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Admission procedure

for the specializations Bioinformatics, Biomolecular Chemistry, and Genomics and Proteomics in the Master's programme Biochemistry

  • Choice of study programme and specialisation

    The National Centre for Biomolecular Research in cooperation with the Institute of Biochemistry of the CAS offers graduates of undergraduate universities in the Czech Republic and elsewhere several opportunities to further their careers in interdisciplinary fields such as biochemistry, structural biology, bioinformatics, proteomics and genomics, bioinformatics or simulation of molecular and biological systems.

    We offer a graduate program in Biochemistry in one of the following specializations:

    Bioinformatics Biomolecular chemistry Genomics

    The study takes place in the modern environment of the University Campus Bohunice of Masaryk University, where the top workplaces and laboratories of the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Medicine and the Central European Technology Centre CEITEC are concentrated. Students will learn about the current state-of-the-art in experimental or simulation approaches used to analyse and understand key biochemical and biological processes. Furthermore, we develop in students the qualities that are key for their future application in future scientific work or in the job market. These include critical and analytical thinking and the ability to independently and accurately plan procedures leading to the successful solution of the problem under study.

    If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your National Center for Biomolecular Research Education representative.

    doc. Mgr. Jan Havliš, Dr.

    NCBR Educational Representative

    Phone: +420 549 49 4148
    E‑mail:

  • 1 January to midnight 30 April

    Submitting an application

    Those interested in specializing in Bioinformatics, Biomolecular Chemistry, or Genomics and Proteomics apply to the Biochemistry program. A separate e-application is required for each program. You can choose a maximum of 3 specializations within one program.

    Be sure to indicate your chosen specialisation as the FIRST option in your application. This is the only way to ensure that you will be able to enter your chosen specialisation with certainty.

    Details of the admission procedure Submit an e-application

  • Entrance exam

    You will be notified of the date of the entrance exam electronically. The date will be indicated in the e-application form. The requirements for the exam are listed below, including the syllabus of the subjects you will take the exam on.

  • Enrolment in the study

    You become a student of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University on the day of enrolment. We wish you success in your studies!

    To ensure that your studies run smoothly, please familiarize yourself with your study obligations. In the course of your studies, you must first of all create your own study plan and choose a suitable thesis topic.

    More detailed information for your chosen specialisation can be found here:

    Bioinformatics Biomolecular chemistry Genomics

Entrance exam

Syllabi of individual study areas:

