My name is Alice Krumpolcová and I come from the Czech Republic, a beautiful country in the middle of Europe. As a child I spent most of my time with my uncle in forests exploring the diversity of nature. I was a naturally curious child, and he was capable of answering many of my questions as he was a former woodsman.
In high school I was convinced that I was going to be physician, with ambitions for admission without an entrance exam, but “fortunately” I found out I didn’t want to work with people (pretty unpleasant for every physician except pathologists). So, I started to look for a new direction for my studies and knew I wanted to stick with the natural sciences. I found molecular biology and genetics – an ideal combination of a demanding field of natural sciences without the necessary presence of many other people. I started a Bachelor’s degree at the Masaryk University Brno and then worked on my thesis at the Institute of Biophysics of Czech Academy of Science with Dr. Roman Matyášek from the Department of Molecular Epigenetics (DME). I started off with a literature review about epigenetics (especially 5-mC) in plants, and this work then continued to my Master’s degree and thesis in which I started focusing on bryophytes. Initially, it was just an idea because there was a lack of work about epigenetics in mosses and publications suggested that mosses had very different profiles in comparison with vascular plants. I then met my consultant/expert advisor in bryology Dr. Eva Mikulášková (whom today I can call my friend) who helped me get into bryology. I realized that there were so many doors which I could open and study, and with every door I opened I found more and more interesting information. So, I immersed myself into bryology… Unfortunately, after finishing my Master’s degree, I felt so demotivated and burnt out that I completely left studies, science and the country. I spent two years in Bulgaria working in a hotel where I cleared my mind and realized how much I missed the creativity of science.
Back in the Czech Republic, in 2020, I came to Dr. Aleš Kovarík, chief of DME, and asked for a recommendation letter to apply for a job in another lab. He was so excited about my decision that he offered me a position in his lab. Later that year I decided to start my PhD studies (not yet finished) and research focusing on liverworts because I think bryophytes are a very important evolutionary step from algae to vascular plants, but we have limited information about their epigenome. I also started my own cultivation of Anthoceros agrestis from sporophytes, so that I extended my analyses by at least one species of hornwort. As a molecular biologist, I continue to educate myself in morphology, ecology and determination of bryophytes. I have attended seminars by Dr. Svatava Kubešová from Moravian Museum and Dr. Juan C. Villarreal Aguilar from the Université Laval. In September 2022 I got an opportunity to spend five weeks at the University of Helsinki with Dr. Xiaolan He.
I currently enjoy the joys of motherhood and after a short break I have returned on a part-time basis to the laboratory.
Publications
Matyasek R., Krumpolcova A., Lunerova J., Mikulaskova E., Rosello J. A., Kovarik A. (2019) Unique Epigenetic Features of Ribosomal RNA Genes (rDNA) in Early Diverging Plants (Bryophytes). Front. Plant Sci. 10: 1664-462X. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01066
Garcia S., Pascual-Diaz J. P., Krumpolcova A., Kovarik A. (2023) Analysis of 5S rDNA Genomic Organization Through the RepeatExplorer2 Pipeline: A Simplified Protocol. Methods in Mol. Bio. 2672: 501-512. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3226-0_30
Mandakova T., Krumpolcova A., Matyasek R., Volkov R. A., Lysak M., Kovarik A. (2024) Uniparental silencing of 5S rRNA genes in plant allopolyploids – insights from Cardamine (Brassicaceae). The Plant J. DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16850