Václav Krupička

Biography

Václav Krupička is a postdoctoral researcher specialising in the characterisation of protein modifications within complex and degraded matrices. He is currently a CODICUM Postdoctoral Fellow based in the Biomedical Mass Spectrometry and Systems Biology group at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU).

Václav earned his PhD from the University of Bordeaux, where his doctoral thesis focused on developing high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) techniques for molecular mapping and structural proteomic analysis of cultural heritage samples. He holds a First Class Master of Chemistry (MChem) from the University of Warwick, where he specialised in two-dimensional high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. A native Czech speaker, Václav is also proficient in English and French.

Research

Václav’s research objective is to advance mass spectrometry instrumentation and novel analytical approaches to enhance the study of heterogeneous cultural heritage samples. As a postdoctoral fellow on the CODICUM project, he is responsible for developing mass spectrometric methods essential to the project's biomolecular goals.

His work focuses on understanding the transformation of biomolecules in historical contexts through several specialised workflows:

Mass Spectrometric Development: Advancing instrumentation and analytical protocols to characterise protein modifications in complex and degraded historical materials.

Structural Proteomics: Utilising top-down and bottom-up proteomics to map in-situ breakdowns and post-translational modifications (PTMs) in historical binders and paints.

Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI): Developing MALDI-MSI workflows, including the integration of machine learning models (MSIPredictArt) for the layer-by-layer decoding of painting compositions.

Archaeological Residues: Characterising proteinaceous materials in museum collections, including food residues in ceramics related to historical wine production.Species Identification: Applying minimally invasive proteomics to identify species in bone and ivory museum objects

Contact

University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark

p: +45 65 50 14 99

e: vaclav@palaeome.org

e: krupicka@bmb.sdu.dk

Links

• SDU Profile

• CODICUM Project

• ORCID iD

Publications (Selected)

• Krupicka, V., et al. (2024). Layer-by-layer decoding of contemporary and historic painting structure and composition using MALDI mass spectrometry imaging and machine learning. Science Advances.

• Gilbert, C., Krupicka, V., et al. (2024). Species identification of ivory and bone museum objects using minimally invasive proteomics. Science Advances.

• Krupicka, V., et al. (Submitted). Unfolding Casein: Tracing casein structure evolution from chemical standard to paint layer using native IM-MS and top-down proteomics. Talanta.

Activities & Skills

Václav serves on the organizing committee and as a lecturer for the Bordeaux Summer School in Advanced Mass Spectrometry Applied to Cultural Heritage. He is highly skilled in high-resolution MS (FT-ICR, Orbitrap), ion mobility, cryosectioning, and various proteomic software suites.