Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences was founded seventy years ago, on 1 January 1954, within the (then still Czechoslovak) Academy of Sciences. Since then it has been systematically engaged in research in the field of normal and pathological physiology. We are characterizing in increasing depth the basic biological mechanisms with a bearing on human beings and medicine. In the seventy years that have passed since the Institute was founded, our society has grown considerably older and fatter. Modern medicine is thus facing new challenges in the form of an increased onslaught of so-called civilization diseases. The main current goal of the Institute of Physiology of the CAS is to research the causes of these non-infectious diseases associated with obesity and ageing.

For this year's 70th anniversary of the Institute's foundation, we are preparing a number of activities. The first of these is a series of four articles on current research topics, which appeared in the journal Vesmír (3/2024):

70 let Fyziologického ústavu AV ČR: Pomáháme odhalovat podstatu závažných onemocnění (Jan Kopecký)

Padesát odstínů malých šedých buněk (Helena Janíčková)

Epitranskriptom: klíč ke zdravému srdci? (Daniel Benák a Markéta Hlaváčková)

Inzulinem to nekončí: Zdravé beta-buňky jsou budoucností léčby diabetu (Lydie Plecitá Hlavatá)