Ever since I have been brought to our house I was surrounded by interesting things. I admire the way how my dad was willing to explain everything we were fancy to understand. Every time with a quite funny phrase: "Bring me the paper and a pencil...". My home region is the Czech karst which is intertwined with quite unique natural and historical aspects. These were the main accelerators of my interest in nature and my surroundings as a whole. But what brought me to the FISH EVO group was the love for the silvery slimy creatures of our streams. As a child from the village, it was almost impossible to not get in touch with them. I can't explain where this love comes from but the most presumable explanation is the hidden world under the water's surface with an association of a primal instinct from stone times. What I know is that the moments I can hold those strong beings are the happiest moments of my life.

For the master’s, I was focused on the population genetics of the Leuciscids. It was quite an interesting and educative project. Recently, my interest has slowly turned to deep-sea fishes and particularly the evolution of bioluminescence. Where the far-red bioluminiscence of dragonfishes (Stomiiformes) is interesting concept in which I am on the hunt for genes that can be linked to bioluminiscence. It would then be interesting to compare these genes in a phylogenetic context.