Pavel Horky was awarded by Minister of Agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture manages R&D for the entire agricultural sector, and invests significant funding into its support and development. Thanks to this funding, the results produced by some Czech research teams rank them among the best in their field both in Europe and worldwide. The Ministry of Agriculture’s competition for the best applied research is announced every year.
Among the winners in 2019 was assoc. Prof. Pavel Horky and received the minister’s award for his research.
His work was focused on the effect of newly synthezized zinc phosphate-based nanoparticles and thier antibacterial effect in vitro and in vivo on rodents. The study demonstrated high inhibitory effect of nanoparticles against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in vitro. After the successful in vitro testing, the in vivo study with rats based on dietary supplementation with zinc NPs was conducted. The significantly higher Zn level in liver and kidney of all treated groups was found, nevertheless Zn NPs did not greatly influence antioxidant status of rats. However, the total aerobic and coliform bacterial population in rat feces significantly decreased.