Czech scientists are creating manipulating molecules to create materials that do not exist in nature.

Czech research in nanotechnology rivals that in the West, but scientist are still struggling to make ends meet.

By Lecia Bushak

Jiří Rathouský led a visitor through a building which looked frozen in time from Soviet-era 1980s — tattered brown leather chairs encircling glass tables for a sitting room, plastic plants lining beige walls, an old man leafing through a typewritten directory at the front desk. The Department of Structure and Dynamics, an institute under the umbrella of the Czech Academy of Sciences, hadn’t changed much.

“These elevators are really terrible,” Rathouský said as the metal doors clamped shut on us in the 4 foot-by-4 foot elevator box. “Sometimes they break down, so we’re hoping for new ones soon.”

But on the sixth floor of this 30-year old building, Rathouský and a staff of about 10 scientists are working on nanotechnology — what many believe to be the science of the future, due to its potential to preserve monuments and the environment and create more efficient batteries and solar energy.

The Department of Structure and Dynamics in Catalysis, is one of several small laboratories and initiatives that have cropped up in the Czech Republic in recent years. The level of Czech nanotechnology research rivals that in France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

Nanotechnology is the study of materials less than 100 nanometers on the metric scale —about 80 times smaller than the width of a human hair. It’s a broad topic consisting of many technologies, but essentially it involves manipulating molecules to create new materials not found in nature. Nanotechnology allows scientists to achieve remarkable advancements in medicine and energy, such as the ability to repair human tissue or destroy cancer cells on the nano level.

Rathouský’s team is creating a new self-cleaning surface made of nano-materials that, when spread over old statues, can remove years of accumulated dirt without damaging the original surface.

“Some preservation detergents are poisonous not only to the statues’ surfaces, but also to people and the environment,” Rathouský said.

The Czech Republic lags behind the West when it comes to scientific funding. In general, Czech labs are struggling. Rathouský’s salary and those other Czech scientists are only about one-fifth that of a scientist in the U.S. Scientists are leaving the country to find better pay abroad and fewer young Czechs are entering science.

But those who remain are driven. “When you have a small country with small lab staffs, you have to work extra hard and be even more motivated,” Rathouský said.

Although funding for science in the Czech Republic is still lower than it is in the West, support has increased over the past 10 years — from CZK 9.67 billion in 1999 to CZK 23 billion in 2009.

Czech scientists are also learning from their colleagues abroad and benefitting from EU funding. The Czech Republic recently received EU funding to help develop a tiny chip that can detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Brussels will give an team of 19 countries EUR 9 million for the project. The Czech Republic is the only post-communist country among the participants.

“Through European outreach and collaboration and access to EU money, we have really made huge leaps forward,” Rathouský said. “You still have to work hard to apply to EU grants, but it increases our competitiveness on the international scene.”

Vladimír Matolín, a physics professor at Charles University, said Czech science has benefitted from a transfer of knowledge which began after 1989, when foreign countries began to move their technologies and companies to the Czech Republic.

But, Matolín said, the nanotechnology sector is more successful in lobbying and marketing than in actual results. Under communism, researchers needed the patronage of the Party. The situation today, he said, is similar.

“Many heads of nanotechnology research get involved in politics,” Matolín said. “They can influence the distribution of money from the ministry to certain science sectors by saying how important nanotechnology is. The average person doesn’t always understand what nanotechnology means, although it sounds new and exciting, and so those doing nanotechnology research get access to the money.”

Nanotechnology may be the most popular science in the Czech Republic, but Rathouský’s nano center still has a long way to go, to complete lab construction, hire more scientists, and replace the elevator.