A new GAČR project unlocks cutting-edge tools for lipid system simulations

Markéta Paloncýová has achieved a long-awaited success in the GAČR grant competition. Together with her colleague Petra Kührová, she will build on her extensive research on lipids in a new project funded by the Czech Science Foundation. Beginning this year, they will embark on a three-year project titled “In-silico Workflow for Lipid-Mediated Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Delivery Systems”, with a budget of 5.1 million Czech koruna. The project aims to develop a validated protocol for molecular dynamics simulations of lipid systems, enabling scientists to study lipid systems through computer modelling. Lipid systems, such as liposomes and lipid nanoparticles, are highly promising tools in modern medicine. They help minimize the adverse effects of certain drugs and enable the delivery of substances—such as mRNA—that were previously undeliverable. “As part of the project, we will design tools for the in-silico study of lipids using computer simulations, modelling and data analysis. We will develop lipid libraries, a tool for constructing complex lipid structures containing active pharmaceutical ingredients, and test an optimized simulation protocol. Our goal is to provide the scientific community with a reliable set of tools to simulate lipid systems and predict their properties computationally,” explained Paloncýová. A computational chemist, Markéta has been studying lipids since her master’s degree. She became particularly interested in lipid nanoparticles in 2021 while researching the influence of lipid composition on the storage and transport conditions of mRNA vaccines. It was during this time that she began collaborating closely with Petra Kührová. Their project combines expertise from two distinct fields—lipid and nucleic acid simulations.

“I see enormous potential in RNA medicine for both treatment and prevention, but lipid nanoparticles still hold many unknowns. Without thorough testing, we cannot accurately predict the effectiveness of different compositions and preparation methods—especially due to cargo loss (RNA) during delivery to the target. I believe high-quality computational modelling can accelerate this process, but it requires highly complex models. With this project, we aim to make such modelling possible,” she added. According to her, these models could ultimately help scientists understand how lipid nanoparticles interact with various biological structures. This GAČR project marks Markéta’s first success in the competition after an earlier unsuccessful attempt. “After receiving the evaluation of my previous proposal, I swore I would never go through the process again. But in the end, my colleague and I decided to persevere and give it another shot. This grant is proof that persistence pays off—even when it feels hopeless. Giving up too soon would have been a shame,” she concluded. Since January 2025, the Czech Science Foundation has funded 474 new scientific projects. CATRIN researchers submitted five applications in this call, two of which were successful. In addition to Markéta Paloncýová’s project, funding was also awarded to Sergi Kalytchuk for his project, “Tailored fluorescent carbon dots engineered for targeted biosensing.”