Master's thesis

Master thesis assignment

The student*s thesis topic is submitted on the IS (/study/topic list) after the topic has been announced by the supervisor or the pedagogical representative of the field. The text of the assignment is generated directly from the IS for placement in the thesis after the student*s, supervisor and pedagogical representative have confirmed the topic in the topic schedule.

Required courses directly related to the thesis

C9300 Master's Thesis I (BC), 5 cr, 5 h/wk, end of kz

C8210 Thesis II (BC), 10 kr, 10 hrs/wk, ending in kz

C9310 Thesis III (BC), 10 kr, 10 hrs/wk, end of course

CA340 Master's Thesis IV (BC), 25 kr, 25 h/wk, end of course

Characteristics of the final thesis and its defence

The student* has the possibility to choose the topic of his/her thesis and the supervisor from the listed topics (IS). The thesis within the specialization Genomics and Proteomics is mainly experimental work. The subject of the thesis cannot be a mere statistical evaluation of results obtained by other persons or departments. The student's involvement in research projects is welcome. The thesis is carried out over a period of 4 semesters, and the progress of the thesis is checked in seminars. The thesis is submitted in electronic form.

The thesis is defended before the State Final Examination Committee and academic staff of the sponsoring departments and the scientific public as well as students. Each thesis is assigned a thesis opponent*, and the thesis supervisor's opinion is written according to the established criteria. The defense consists of a presentation by the candidate*who will summarize the principles, methodologies and results of his/her work, and the reading of the supervisor's and opponent*s opinions. The candidate also answers questions and comments in the opponent*s report as well as other questions from the floor. The candidate*s evaluation is determined on the basis of the scoring system in the evaluations as well as on the course of the actual defense and the ability to answer questions.

Example of a thesis topic proposal

Topic Title:

Determination of staphylococcal enterotoxins by mass spectrometry

Principles for drafting

Development and implementation of a methodology for the determination of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE) in biological samples by mass spectrometry. Staphylococcal enterotoxins are important contaminants (not only of food) and their sensitive determination by type (more than 10 types of SE are known) is still under development. The search for this method is supported by EU efforts to eliminate the threat of SE mainly to children and the elderly. This work is based on the well-known general methodology of protein determination by MS with application to complex biological samples. It is a work that assumes manual experimental skill. The main aim of the thesis is to propose a procedure for the determination of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) in a mixture of staphylococcal secretome and culture medium proteins by mass spectrometry.

Methodology used

Research on the analysis of SEs by mass spectrometry in combination with sample preparation and separation methods.
Identification of selected SEs (SEB and SEH) in culture media samples using a combination of mixture separation and mass spectrometry.
Optimization of the method for determination of SEB and SEH content in culture media samples by MS using an internal standard (18O and synthetic peptide labeling).
Determination of SEB and SEH content in culture media samples by MS under different culture conditions.

Length of the original report: minimum 50 standard pages (30 lines per page, 60 characters per line, 2 line spacing, sans/italic font)

List of recommended references

Boyd et al.: Trace quantitative analysis by mass spectrometry. Willey 2008.

Doc. Mgr. Mgr. Jan Havliš, PhD.

Mgr. Mgr. Ondrej Šedo, Ph.D.

Change of DP supervisor or topic:

The decision to change the head or topic of the DP is made by the director of the institute in the following cases:

after the evaluation of the DP defence with an unsatisfactory grade
during the preparation of the DP (at the request of the student or supervisor)