A meeting of leading Czech physicians and scientists was held on 20 April 2017 at the Institute of Physiology CAS focused on advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of serious diseases, primarily the lifestyle diseases. These chronic diseases represent a significant socioeconomic burden on modern society. As part of the Seminar on Joint Preclinical and Clinical Research at IKEM and the Institute of Physiology, the results of the successful cooperation to date between the research teams at the two institutions were presented through 11 lectures and 37 poster presentations, also documented by a total of 25 joint grant projects and 81 publications over the last decade.  The experts also discussed the focus and future of their very successful research to date into diseases of the heart and blood vessels, metabolic disorders and other serious illnesses. Without good collaboration between clinical centres and institutions focusing on research into basic biological mechanisms, it is impossible to achieve important progress in care for patients with severe medical problems, which often severely handicap them and devastate their quality of life. The event, which took place against a background of great interest from the expert public, was organised by the Qualitas and Preclinical Testing of Potential Drugs programmes under Strategy AV21, coordinated by the Institute of Physiology.