., učo 2202

Optoelectrochemical systems for affinity biosensors
Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Petr Skládal, CSc., učo 2202

Application of AFM, picoinjection and laser tweezers for characterisation of nanostructures and their interaction on molecular and cellular levels
Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Jaroslav Turánek, DSc., učo 28301

Point-of-care immunoafinity biosensor with electrochemical detection
Supervisor: Mgr. Karel Lacina, Ph.D., učo 77968