Email: Jitka.Cejkova@vscht.cz
Phone: +420 220 444 460
Address:
University of Chemistry and Technology Prague
University of Chemistry and Technology Prague
Technická 3
166 28 Prague 6
Czechia
Work Experience
- Since May 2020
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague - February 2014 – April 2020
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague - February 2015 – January 2016
Postdoctoral Research fellow, Laboratory for Artificial Biology, University of Trento, Italy - January 2010 – January 2014
Research associate, Chemical Robotics Laboratory, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague
Education
- 2006 – 2010
PhD study in chemical engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague
Project title: “Design, synthesis and characterization of structured particles for chemical robots“ - 2001 – 2006
MSc study in chemical engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague
Diploma thesis: “Studies of atypical aggregation of Dictyostelium discoideum”
International Experience
- 2017 (3 months) - visiting researcher at Tokyo University (Takashi Ikegami Lab), Japan (supported by Canon Foundation)
- 2015 - lecturer in the TRUCE Summer School on Unconventional Computation, Malaga, Spain
- 2013 (2 weeks) - Invited visitor of Osaka University, Japan
- 2013 (3 months) - COBRA exchange visit - the Center for Fundamental Living Technology (FLinT) at University of Southern Denmark
- 2008 - Hands-on Agilent winter school, Linz, Austria
- 2007 (2 months) - Summer school Physbio 2007, Saint Etienne de Tinée, France
- 2005/2006 (5 months) - Erasmus student at the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany (Biophysics group of Marcus Hauser)
Achievements
- 2022 Medal of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering
- 2021 ISAL Distinguished Early-Career Investigator Award
- Participation in the Czech final of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science programme, 2020
- 2018 ISAL Award for Outstanding Paper of 2017 in the field of Artificial Life
- Crytur Award 2017, 1st place, for supervision of the best diploma thesis (student Petra Janská)
- 2017 Canon Foundation Research Fellowship
- Best Poster Award, ALIFE 2016 (4.-8.7.2016, Cancún, México)
- Crytur Award 2016, 2nd place, for supervision of the best diploma thesis (student Ondřej Rychecký)
- Participation in the Czech final of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science programme, 2016
- Rector’s Award, 2016, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague
- Rector’s Award, 2014, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague
- Best Poster Award, 1st place, The 7th Young Researchers’ Retreat (29.-31.7.2013, Kyoto, Japan), selected out of over 70 participants
- Participation in the Czech final of FameLab 2011
- Rhodia Award for Chemistry, 4th place (2010)
- Best Poster Award, 1st place, World Student Conference on Particle Technology (22.-25.4.2010, Delft, Netherland), selected out of over 50 PhD students world-wide
- Chemical Engineering section of SVK University Science Competition, 2nd place (2005)
Research Interests
- Droplets
- Artificial life (protocells, origin of life)
- Unconventional robotics (liquid robots, chemical robotics)
- System decanol/decanoate/salt
- Non-linear dynamics and pattern formation (Dictyostelium discoideum)
- Chemotaxis (oriented movement in concentration gradients) – biological and artificial
- Chemobrionics (chemical gardens)
- Cell encapsulation
- Etymology of the word "ROBOT"
Projects
- 2024-2028: OP JAK project INTER MICRO "Talking microbes - understanding microbial interactions within One Health framework" (team member, webmaster)
- 2022-2026: COST Action DYNALIFE "Information, Coding, and Biological Function: the Dynamics of Life" (management committee member for Czech Republic, WG4 leader, science communication manager, webmaster)
- 2021-2022: Bilateral Grant The Czech Science Foundation (GACR) / National Research Foundation of Korea: "New superhydrophobic perfluorinated nanomaterials for advanced micro- and bio-applications" (team member, principal investigator at UCT Prague – prof. Friess)
- 2018-2023: COST Action "Chemobrionics" (management committee member for Czech Republic, WG4 leader, science communication manager, webmaster)
- 2017-2019: Junior Research Grant from The Czech Science Foundation (GACR) “Towards the understanding of evaporation induced pattern formation of decanol droplets” (PI)
- 2015-2018: EC project “EVOBLISS – Technological Evolution of Synergy Between Physicochemical and Living Systems” (team member, webmaster)
- 2012-2015: EC project “MICREAGENTS – Microscale Chemically Reactive Electronic Agents” (team member, principal investigator at UCT Prague – prof. Štěpánek)
- 2008-2013: ERC grant “CHOBOTIX – Chemical Processing by Swarm Robotics” (team member, principal investigator prof. Štěpánek)
- 2010: student grant of UCT Prague “Experimental study of chemical robots’ behavior in model surrounding“
- 2009: student grant of UCT Prague “Comparative studies of chemical and physical characterization of chemical robots’ bodies“
- 2008: student grant of UCT Prague “New metal substrates suitable for analysis by Raman spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance”
- 2007: student grant of UCT Prague “Preparation of large-area SERS-active substrates for measurement of Raman spectral maps and testing of their surface nanostructure”
Publications
- Cartwright J.H.E., Čejková J. et al. (2024). Information, Coding, and Biological Function: the Dynamics of Life, Artificial Life 30(1): 16-27.
