On Thursday, August 26, 2021, The award for extraordinary research and experimental development results for 2021 - the Minister of Agriculture's Award for Young Scientists - to support and recognize research activities of scientists under 35 years of age. Roman Franěk received the award for first place from the Minister of Agriculture Ing. Miroslav Toman, CSc. and the President of the Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences RNDr. Jan Nedělník, PhD.
The award was given for a study describing new reproduction possibilities and preservation of common carp genetic resources. Carp germ stem cells (gamete precursors) were transplanted into goldfish. After reaching adulthood, goldfish surrogates (having 10-100x smaller body size than carp) produced viable common carp offspring, allowing the incorporation of surrogacy to improve genetic reserves maintenance in vivo in a fully controlled indoor environment (e.g. aquaria) which would be hardly feasible otherwise due to the large size of common carp.
