Sign-up Guide
Before signing up for a course please take a look at "The current state of free spots" to verify that the course you chose has a spot for you (link below). Each course has an individual minimum and a maximum number of attendees. The minimal number of attendees to open the course is listed in the course label and is also indicated by green color in the course column. After you pick a course with free spot, click on the "Course Signup" button that will redirect you to a form, where you fill out your name and email address. You can verify that you have been signed up by checking "The current state of free spots" again. Your name should appear in an appropriate column within a few minutes of signing up.
Please note that if your name appears in the red cell it means that you exceed the capacity of a course and you need to sign up to a different course.
The current state of free spots
Course Descriptions
Course 1
Guarantor: Adam Bajgar
Name of the technique: qPCR expression analysis
Responsible person name: Gabriela Krejčová
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 12 hours
Short description: Practice will consist of a selection of concrete gene, work with analysis and design of
qPCR primers. The tissue samples will be used for RNA isolation and reverse transcription. qPCR by using
SYBR green will be followed by data analysis by method double delta.
 Course 1 Sign Up |
Course 2
Guarantor: David Doležel
Name of the technique: Systemic RNA interference in insects
Responsible person name: David Doležel
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 4-5 afternoons
Short description:
Day 1: PCR to prepare a template for RNA transcription (theory during the PCR reaction),
Day 2: Product purification + in vitro transcription (O/N)
Day 3: dsRNA annealing & Injection into P. apterus
Day 4: Phenotype assessment – 2 weeks later – 2hrs during the afternoon
| Course 2 Sign Up |
Course 3
Guarantor: Petr Nguyen
Name of the technique: Fluorescence in situ hybridization
Responsible person name: Petr Nguyen
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 3 days
Short description: Students will learn how to make chromosome preparations, construct fluorescently
labelled probes and hybridize them to chromosomes. Probes can be constructed from a whole genome,
clone from the genomic library, repetitive sequence or single-copy gene.
 Detailed protocol |
Course 3 Sign Up |
Course 4
Guarantor: Tomáš Korytář
Name of the technique: Flow cytometry and cell sorting
Responsible person name: Tomáš Korytář
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 3 days
Short description: In this course, students will learn the basic principles of flow cytometry and its
applications in life sciences on routinely used assays. The key aim is to provide students with the
knowledge necessary for performing any flow cytometry application from the design of the experiment,
design of antibody panels, sample acquisition and subsequent analysis and data presentation.
The course is open only for students planning to use flow cytometry and cell sorting in their research.
| Detailed protocol |
Course 4 Sign Up |
Course 5
Guarantor: Zdeněk Paris
Name of the technique: Denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and radioactive detection of small non-coding RNAs by Northern blot
Responsible person name: Zdeněk Paris
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 4 days
Short description: Urea PAGE or denaturing urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis employs 6-8 M
urea, which denatures secondary RNA structures and is used for their separation in a polyacrylamide
gel matrix based on the molecular weight. Fragments between 2 to 500 bases, with length differences
as small as a single nucleotide, can be separated using this method. The migration of the sample is
dependent on the chosen acrylamide concentration. A higher percentage of polyacrylamide resolves lower
molecular weight fragments. The combination of urea and temperatures of 45-55 °C during the gel run
allows for the separation of unstructured RNA molecules. After the PAGE, the gel is transferred to a nitrocellulose
membrane and hybridized with a P32 radiolabeled oligonucleotide probe to visualize the specific RNA
species using the Phosphoimager.
| Course 5 Sign Up |
Course 6
Guarantor: Roman Sobotka
Name of the technique: 2D native/SDS electrophoresis combined with immunodetection
Responsible person name: Petra Skotnicová
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 2.5 days
Short description: During the course, students will learn to set a large electrophoretic system (Bio-Rad
Protean xi cell), to pour and run blue-native and clear-native 8-14% gradient gels with samples of
membrane protein complexes. Gel strips from the first dimension will be separated overnight on a 12-
20% SDS gel, stained with SYPRO Orange, blotted onto PVDF membrane and probed with selected
antibodies.
| Course 6 Sign Up |
Course 7
Guarantor: Hana Sehadová
Name of the technique: Classical histological techniques and light microscopy
Responsible person name: Hana Sehadová, Alena Matyšová
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 2 days
Short description: 1. Preparation of paraffin sections of insect tissues and blood smear, 2. Mallory and
Giemsa staining, 3. Observation of obtained samples in the light microscope.
| Course 7 Sign Up |
Course 8
Guarantor: Alena Zíková
Name of the technique: Measurements of mitochondrial membrane potential in vivo and in situ
Responsible person name: Michaela Husová
Responsible person email: michaela.husova@paru.
Duration of the course: 1.5 days
Short description: The methodology will encompass a theoretical introduction to mitochondrial bioenergetics, specifically addressing the concept of mitochondrial membrane potential, its significance for aerobic eukaryotic cells (including humans], and the methods utilized for its assessment. The practical component will concentrate on two primary techniques: the measurement of mitochondrial membrane potential using a fluorescent dye in live cells via flow cytometry, and the assessment of mitochondrial membrane potential in digitonin-permeabilized cells (in situ) in the presence of various substrates. The former technique elucidates the functional activities of mitochondria under physiological conditions, while the latter provides insights into the potential capabilities of the mitochondria.
| Course 8 Sign Up |
Course 9
Guarantor: Marek Jindra
Name of the technique: Western blot
Responsible person name: Marek Jindra
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 2 days
Short description: In this hands-on course students will analyze the expression of specific proteins of
interest either in insect tissues or in cultured cells. They will prepare tissue/cell extracts, prepare and
run denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and detect proteins after immunoblotting using
antibodies and chemiluminescence.
| Course 9 Sign Up |
Course 10
Guarantor: Michal Žurovec
Name of the technique: Transfection of insect cell lines
Responsible person name: Václav Brož
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 3 days
Short description: We will show students different types of insect cell cultures, teach them DNA
transfection to the cells and detection of marker expression.
| Detailed protocol |
Course 10 Sign Up |
Course 11
Guarantor: Lenka Gahurová
Name of the technique: Immunofluorescent staining of mouse oocytes
Responsible person name: Lenka Gahurová, Eva Gebr Kopecká
Responsible person email:
Duration of the course: 1 day
Short description: Isolation of mouse oocytes from ovaries, subsequent oocyte fixation and imunofluorescent staining. Finished with confocal microscopy,
| Course 11 Sign Up |
