Dr. Kašpárková received her Ph.D. in biophysics from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, in 1996. She received a European Molecular Biology Organization fellowship and did postdoctoral work in molecular biology at the University of Zürich in Switzerland. Dr. Kašpárková has also received IUPAB and NATO fellowships. In 2003 she received the Prize of the Minister of Health of the Czech Republic for her work on recognition and repair of DNA damaged by antitumor platinum drugs. In 2004 she received the Otto Wichterle Prize, given to young scientists of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. She is currently assistant professor at the Institute of Biophysics, Czech Academy of Sciences, in Brno.

Jana Kašpárková's lab investigates the unique aspects of the DNA adducts formed by new anticancer compounds that are based on transition metals and the pharmacologic consequences of the formation of these novel structures. A long-term goal of this research is to place the cytotoxic effects of these metal-based compounds into the context of molecular pathways leading to tumor cell death.