1. Biochemistry and its methods

Biochemistry
  • Amino acids, their formulae, acid-base equilibria, isoelectric point.
  • Peptides, peptide bonding, primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary structure. Methods of determination of primary and secondary structure, relationship between primary and secondary structure, bonds stabilizing secondary structure.
  • Methods of protein separation and isolation. Protein behaviour in solution (precipitation, ion-exchange and affinity chromatography, gel filtration, SDS electrophoresis, isoelectric focusing and 2D electrophoresis).
  • Biochemistry of hemoglobin. Oxygen transport and its regulation.
  • Carbohydrates. Pentoses, hexoses, aldoses, ketoses. Glycosides, glycosidic linkage and its properties, disaccharides, homopolysaccharides (starch, cellulose, glycogen, chitin), heteropolysaccharides, proteoglycans.
  • Lipids, fatty acids, glycerophospholipids, plasmalogens, sphingolipids, steroids, liproteins.
  • Nucleic acids. Bases, DNA, RNA, DNA helix types, superhelical structure, bonds stabilize secondary structure of DNA. Replication, transcription, translation. Basics of gene manipulation. Nucleic acid sequencing.
  • Thermodynamics of enzyme reactions. Macroergic linkages. Reaction kinetics, enzymes as biocatalysts. Active site, catalytic site, cofactors, coenzymes and prosthetic groups, mechanism of action of serine proteinases. Michaelis-Menten equations, methods of determination of Km and VL, conversion number, enzyme activity, specificity constant. Inhibition of enzyme reaction, two-substrate reactions, Regulation of enzyme activity: effect of pH, zymogens, covalent modifications (phosphorylation, adenylylation, disulfides).
  • Glycolysis, its individual steps, energy balance. Substrate phosphorylation. Gluconeogenesis. Krebs cycle, Pentose phosphate pathway. Fatty acid oxidation, fatty acid synthesis, acetogenesis. Degradation of amino acids. distribution and importance of proteases. Nitrogen excretion, urea cycle. Respiratory chain, its components. Oxidative phosphorylation, Membrane transport, Photosynthesis, localization and components, light phase, Calvin cycle.
  • Mechanism of muscle contraction, biochemistry of vision, nerve impulse transmission.
  • Immunochemistry. Antibodies and antigens. Cellular immunity. Immunoassay procedures, ELISA.
  • Hormones. Mechanism of function of some hormones (adrealin, glucagon, prostaglandins, steroid hormones, thyroxine, insulin, plant hormones). Basics of cell signaling, second messenger. Structure and function of G-proteins. Xenobiochemistry, cytochrome P450.
Biochemical methods
  • Introduction. Principles of working with biological material. Strategy and planning.
  • Disintegration of tissues and cells. Centrifugation and sedimentation analysis.
  • Phase separation. Precipitation and extraction. Membrane separations. Thickening and drying. Water treatment.
  • Chromatographic methods. General principles and characteristics. Adsorption and partition chromatography. Ion-exchange chromatography, chromatofocusing.
  • Reversed-phase and ion-pair chromatography. Hydrophobic chromatography Gel chromatography. Affinity chromatography. Gas chromatography.
  • Electromigration methods. General characteristics and influences. Free and zonal electrophoresis.
  • Isoelectric focusing. Isotachophoresis. Blotting.
    Mass spectroscopy.
  • Electron spectra of molecules, transitions, ground and excited states, environmental effects, UV-VIS spectrophotometry, use in the determination of compounds, use in the study of protein structure. Atomic absorption and atomic emission spectrometry.
  • Luminescence methods, quantum yield, effect of IR spectroscopy and its use on the environment, Spectrofluorimetry, principle, use for determination of substances, use for study of protein conformation, fluorescence energy transfer quenching, polarized, fluorescence, phosphorimetry.e study of protein structure, Raman scattering and its use for study of protein structure. Chiroptical methods and their principle, ORD and CD and their use to study protein conformation.
  • Microscopes. Methods of optical microscopy, electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy.
  • Immunochemical methods. Preparation and use of antibodies in bioanalytical chemistry, formats of immunochemical determinations.
  • Biosensors. Biocatalytic and bioaffinity sensors, the most important types of transducers.
  • Biochemical applications of nanoparticles. The most important types of nanoparticles, their preparation, characterization and use in bioanalytical chemistry.

