Kolář lab at UCT Prague

Michal H. Kolář research group

We are a group of researchers and students at University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, Czech Republic. Using computers and supercomputers, we study how proteins are born on ribosomes. We like python and GROMACS.

Michal Kolář – group leader

Michal H. Kolář

Michal is a theoretical biophysicist based in Prague, Czechia. His expertise ranges from high-level quantum chemistry to large-scale simulations of biomolecules. Currently his group studies protein synthesis on ribosomes, and other topics related to protein–RNA interactions.

Michal is enthusiastic about science but somewhat tends to downshifting. For over twenty years, he participated in Běstvina summer school for gifted teenagers. He is also involved in the Czexpats in Science initiative. Michal likes traveling by train and dislike tomatoes.

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Graduate Students

Josef Cikhart

Josef Cikhart (aka Joe)

Joe has a background in molecular biology from the Faculty of food and biochemical technology, UCT Prague. Then he switched to physical chemistry and defended his thesis on molecular dynamics simulation of peptides in non-aqueous solvents. Started his doctoral studies in 2023, he focuses on computer simulations of organellar ribosomes and similar specialities.

Michaela Černeková

Michaela Černeková

Michaela studied molecular biology in Bratislava, Slovakia. She obtained MSc from the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. She worked at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry CAS, where she discovered the beauty of computational chemistry. In her diploma thesis, Michaela studied insulin-receptor binding by means of molecular dynamics simulations. She's a dog lover and enjoys books, podcasts and hiking.

Jan Heblt

Jan Heblt

Jan graduated in Biotechnology and Bioengineering from the UCT Prague. This makes him the group's top expert on wine and other fermented delicacies. He is currently pursuing a degree in Molecular Chemical Physics, focusing on prebiotic complexes of proteins and RNA. In his free time, he enjoys sports – especially those practiced on the sea floor. Given the absence of seas in Czechia, Honza combines his love of sports with his passion for travel.

Hugo McGrath

Hugo McGrath

Hugo studied chemistry and data engineering. After completing his diploma thesis about the use of classification algorithms to study allostery, he enrolled the Molecular physics doctoral program at UCT Prague. He deals with machine learning and protein synthesis. Hugo likes reading dystopian books and listening to vinyls. He's arguably the biggest movie expert in the group.

Felipe C. Nepomuceno

Felipe C. Nepomuceno

Felipe studied cellular and molecular biology with the specialization in bioinfromatics at UFRGS Porto Alegre in Brazil. In his diploma thesis, he developed intramolecular potentials of sacharides. Motivated by questions about protein synthesis on ribosomes, he develops simulation workflows to study peptides under confinement.

Undergraduate Students

High-school interns

Alumni