Prague, July 17 (CTK) – The study of renowned Czech research chemist Antonin Holy (1936-2012) in the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (UOCHB) of the Czech Academy of Science (AV) in Prague opened to the public today, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of his death.
The antivirotics, which Holy discovered, help treat millions of patients all over the world.
Holy found a number of compounds that became part of the medicines against AIDS, smallpox virus, shingles, eye inflammation and hepatitis B. The broadly applied preparations, such as Vistide, Hepsera, Viread, Truvada and Atripla, were developed on the basis of his research results.
Born on September 1, 1936, Holy studied chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Prague’s Charles University.
He started to work in the UOCHB in 1960. After three years he switched to the institute’s new laboratory of nucleic acids chemistry, which he headed for 20 years. He was the head of the whole institute from 1994 to 2002.
Holy received many awards for his discoveries, including the prestigious Descartes Prize of the European Union (EU) and the Medal of Merit. He was the holder of 60 patents and co-author of 600 scientific works.
Holy died on July 16, 2012, at the age of 75 years.
His aides have kept his study in the UOCHB’s seat in Prague-Dejvice in an almost original shape since then. Only at the beginning of last year, it had to be emptied completely due to a reconstruction. The restored laboratory was first opened to the public in May.
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