As dusk fell on 26 September, the Academic Club of the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, in Prague’s Faust House filled to capacity. On the occasion of Researchers’ Night, the National Institute for Cancer Research welcomed all those who are curious about the unknown and unexplored.
Since this year’s nationwide theme was “Wealth,” participants first embarked with Karel Černý, Head of the Institute for the History of Medicine and Foreign Languages at the First Faculty of Medicine, on a journey back in time to when the early roots of chemistry at Prague’s medical faculty emerged at the crossroads of alchemy and spagyric pharmacy. Even then, it was far from inexpensive—searching for the philosopher’s stone could not be done without the support of wealthy patrons.
Such patrons of science are unfortunately scarce today, as demonstrated on the second journey—this time into the depths of a cancer cell—by Karel Smetana of the Department of Anatomy at the First Faculty of Medicine, leader of the Tumor Microenvironment Research Group, which is part of NICR. He vividly illustrated just how (un)profitable doing science in the Czech Republic can be.
The subsequent discussion linked the themes of both lectures. For instance, while alchemists sought a universal remedy, today’s science is developing personalized treatments tailored to each individual patient. Alchemy was mostly a male domain (although there were exceptions—those women had to be quite wealthy, such as Emperor Sigismund’s second wife), whereas this time Faust House was filled largely with a female audience. And why the Czech Republic has not yet succeeded in transforming itself from Europe’s “assembly plant” into its “brain hub” was a question for everyone who came to this year’s Researchers’ Night at NICR to ponder late into the evening—accompanied by blues music that brought the night to a close.
We thank all speakers, discussants, visitors and musicians for taking part!