2. General chemical basis

General and physical chemistry
  • Matter and energy. The structure of the atomic nucleus and the atom. The basic laws of chemical fusion. Electron structure of atoms. Wave function, Schrödinger equation, atomic orbitals, energy of atomic orbitals in hydrogen atom. Periodicity of electron configurations and periodicity of atomic properties.
  • Ground and excited states, atomic spectra. Electron structure of molecules. Valence bond theory. Hybridization of atomic orbitals. Theory of molecular orbitals (MO). Types and shapes of molecular orbitals, types of covalent bonds (s, p, d). Order of bonding. Polarizability of molecules. Ionic compounds and ionic bonding. Determination of crystal structure, diffraction of roentgen radiation. Metallic bonding, bond strength. Weak interactions between molecules, hydrogen bridge bonding, van der Waals forces. Electrical, magnetic and optical properties of molecules. Interaction of radiation with matter.
  • Properties of liquids and intermolecular forces. Vapour tension of liquids. Osmotic pressure. Electrolytic dissociation of ionic substances, Conductivity of ions, strong and weak electrolytes, electrolytic conductivity, activity of electrolyte, activity coefficient, ionic strength of solution.
  • Chemical kinetics. Rate of chemical reactions, rate law, rate constant and reaction orders. Molecularity. Reversible, successive, parallel and chain reactions. Physical and chemical adsorption. Collision theory, effective collisions. Activated complex theory. Reaction coordinates, activation energy, effect of temperature on reaction rate. Catalysis: catalysts, catalyzed reactions, autocatalysis, homogeneous catalysis. Adsorption and chemisorption, heterogeneous catalysis. Photochemical reactions. Radical reactions.
  • Application of the ideal gas equation of state and calculation of partial pressures.
  • Formulation of the first law of thermodynamics. Calculation of work in gas production. Enthalpy: definition, meaning, relation between ΔH and ΔU. Isobaric and isochoric heat capacity. Application of Hess's law.
  • Thermodynamic definition of entropy and calculation of entropy change for isothermal expansion of an ideal gas. Clausius inequality. Definition of Helmholtz and Gibbs energy and the criteria of spontaneous agency based on them. Calculation of maximum work and maximum non-volumetric work of a reaction. Calculation of the standard Gibbs energy of the reaction. Fundamental equations of chemical thermodynamics. Molar Gibbs energy of an ideal gas.
  • The chemical potential of a pure substance. Phase equilibrium criterion. Phase diagram of a pure substance. Phase rule. Dependence of chemical potential on T and p.
  • Definition of chemical potential and fundamental equations of chemical thermodynamics for mixtures. Dependence of the chemical potential of an ideal gas on pressure. Raoult's law and Henry's law. Solvent activity: definition, procedure for determination, activity coefficient.
  • Gibbs reaction energy and equilibrium condition. The case of a general reaction: reaction Gibbs energy at any stage of the reaction, method of calculating the standard reaction Gibbs energy, definition of the reaction quotient. Definition and calculation of the equilibrium constant. Le Chatelier's principle: Response of equilibria to changes in pressure and temperature. Breaking down the oxidation-reduction reaction into half-reactions. Calculation of cell voltage and relation of equilibrium cell voltage to Gibbs reaction energy. Interpretation of the metal stress series. Determination of equilibrium constants from standard cell voltages.
Organics chemistry
  • Structure, binding ratios, reactivity. Hybridization and binding ratios. Conjugation. Mesomeric and induction effect. Electrophile and nucleophile. Oxidation number. Substitution nomenclature.
  • Conformational analysis and stereochemistry. Newman projection, wedge formulas and Fischer projection, conformation, conformer and torsion angle. Conformers of alkanes, cyclohexane and substituted cyclohexanes. Isomers, chirality, enantiomers and diastereomers. Configuration descriptors (E/Z, cis/trans, R/S).
  • Acidity and basicity. Acidity and basicity of organic substances and factors affecting it.
  • Nucleophilic substitution and elimination. Monomolecular and bimolecular aliphatic substitutions. Activation of the -OH group of an alcohol. Monomolecular and bimolecular elimination. Zaitsev's and Hofmann's rule.
  • Properties and reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons. Electrophilic addition of HX, H2O, halogens and HXO to alkenes. Markovnikov's rule. Hydroboration-oxidation, hydrogenation, epoxidation and dihydroxylation. Ozonation. Acidity of terminal alkynes. 1,2- and 1,4-Additions to conjugated dienes. Cycloaddition reactions.
  • Properties and reactions of aromatic hydrocarbons. Hückel's rule. Electrophilic aromatic substitution (SEAr) - nitration, sulfonation, Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation. Effect of substituents on SEAr. Nucleophilic aromatic substitution via addition-elimination mechanism (SN2Ar) and elimination-addition mechanism.