- Čejková J., Holler S., Löffler R., Witkowski O. (2022). Editorial Introduction to the 2021 Conference on Artificial Life Special Issue, Artificial Life 28 (4): 397–400.
- Čejková J. (2022). O Fakultě chemicko-inženýrské, Chemické listy 116(10), 574–580.
- Čejková J., Cartwright J. H. E. (2022). Chemobrionics and Systems Chemistry, ChemSystemsChem (Guest Editorial).
- McGachy L., Heyda J., Tomas J., Čejková J. (2021). Decanol Pattern Formation over a Sessile Aqueous Decanoate Droplet, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 621, 126541.
- Becherová L., Prokopec V., Čejková J. (2021). Vibrational spectroscopic analysis of critical micelle concentration in sodium decanoate solutions, Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 250, 119387.
- Cardoso S. S. S., Cartwright J. H. E., Čejková J., Cronin L., Wit A. D., Giannerini S., Horváth D., Rodrigues A., Russell M. J., Sainz-Díaz C. I., Tóth Á. (2020), Chemobrionics: From Self-assembled Material Architectures to the Origin of Life, Artificial Life 26(3), 315-326.
- Janská P., Rychecký O., Zadražil A., Štěpánek F., Čejková J. (2019), Liquid oil marbles: increasing the bio-availability of poorly water-soluble drugs, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 108(6), 2136-2142.
- Čejková J., Schwarzenberger K., Eckert K., Tanaka S. (2019), Dancing performance of organic droplets in aqueous surfactant solutions. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 566, 141-147.
- Čejková J., Hanczyc M.M., Štěpánek F. (2018). Multi-Armed Droplets as Shape-Changing Protocells, Artificial Life, 24 (1), 71-79.
- Čejková J., Banno T., Štěpánek F., Hanczyc M.M. (2017). Droplets as Liquid Robots, Artificial Life, 23 (4), 528-549 (open access).
- Čejková J., Rychecký O. (2017), Tekuté kuličky, Chemické listy 111, 109-114.
- Rychecký O., Majerská M., Král V., Štěpánek F., Čejková J. (2017), Spheroid cultivation of HT-29 carcinoma cell line in liquid marbles, Chemical Papers 71(6), 1055–1063.
- Čejková J., Štěpánek F., Hanczyc M. (2016), Evaporation-induced pattern formation of decanol droplets, Langmuir 32, 4800-4805.
- Čejková J., Novák M., Štěpánek F., Hanczyc M. (2014), Dynamics of chemotactic droplets in salt concentration gradients, Langmuir 30(40), 11937–11944.
- Čejková J., Haufová P., Gorný D., Hanuš J., Štěpánek F. (2013), Biologically triggered liberation of sub-micron particles from alginate microcapsules, Journal of Materials Chemistry B 1, 5456-5461.
- Čejková J. (2013), Dictyostelium discoideum – model system not only for biologists, Chemické listy 107, 563-600.
- Čejková J., Štěpánek F. (2013), Compartmentalized and internally structured particles for drug delivery, Current Pharmaceutical Design 19(35), 6298-6314.
