Ing. Kateřina Vodičková Kepková, Ph.D.

Education

2011 Postgraduate doctoral study (Ph.D.) at Charles University, Faculty of Science, Department of Developmental Biology, Prague, Czech.
Supervisor: RNDr. Jiří Kaňka Csc.
Ph.D. thesis: Transcriptomics of bovine preimplantation embryo genome activation in vivo and in vitro culture conditions.

 

Professional experience

Postdoc  

 

Major scientific interests

  • Focus on studying Huntington disease using patient derived human induced pluripotent (iPS) cells and neural stem cells (NSCs).
  • Development of biochemical assays for quantification of mutant huntingtin protein.

 

Key skills and qualifications

  • Gene expression microarrays
  • Subtractive hybridization and sequencing of cDNA
  • mRNA, total RNA and DNA isolation
  • Real-Time qRT-PCR
  • Analysis of microarray, real-time RT PCR and sequencing results
  • Tissue culture – embryonic, induced pluripotent and neural stem cells
  • Porcine and bovine oocyte isolation and in vitro maturation
  • In vitro fertilization and embryo culture
  • Western blot
  • Luminex xMAP Assay
  • Immunocytochemistry and immunohistochemistry

 

Research fellowships and study visits

09-10/2006 The Centre de Recherche en Biologie de la Reproduction Département de Sciences Animales, Université Laval
Analysis of the gene expression in early bovine and porcine embryos. Training in techniques like RNA purification and amplification, probe labeling, microarray hybridization, data readout and analysis.

 

Courses

September 29th-October 3rd 2008 MDARB08 Microarray Data Analysis using R and Bioconductor Instituto Gulbenkian de Cięncia, Oeiras, Portugal
Practical training in:
  • design of microarray experiments
  • data normalization and quality control
  • differential expression and downstream data analysis
  • statistical analysis of results
  • using the limma program and other R libraries in Bioconductor
  • wide range of platforms including Illumina, Affymetrix and Array CGH data

 

Publications

2020 Luminex xMAP Assay to Quantify Cytokines in Cancer Patient Serum.
Kupcova Skalnikova H, Vodickova Kepkova K, Vodicka P.
Methods Mol Biol. 2020;2108:65-88. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0247-8_6.
2015 Milan Blaha, Lucie Nemcova, Katerina Vodickova Kepkova, Petr Vodicka, Radek Prochazka. Gene expression analysis of pig cumulus-oocyte complexes stimulated in vitro with follicle stimulating hormone or epidermal growth factor-like peptides. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2015 Oct 6;13(1):113. doi: 10.1186/s12958-015-0112-2.
2012 Toralová T, Benešová V, Kepková KV, Vodička P, Šušor A, Kaňka J. Bovine preimplantation embryos with silenced nucleophosmin mRNA are able to develop until the blastocyst stage. Reproduction. 2012 Sep;144(3):349-59. doi: 10.1530/REP-12-0033. Epub 2012 Jun 25.
  Kanka J, Nemcova L, Toralova T, Vodickova-Kepkova K, Vodicka P, Jeseta M, Machatkova M. Association of the transcription profile of bovine oocytes and embryos with developmental potential. Anim Reprod Sci. 2012 Sep;134(1-2):29-35.
doi: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2012.08.008. Epub 2012 Aug 11.
2011 Katerina Vodickova Kepkova, Petr Vodicka, Tereza Toralova, Miloslava Lopatarova, Svatopluk Cech, Radovan Dolezel, Vitezslav Havlicek, Urban Besenfelder, Anna Kuzmany, Marc-Andre Sirard, Jozef Laurincik, Jiri Kanka. Transcriptomic analysis of in vivo and in vitro produced bovine embryos revealed a developmental change in cullin 1 expression during maternal-to-embryonic transition. Theriogenology. 2011 Jun;75(9):1582-95.
doi: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2010.12.019. Epub 2011 Mar 15.
2009 I. Petrovičová, F. Strejček, O. Ǿstrup, A. Lucas-Hahn, K. Kepková, H. Niemann, J. Laurinčík, P. Maddox-Hyttel, 2009. Ultrastructural analysis of bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos during the first cell cycle. Slovak J. Anim. Sci., 42, 2009 (3): 144 – 148
  T. Toralová, A. Šušor, L. Němcová, K. Kepková, J. Kaňka (2009) Silencing CENPF in bovine preimplantation embryo induces arrest at 8-cell stage. Reproduction 138:783-791
  Kanka J, Kepkova K, Nemcova L, 2009. Gene expression during minor genome activation in preimplantation bovine development. Theriogenology 72:572-83

 

Scientific popularization

 2017 Kateřina Vodičková Kepková, Petr Vodička, Jan Motlík. Cells of a Great Potential 3. Medical Use of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Živa 4/2017, page 146
 2017 Kateřina Vodičková Kepková, Petr Vodička, Jan Motlík. Cells of a Great Potential 2. Characterization and Use of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Živa 3/2017, page 98
 2016 Kateřina Vodičková Kepková, Petr Vodička, Jan Motlík. Cells of a Great Potential 1. History of Induced Pluripotency and Methods of iPS Cell Preparation, Živa 4/2016, page 150