For 9 years, the publishing house Profi Press, s.r.o. has been organizing the recognition of prominent figures in veterinary medicine. The awards are presented for lifetime contributions to veterinary medicine, outstanding contributions to veterinary medicine, as well as publications in the journals Veterinářství and Veterinární klinika. The 2024 awards ceremony took place at the National Museum of Agriculture in Prague on March 18, 2025.
Among the award recipients were employees of the Veterinary Research Institute: For outstanding contribution, Doc. RNDr. Ivan Rychlík, Ph.D. was awarded for a unique blend of nine bacterial strains. After colonizing the intestines of newly hatched chicks, it improves health parameters and natural resistance to pathogenic bacteria, thereby reducing the need for antibiotics in broiler production. The preparation is registered under the name QuoCNA by the Institute for State Control of Veterinary Biologicals and Medicines.
For publishing activity, MVDr. Monika Zouharová, Ph.D., the lead author of the team, was recognized for the paper "Genotyping and survey of virulence factors in Streptococcus uberis using whole genome sequencing". The paper presents the results of the genetic characterization of 140 strains of this bacterial mastitis-causing pathogen, revealing a high level of diversity and a wide range of virulence factors in strains isolated from Czech farms. This poses a challenge for implementing effective measures to control the occurrence of this pathogen.