- Prokopec V., Kokaislová A., Čejková J., Dendisová M., Člupek M., Matějka P. (2011), Spectroscopic study of SERS- and SEIRA- activity of copper large-scaled surface substrates prepared by electrochemical deposition: what is the role of oxidation-reduction cycle treatment?, Journal of Molecular Structure 993, 410-419.
- Čejková J., Hanuš J., Štěpánek F. (2010), Investigation of internal microstructure and thermo-responsive properties of composite PNIPAM/silica microcapsules. ournal of Colloid and Interface Science 346, 352-360.
- Ševčíková H., Čejková J., Krausová L., Přibyl M., Štěpánek F., Marek M. (2010) A new traveling wave pattern of Dictyostelium in the presence of cAMP in the agar. Physica D 239, 879-888.
- Čejková J., Prokopec V., Brázdová S., Kokaislová A., Matějka P., Štěpánek F. (2009), Characterization of copper SERS-active substrates prepared by electrochemical deposition. Applied Surface Science 255, 7864-7870.
- Kokaislová A., Brázdová S., Prokopec V., Člupek M., Čejková J., Matějka P. (2009), Příprava SERS-aktivních měděných substrátů katodickou redukcí a vyhodnocení jejich struktury pomocí mikroskopie atomárních sil. Chemické listy 103, 246-250.
- Hilgardt C., Čejková J., Hauser M. J. B., Ševčíková H. (2008), Streamless aggregation of Dictyostelium in the presence of isopropylidenadenosin. Biophysical Chemistry 132, 9-17.
- Prokopec V., Čejková J., Matějka P., Hasal P. (2008), Preparation of SERS-active substrates with large surface area for Raman spectral mapping and testing of their surface nanostructure. Surface and Interface Analysis 40, 601-607.
Book Chapters
- Bassereau P., Cangelosi A., Čejková J., Gershenson C., Goldstein R., Martins Z., S., F., Westall F. (2024). Physics for understanding life. In EPS Grand Challenges: Physics for Society in the Horizon 2050. IOP Publishing.
- Čejková J., Nguyenová T.Q., Štěpánek F. “Chemotactic droplets serving as chemo-taxi”. In “Self-Organized Motion: Physiochemical Design based on Nonlinear Dynamics”, (Nakata S., Pimienta V., Lagzi I., Kitahata H., Suematsu N.J., eds.), Royal Society of Chemistry, pp. 182-203 (2019).
- Čejková J., Tóth R., Braun A., Ueyama D., Lagzi I. "Shortest path finding in mazes by active and passive particles". In „Shortest path. Parallel and distributed solvers“ (Adamatzky A., ed.), Springer, pp. 401-408 (2018).
- Čejková J., Holler S., Nguyenová T.Q., Kerrigan C., Štěpánek F., Hanczyc, M. M. “Chemotaxis and chemokinesis of living and non-living objects” In Advances in Unconventional Computing, Volume 2: Prototypes, Models and Algorithms, (Adamatzky A., ed.) Springer, pp. 245-260 (2016).
Books
- Čejková J. (ed.), KRAKATIT 100, Academix, November 2024.
- Čejková J. (ed.), R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life, MIT Press, January 2024.
- Čejková J. (ed.), ROBOT 100, Vydavatelství VŠCHT Praha, November 2020.
Editor
- Čejková J., Holler S., Löffler R., Witkowski O., Special Issue of Artificial Life jounal, 2022
- Čejková J., Holler S., Soros L., Witkowski O., ALIFE 2021: The 2021 Conference on Artificial Life (Artificial Life Conference Proceedings)
- Čejková J. and Cartwright J. (guest editors) Chemobrionics, ChemSystemsChem special collection, 2021
- Čejková J., Štěpánek F.: Chobotix 2012: book of proceedings, Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, 2012, ISBN 978-80-7080-813-9.
Proceedings
(selected from over 40 proceedings papers)
- Nováková, N., Macháček, J., Čejková, J., Myelin Figures Formation from Oil Droplets in Surfactants: Insights for Wet Artificial Life. In ALIFE 2024: Proceedings of the 2024 Artificial Life Conference. MIT Press (2024).
