A billion in European funding to transform the treatment of metabolic diseases. Institutions participating in the CarDia project have generated research findings that may aid in the treatment of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even ageing. The project results were presented to the media at a press conference held on December 9, 2025, at IKEM in Prague.
Together, these disorders account for more deaths than cancer. That is why research on metabolic diseases has become the focus of the National Institute for Research on Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases (CarDia) — the largest project of its kind ever launched in the Czech Republic. The initiative has brought together five leading centres of scientific, research, and clinical excellence: IKEM, the Institute of Physiology CAS, the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry CAS, Masaryk University in Brno, and Charles University in Prague.
The participating research and clinical teams have achieved numerous important discoveries and new insights that will contribute to improving treatment. For example, they found that adipose tissue adjacent to the heart has a beneficial effect on patient survival in heart failure. The project has also led to the creation of a nationwide registry of patients with type 1 diabetes called DiaPanther.
“The project has provided IPHYS with the most substantial grant support in its 70-year history and enabled exceptional collaboration with clinical institutions. A new laboratory focused on cardiovascular research has been established, and state-of-the-art equipment has been purchased, which we will continue to use in the years to come. Our extensive research has so far resulted in 120 publications. Thanks to the grant, IPHYS has also acquired a unique setup for metabolic and lipidomic analyses of biological samples,” summarizes the project’s significance Jan Kopecký, M.D., D.Sc., Deputy Director for International Relations and Deputy Head of the Laboratory of Adipose Tissue Biology of IPHYS.
