Anna Hýsková will take part in the most prestigious international scientific high school competition, Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. Hýsková, a former student of the J. A. Komenský Secondary School in Uherský Brod, last year won the Jaroslav Heyrovský Endowment Fund Award for Secondary School Expert Activity. Her award-winning work entitled “Interaction of Blue Light and Auxin Hormones in Plant Growth and Development” was carried out by the student as part of the Researcher project at the Faculty of Science under the guidance of Prof Martin Fellner.
“Without exception, the success of students is always the result not only of diligent work and interest in the theme, but above all talent and the natural curiosity to learn something extra about the theme. I have known Anna Hýsková since the beginning of 2018, and right after just a few days together in the laboratory I found that she is very interested in her work with a natural curiosity and the desire to learn as much as possible. It was interesting that during the first competition of the Faculty of Science’s Researcher project, she did not even place. I was all the more pleased that the results of her work and her ability to present the results were noticed by the committee in the district round of the SOČ secondary school expert activity competition in 2019, when Anna took first place. Other successes followed – victory in the regional round of the SOČ in 2019, first place in the national round of the SOČ in 2020, and in the same year winning the Jaroslav Heyrovský Endowment Fund Award for Secondary School Expert Activity. The culmination of her interest in science is her nomination for participation in the Regeneron ISEF. I consider Anna Hýsková to be a remarkable personality and I believe she will have a successful career in science. I am always extremely pleased with the visible success of students in various competitions, also because they motivate the next generation of students to do research work,” said Prof Fellner from the Laboratory of Growth Regulators.
At the beginning of Anna Hýsková’s current success was her desire to try science in a real laboratory. “Unlike my classmates, I’ve always been more attracted to molecular biology and botany than to zoology. In the middle of the second year of high school, thanks to the Researcher project, I became part of a group focused on the molecular physiology of plants. Together with Prof Fellner, we chose the topic of my research and I started commuting regularly from Luhačovice to Olomouc,” said Hýsková, describing the beginning of her cooperation with the Faculty of Science.
In her scientific work, the student dealt with the influence of light on plant growth through the plant hormone auxin. “The aim of my work was to find out whether red light photoreceptors, called phytochromes, are involved in this mechanism in some way.”
Anna Hýsková was selected for the Regeneron ISEF based on the recommendations of the SOČ national expert evaluation committees. She is one of three students who will represent the Czech Republic at Regeneron ISEF. Every year, 1,800 students from eighty countries take part in this competition. This year it will be held online due to the coronavirus pandemic. More information is available at www.societyforscience.org/isef.