“We might be leaders in cell therapies in Central and Eastern Europe,” says Associate Professor Michal Šimíček, a scientist who brings his extensive international experience to Ostrava. He is systematically developing new treatment methods with his team and his research offers great hope for oncology patients.

Associate Professor Michal Šimíček believes that any scientist's essential qualities should include creativity, curiosity, and a fascination with the world around them. From a young age, he was particularly captivated by natural processes, eager to understand how living organisms, animals, and plants function — right down to the most fundamental, atomic level.

For a long time, he worked at the intersection of chemistry and biology, eventually settling in the fields of genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry. Following his time at international institutions in Belgium, London, and Cambridge, he established himself in Ostrava, joining a research team at the University Hospital Ostrava and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ostrava. There, he was afforded the unique opportunity to build his international scientific team.

In 2019, he received the Neuron Award for promising young scientists for his research into the processes that cause malignant diseases and their drug resistance. Currently, as part of the LERCO project, he leads a research program focused on new therapeutic methods for blood cancers. Together with his team, he is working on developing a unique cell therapy technology for cancer treatment.

Did the Neuron Award have any impact on your professional career?

It was undoubtedly a great honor and recognition, both of my long-term work and the efforts of the entire Ostrava team. Biomedical fields don’t have a long history here in Ostrava, so this certainly helped raise the visibility of our research center. I know many excellent scientists from our region who ended up settling elsewhere due to the lack of suitable opportunities. Now, there’s proof that internationally recognized research in advanced molecular medicine can be conducted at the University of Ostrava.

How do you stand in the competition, and by that, I mean not just within the country?

I believe quite well. Of course, we’re specialized to a certain extent, we can’t do everything, but in the field of cell therapies in Central and Eastern Europe, I’d dare to say we might be leaders. It’s a very progressive area where not only academia but also the commercial sector understands that it’s about both collaboration and competition — who can bring a product to market faster or introduce an innovation in the field. The fact that we’re not just a regional workplace is also evident in how attractive we are to talented international scientists from around the world.

What are you currently working on, both in the short and long term?

Our research center, BCRG (Blood Cancer Research Group), focuses on studying blood cancers and developing cell therapies and immunotherapies. We work on basic research, aiming to understand the process by which healthy cells transform into cancerous ones. This allows us to identify differences between normal and cancer cells at the level of DNA and other molecules.

Based on these findings, we aim to create therapeutic products using modified immune cells capable of recognizing and specifically eliminating cancer cells. It’s a highly complex field that requires collaboration among specialists from various disciplines, including bioinformatics, genomics, molecular medicine, and others. Our entire scientific group consists of over 25 members.

You already have patents and clinical trials behind you. What stage are you currently at?

Yes, BCRG has one approved patent, and we have several other patent applications in progress. Achieving international patent recognition takes quite a long time — around four to five years. The journey from the lab to clinical trials is an even longer process.

We’ve been working on the development of advanced cell therapy based on CAR T-cells for over six years. If we receive approval from the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL), we hope to initiate a limited Phase 1 clinical trial with our CAR T-cells next year, in collaboration with colleagues from Prague and Brno. In the next few years, we aim to establish routine production of these unique therapeutic preparations right here in Ostrava.

If all manufacturing approvals were obtained, what would it mean for the end patient?

Cell therapy based on CAR T-cells is one of the most advanced approaches to cancer treatment. For blood cancers, it is often much more effective than other available treatments. Unfortunately, compared to other medications, it is also significantly more expensive. Due to the complex production and logistics (each dose must be created specifically from the patient’s cells) the cost of a single treatment currently runs into several million Czech crowns.

Our team is developing a novel approach where, instead of using the patient’s own cells, we utilize blood cells from healthy donors. In practice, we take the "waste" produced during blood collection for transfusions, where only red blood cells are needed. Instead, we use the white blood cells, which cannot be used for blood transfusions. These cells are then equipped in the lab with a CAR receptor to identify the tumor and modified so that the resulting transplant can be accepted by an unrelated patient. This approach will significantly reduce production costs and make this treatment much more accessible.

Does this mean that, for example, a leukemia patient would no longer need to wait for a compatible donor and could receive cells from any donor? When will such treatment be available?

Yes, exactly. In the future, waiting for a unique donor would no longer be necessary. This type of treatment is also expected to be used for other diagnoses, not just leukemia. However, we are talking about a longer timeframe, estimated at around ten years or more.

Currently, a scientific research hub is being built on the campus of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ostrava, providing you with a new base. How will this differ from your current setup?

Currently, most of our laboratories are spread across several buildings on the campus of the University Hospital Ostrava. The new infrastructure being developed as part of the LERCO project will create a unified workspace for our entire team, offering a range of new technological capabilities that will enhance the efficiency of our work. Under one roof, we will also have access to other research teams from the University of Ostrava, including those from both the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science. Most importantly, it will provide dedicated spaces for incoming researchers. Within the BCRG center alone, we have already recruited leading scientists from Germany, Spain, and South Korea for new research team leadership positions.