CIISB – website
Hosting institution: Masaryk University
Partner institution: Institute of Biotechnology, CAS
CIISB is a distributed research infrastructure of the core facilities and central laboratories of CEITEC (Central European Institute of Technology) and BIOCEV (Biotechnology and Biomedicine Center of the Academy of Sciences and Charles University in Vestec). CIISB provides expertise and access to technologies used for integrative approaches to structural analysis of biologically important cellular components and macromolecules at different resolution levels, ranging from atomic to cellular. The CIISB research infrastructure consists of 10 core facilities and central laboratories of national and international importance. CIISB provides equipment, expertise and access to the latest technologies of preparation and characterization of samples and their structural analysis. CIISB is a part of the pan-European research infrastructure INSTRUCT (Integrated Structural Biology), which obtained the status ERIC in 2017. CIISB is used by national as well as European and overseas users which makes it an important basis of national biomedical and biotechnological research and at the same time it plays an important role in the international research community.
Future development
In the short term, the CIISB cutting-edge technologies for NMR, cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, crystallization of biological macromolecules, X-ray diffraction and Bio-SAXS measurements, nanobiotechnology, biophysical characterization and mass spectrometry equipment for characterization of biomacromolecules, which were already installed and planned until the end of 2019, will require partial extensions and upgrades. Until 2020, the equipment of CIISB will be maintained and modernized to keep the research infrastructure at the level comparable to similar European research infrastructures. Technologies and methodologies offered by CIISB will trace the development of integrative structural biology in international context and the portfolio of provided expertise and services will be continuously optimized.
Socio-economic impact
The CIISB research infrastructure stimulates national and trans-national collaboration across mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and medicine at academic and industrial levels. CIISB serves mainly basic research. Nevertheless, innovations and technology transfer are among the strategic priorities of the hosting institutions of CIISB. The CIISB research infrastructure supports progressive development in biomedicine and biotechnology by providing the best available technological platforms for obtaining high resolution structural data for biotechnological applications, drug related research, development of new biomarkers, and improvement of food technologies.