- Čejková J., Robots: The century past and the century ahead, an Introduction to the 2021 ALIFE conference, Artificial Life Conference Proceedings, MIT Press (2021).
- Čejková J., Ikegami T., Štěpánek F., Life-like swarm behavior of multiple chemotactic droplets, Proceedings of the European Conference on Artificial Life 2017, Lyon (France), – 9. 9. 2017, MIT Press, pp. 91-95 (2017).
- Čejková J., Ikegami T., Experimental study of mutual interactions of multiple liquid droplets, Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics, Kyoto (Japan), 31. 10. -1. 11. 2017, pp. 274-278 (2017).
- Čejková J., Haufová P., Gorný D., Štěpánek F.: “Artificial spores” – hybrid alginate microcapsules with encapsulated yeast cells, Proceedings of the Twelfth European Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems, Taormina (Italy), 2. -6. 9. 2013, MIT Press, pp. 818-823 (2013).
- Čejková J., Štěpánek F.: Chobotix 2012: book of proceedings, Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, 2012, ISBN 978-80-7080-813-9 (editor).
Invited Talks
- Liquid Robots – Robots Without Sheet Metal and Wheels” Central Saint Martins University London, UK (10. 5. 2022)
- "Liquid robots are not cells", University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark (23.1.2020)
- Liquid robotics, Hiroshima University, Japan (15. 11. 2019)
- Artificial life in chemical systems: droplets as liquid robots, Physical chemistry seminar, Lund University, Sweden (18.3.2019)
- Droplets as Liquid Robots, keynote speaker at 2nd Week of Complexity Sciences at Center for Complexity Sciences of National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City (31. 1. -2. 2018)
- Droplets as Liquid Robots, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw (24. 11. 2017)
- Experimental study of decanol droplets life-like behaviour, Department of Physical and Macromolecular chemistry, Charles University (11. 10. 2017)
- Kapky jako tekutí roboti, Night of Scientists, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague (6. 10. 2017)
- Pattern formation of decanol droplets, Keio University, Japan (31. 7. 2017)
- Experimental study of decanol droplets life-like behaviour, Hiroshima University, Japan (11. 7. 2017)
- Kapky jako tekutí roboti, AFO - 52. Mezinárodní festival populárně-vědeckých filmů, Olomouc (25. - 30. 4. 2017)
- Artificial chemotaxis and pattern formation of decanol droplets in the presence of decanoate and salt, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany (25. 2. 2016)
- Unconventional maze solving problems by using biological and artificial chemotaxis, keynote speaker at CHISA 2015, Seč u Chrudimi (9. - 12. 11. 2015)
- “Chemo-taxi” – oil droplets for targeted cargo delivery, invited speaker at EMN Meeting on Droplets, Phuket, Thailand, (8. - 11. 5. 2015)
Teaching
- Teaching experience at University of Chemistry and Technology (teaching in Czech and English): Biological Process Engineering, Chemical Engineering I, Chemical Engineering III, Dispersion systems, Microchemical engineering, Laboratory training in chemical engineering (unit operations), Laboratory of manufacturing of nano- and micromaterials, Laboratory of characterization of nano- and microsystems, Chemical Industry and the Environment, Chemical engineering projects
- Teaching experience at University of Trento: Biochemistry lab courses
- Supervision of bachelor and master students
- Supervision of international exchange students (Erasmus, IAESTE)
- Supervision of high-school students
Professional Membership
- International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL Education and Outreach Chair)
- ECLT (European Centre for Living Technology) Fellow
- Czech Society of Chemical Engineering (ČSCHI)
- European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS)
- International Center of Unconventional Computing
Organisation of Scientific Meetings
- ALIFE 2027 (general chair), TBA, Prague
- CHEMALIFORMS V: The Fifth Workshop on Chemistry and Artificial Life Forms at ALIFE 2025, (organiser of the workshop at ALIFE 2025), 6. - 10. 10. 2025, Kyoto, Japan
- COST Action EuroCurvoBioNet Workshop (main organiser), 1. - 4. 7. 2025, Prague
