doc. Mgr. Jan Růžička, Ph.D.
The head of the research team. Specialized in taxonomy of carrion beetles and related groups (Coleoptera: Staphylininae: Silphinae, Leiodidae: Cholevinae and Coloninae, Agyrtidae). Interested in distribution of these groups mostly through Palaearctic and Oriental Regions, and in morphology of their immature stages.
Ing. Pavel Jakubec, Ph.D.
Principal investigator and founding member of SYFE lab at CZU. Set to solve the big questions in thermal ecology and forensic entomology. His favorite animals are of course beetles, especially those necrophagous, but he is also dedicated preacher of diptera love around this beetle-centric lab. Leasure activities includes designing experiments, data handling, programming in R, scientific and grant proposal writing, as well as running, cycling and photographing nature and people around.
Jarin Qubaiová, MSC., Ph.D.
Currently interested in forensic entomology, particularly the ecology, dietary behavior and development of carrion beetles. Acquired substantial experience in breeding carrion beetles, insect preparation, macrophotography and electron microscopy. Partial interests include silphid morphology, distribution and taxonomy, also geometric morphometrics.
Ing. Martin Novák, Ph.D.
Specializes in two groups of beetles; the necrophagous Silphinae and the bioluminescent Lampyridae. He is an expert on morphology, and has redescribed the larvae of several forensically important carrion beetles and all firefly species in Czechia. He is interested in the rearing of insects, ecology, life histories and behavior, and the bioluminescent communication of fireflies. Martin is also curious about the technical aspects of research and has participated in innovating the methods used by our team, like using movie techniques to create a large number of high-quality photographs of beetles in a short amount of time, improving fluid preservation methods for long-term storage of insect specimens, or method for analyzing color from photographs to determine quantitative changes in specimens.
Ing. Karolina Mahlerová
I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology. I joined the team of Systematic and Forensic Entomology in 2018 focusing on the molecular phylogeny of the subfamily Silphinae from fresh specimens and from museum specimens.
Santiago Montoya-Molina, BSc., MSc.
My research is connected to understanding the thermal biology in insects, focused on forensically important carrion beetles (Silphidae: Silphinae). I am also interested in the morphology, systematics, and diversity of Silphid and new world dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae).
Plk. Ing. Hana Šuláková, Ph.D.
Ing. et Bc. David Sommer
Ing. Tereza Olekšáková
Ing. Vanda Klimešová