Prof. Radim Chmelík

Professor Radim Chmelik studied physics at Masaryk University Brno and in 1997 received his PhD in Physical and Materials Engineering from Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic) under Professor Jiri Komrska for the theoretical description of focusing by diffractive lenses. As a postdoc he studied methods of 3D imaging in light microscopy. This led him to incoherent holography approaches. In the late ninetieth he and Professor Zdenek Harna built the first holographic microscope capable of working with completely incoherent illumination. He then continued to investigate these techniques as modalities of quantitative phase imaging (QPI) and (since 2007) also their applications in cell biology together with Dr. Pavel Vesely. In 2012, Radim Chmelik has become a head of the Experimental Biophotonics research group at CEITEC, Brno. Within the field of advanced light microscopies his group focuses on progress of Holographic Incoherent QPI (hiQPI) both in the development and applications. Coherence effects are studied with the aim to develop hiQPI of 3D specimens and improve imaging in turbid media. Novel techniques and image processing methods are applied for non-invasive analysis of live cell behavior. Based on live-cell dry-mass profiling the responses to therapeutic challenges constitute the strategy for development of personalized cancer treatment. Radim Chmelik recently received the Czech Brains award in the invention prize category.