Department of Genetics
The present-day Department of Genetics is a part of the Pathobiology Section. In the history of the University, the teaching of genetics was incorporated into various organizational units. In the 1960s, at a time that was, from the political perspective, extremely unfavourable for the development of the field of genetics, doc. MVDr. Karel Labík, CSc. studied hereditary causes of health disorders in domestic animals at the Department of Animal Husbandry and Hygiene of Animal Breeding. He also taught genetics as part of the Husbandry and Hygiene of Breeding course and he was also able to incorporate the chapters of genetics into a textbook for students of the College of Veterinary Medicine published in 1971. In 1974, a separate discipline of Genetics was created in the study plan of Veterinary Medicine. Veterinary content of the discipline was primarily provided by doc. MVDr. Ing. Jan Vařejčko, CSc., who became the teacher of this new course and after the retirement of doc. Labík in 1977 he took over the main part of the teaching. He gave lectures, taught practical lessons and dealt with research tasks in the field of genetic disorders in animals, especially pigs. It is thanks to him that genetics became an important preclinical discipline in the study programme of Veterinary Medicine.
In 1973, Professor of microbiology MVDr. Ludvík Černý, CSc. was forced to transfer to the Department of Animal Husbandry. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of genetics and molecular biology for human and veterinary medicine and brought the spirit of modern science to the department. Prof. Černý also laid the foundations of the modern laboratory facilities of the department. Together with MVDr. RNDr. Petr Hořín, CSc. they devoted their careers to a newly developing field of immunogenetics. Thanks to Prof. Černý, the current Department of Genetics is still devoted to immunogenomics of infectious diseases. After his retirement in 1983, Dr. Hořín took over his research tasks, which he followed up on with topics focused on the genetics of resistance to infectious and other diseases. After the premature death of doc. Vařejček, Dr. Petr Hořín took over the teaching of genetics. In the research, he followed up on the legacy of doc. Labík, Dr. Munk and Prof. Černý and focused on the genetics of resistance to diseases in cattle, horses and other animal species.
In 1990, the Department of Animal Husbandry, Animal Breeding and Animal Genetics was newly established as part of the reorganization of the University. Doc. MVDr. RNDr. Petr Hořín, CSc. was appointed its head. In 1999, he was appointed professor in the field of genetics.
In 2005, the Section of Pathobiology was established at FVM and the Department of Animal Husbandry, Animal Breeding and Genetics became a part of this Section. Within the branch integration, zootechnics was transferred as a part of animal production to the Department of Nutrition, Zootechnics and Animal Hygiene at FVHE and an independent Department of Animal Genetics was established at FVM. Prof. MVDr. et RNDr. Petr Hořín, CSc. became the head of the Department on the basis of a selection procedure.
Teaching
The Department of Genetics provides teaching of the compulsory courses within the veterinary curriculum of Clinical Genetics for FVM and Special Animal Genetics for FVHE and the compulsory elective course Methodology of Scientific Work. The teaching is carried out in the Czech and English study programmes. In association with the new bachelor's degree programmes, the Department of Genetics also provides teaching of Genetics for FVHE.
Over the past ten years, the Department has had several master and doctoral students who have been involved in both research projects and teaching in all of the above-mentioned disciplines. Since the Department serves as a training workplace for students of various study fields and given the nature of genetics, it is not surprising that there are graduates of the veterinary, natural sciences, agronomy and pharmaceutical faculties who co-create the desired professional diversity of the Department.
Research
The Department of Genetics has always been a research institution dealing with projects of GA CR, NAZV, ITA or IGA VFU. The projects are focused on the genetics of resistance to diseases, especially genomic analysis of mechanisms involved in infectious diseases, comparative and evolutionary immunogenomics and on analysis of populations diversity of domestic animals. The Department has become a part of the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) project at the University which is focused on the areas of life sciences, advanced materials and technologies. CEITEC was established in 2011 through the cooperation of six major Brno universities and research institutions and is already ranked among the top European institutions. The Department of Genetics participates in its activities as a part of the research group entitled Animal Immunogenomics within the Research Programme No. 7: Molecular Veterinary Medicine. This group, consisting of the employees of the Department and employees of Mendel University, works on joint projects in the field of immunogenetics of horses and other mammalian species.
The activities of the Department associated with the Central European Institute of Technology have fostered scientific cooperation with other CEITEC groups not only inside and outside universities but also international cooperation. The staff of the Department collaborate and publish together with research teams concerned with parasitology and virology at the University, with the cytogenetic research group based in the Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine and with several other institutes in Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Romania, Great Britain, USA and others. The Department of Genetics is currently a co-investigator of an Austrian project. Over the past two years, the Department has begun to study immunogenetic issues of coronavirus infections in domestic and big cats.
Some of the scientific outputs are focused on breeding practices. In the past, for example, a methodology for genotyping the susceptibility of sheep to Scrapie was developed. Recently, an analysis of the results obtained from the national program focused on the recovery of sheep breeding from this disease in the Czech Republic has been published in cooperation with the Jihlava SVI.
Buildings, instrumentation and facilities
Both organizational units, situated on two floors of building No. 22, share teaching, seminar and laboratory facilities, which allows for efficient use of large-capacity devices for molecular analyses as well as of human potential. The Department of Genetics has modern instrumentation for molecular biological analyses (NGS sequencer, Light Cycler for qPCR, sequencer for long readings) and can use other shared capacities within the CEITEC project. In connection with the transfer of the Department to new premises, the concept of its effective cooperation with the central laboratory of CEITEC, which is under construction, has been developed.
Prominent professors in the history of the Department
Prof. MVDr. Karel Labík, CSc. – founder of genetics at the University
Prof. MVDr. Ludvík Černý, CSc. – expert in the field of immunogenetics
Prof. MVDr. RNDr. Petr Hořín, CSc. – represented genetics since 1978, from 1990 up to now has been the head of the Department of Animal Genetics, is an expert in the field of immunogenetics, was dean of the faculty from 1994 to 2000, is an important international expert on evaluation and accreditation of veterinary faculties in compliance with the international standards
Prof. MVDr. RNDr. Petr Hořín, CSc.