  • Properties and reactions of aldehydes and ketones. Reactions of aldehydes and ketones with nucleophiles (formation of hemiacetals, acetals, imines and enamines) and of enolizable carbonyl compounds with electrophiles (halogenation, alkylation). Reactions of aldehydes and ketones with complex aluminium and boron hydrides and organometallics. 1,2- and 1,4-additions to a,b-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. Wittig reaction. Aldol reaction/condensation.
  • Properties and reactions of carboxylic acids and their derivatives. Effect of substituents on acidity. Functional derivatives of carboxylic acids and their reactivity with nucleophiles. Nucleophilic acyl substitution. Reactions with organometallics and complex hydrides. Spontaneous decarboxylation of b-oxoacids. Malonester syntheses. Structure and properties of amino acids including acid-base behaviour. Peptide (amide) bonding.
  • Properties and reactions of alcohols and phenols. Properties of alcohols and phenols (boiling point, acidity, basicity, miscibility with water). Activation of the -OH group as a leaving group. Oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols. Redox quinone-hydroquinone pair. Preparation, properties and reactivity of ethers and epoxides. Properties, preparation and reactivity of thiols and sulfides.
  • Properties and reactions of amine. Structure and properties of amines (boiling point, acidity, basicity). Preparation of amines. Hofmann elimination of quaternary ammonium hydroxides. Production and use of diazonium salts. Nitro compounds. Structure and reactivity of organometallics, basic reactions for the preparation of organometallics. Reactions of organometallics with acids, alkylating agents, aldehydes and ketones, epoxides, nitriles, functional derivatives of carboxylic acids and carbon dioxide.
  • Radical reactions. Stability of carbon radicals. Radical halogenation and autooxidation of hydrocarbons.
  • Properties, structure and reactions of carbohydrates. Chemical nature and properties of monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. D- and L-sugar series, epimer, anomer, reducing and non-reducing carbohydrates and mutations. O- and N-glycosides, esters, amines, sugar alcohols and carboxylic acids derived from carbohydrates. Structure and properties of mono-, di- and polysaccharides.
  • Properties, structure and reactions of heterocyclic compounds. Structure and names of heterocyclic compounds. Five- and six-membered aromatic heterocycles and their reactions. Natural derivatives of porphine, pyrimidine and purine.
  • Properties, structure and reactions of lipids. Common properties of lipids. Chemical structure of lipid groups (waxes, triacylglycerols, phospholipids, sphingolipids, terpenes, steroids and prostaglandins). Fatty acids, influence of double bond on their properties. Biological function of lipids.
Analytical chemistry
  • Analytical reactions. Description of equilibria. Redox equilibria, standard and formal potentials, redox disproportionation. Principles of qualitative chemical analysis.
  • Gravimetry. Theory of precipitate formation, processes on precipitates; weighing; processing of precipitates, gravimetric procedures.
  • Titration methods. Interpretation of titration curves, relationship between inflection point and equivalence point, steepness and damping regions of curves, titration solutions and primary standards, indication of equivalence point, titration errors. Acid-base titrations, acid-base buffer solutions,. Complexometric titrations. Chelatometry. Precipitation titrations. Redox titration.
  • Evaluation of the results of the analyses. Statistics and GLP basics, analytical signal, calibration curves, standardization. Analytical method parameters. Errors and their relationship to analytical method parameters. Statistical evaluation of analytical results. Reference material, ring test. Linear regression.
  • Electroanalytical methods. Potentiometric methods. Indicating and reference electrodes, ion-selective electrodes, glass electrode. Measurement of pH. Conductometric methods. Voltammetry, polarography. Polarographic analysis.
  • Optical analytical methods. Electromagnetic radiation, Bouger-Lambert-Beer law, causes of absorption and emission of radiation. Molecular absorption spectroscopy (UV, VIS, IR), atomic absorption and emission spectroscopy, molecular scattering spectroscopy (turbidimetry and nephelometry).
  • Separation methods. Liquid extraction. Chromatographic methods Electromigration methods.
  • Basics of analysis of organic compounds. Qualitative and quantitative characterization. Elemental analysis, functional group analysis, determination of purity of compounds, fundamentals of the approach to structure determination of organic compounds. Determination of compounds in complex mixtures.

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