- CHEMALIFORMS IV: The Fourth Workshop on Chemistry and Artificial Life Forms at ALIFE 2024, (organiser of the workshop at ALIFE 2024), 22. - 26. 7. 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark
- DYNALIFE Prague Meeting (main organiser), 25. - 26. 1. 2024, Prague
- CHEMALIFORMS III: The Third Workshop on Chemistry and Artificial Life Forms at ALIFE 2023, (organiser of the workshop at ALIFE 2023), 24. - 28. 7. 2023, Sapporo, Japan
- ISAL 2023 Summer School on Artificial Life at ALIFE 2023, 24. - 28. 7. 2023, Sapporo, Japan
- CHEMALIFORMS II: The Second Workshop on Chemistry and Artificial Life Forms at ALIFE 2022, (organiser of the workshop at ALIFE 2022), 18. - 22. 7. 2022, Trento, Italy
- ICLR 2022 Workshop FROM CELLS TO SOCIETIES (co-organiser), 29. 4. 2022
- ALIFE 2021 (general chair), 19. - 23. 7. 2021, Prague
- COST Chemobrionics Workshop at ALIFE 2021, 19. 7. 2021
- CHEMOBRIONICS annual meeting (main organiser), 29. - 31. 1. 2020, UCT Prague
- CHEMALIFORMS: Chemistry and artificial life forms (organiser of the workshop at ALIFE 2019), 29. 7. - 2. 8. 2019, Newcastle, UK
- ALIFE 2019 (member of scientific advisory committee), 29. 7. - 2. 8. 2019, Newcastle, UK
- 30/80 meeting: alkaline vents 30th & Mike Russell's 80th (co-organiser), 11. - 13. 3. 2019, Granada, Spain
- Chemical and Process Engineering Conference CHISA 2017 (co-organiser), 23. - 26. 10. 2017, Seč u Chrudimi
- Student scientific conference (main organiser at Faculty of Chemical Engineering), November every year since 2014, UCT Prague
- Chobotix annual meeting (main organiser, proceedings book editor), 10. 5. 2012, UCT Prague
Science Popularization and Other Activities
- Trained for science communication (COST Academy since 2019: “Using social media to communicate your Action”, “Shooting and editing a video for your Action”, “Working with the media – mastering media interviews”, “Storytelling workshop”, "How to present your research with impact", "Canva training", "Media skills")
- Short documentary movies Kapky (2020 Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival), Chemobrionics 2021 (2021 Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, 2022 AFO International Festival of Science Documentary Films)
- FameLab (Czech finalist 2011, member of Czech committee 2014, FameLab Hall in Natural Museum in London 2014, FameLab Echos in Prague 2014)
- Member of jury selecting the best Czech or Slovak documentary movie at 53rd international festival of science documentary films AFO in Olomouc (2018)
- Open Science project (Czech Academy of Science) - short movie “Jitka Čejková – Kurátorka mikrorobotů” (2014)
- Science popularization projects and talks (g. STEP at UCT Prague, Night of Scientists)
- YouTube channel (with more than 340k views)
- Appearances on television and radio (e.g. Artzóna (Česká televize) - 100 let R.U.R., Český rozhlas - Vltava - Století robotů)
- Teaching in the Summer school for high school students and teachers (at UCT Prague, since 2006)
- Faculty coordinator of Student scientific conference (UCT Prague, since 2014)
- Webmaster: Department of Chemical Engineering, COST Action Chemobrionics, COST Action Dynalife, INTER MICRO, Robot 100, Faculty of Chemical Engineering in UCT Prague (in the past: EU project Evobliss, Laboratory for Artificial Biology, Kapaji etc.)
- HORIZON2020 evaluator (2018, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), French National Research Agency (ANR) evaluator (2021), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic (MŠMT) evaluator (2022), CzechInvest evaluator (2024).
- External examiner of PhD Theses (Curtin University, Australia; Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences; KU Leuven, Belgium; Åbo Akademi University, Finland)
- Reviewer (Nature, Nature Communications, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Lab on a Chip, Scientific Reports, Langmuir, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology, Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, Express Polymer Letters, etc.)
- Popularization articles for magazines such as Vesmír, Academix Revue
- Member of Academic Senate, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, UCT Prague (2008-2010)