Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology

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We are the faculty about life and for life.

The Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology was founded in October 2018 with the support of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The aim of the Faculty is to train highly qualified specialists in the field of biology and molecular biotechnology as a response for the demand in the field of science (research centers, academic institutes, technology parks) and various sectors of the economy (pharmaceutical, medical, biotechnology industry, chemical industry, commercial structures operating in the field of biological sciences, etc.).


About the Faculty

Programmes

Bachelor's Programmes NEW

BSc in Cognitive Neurobiology


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Bachelor's Programmes

BSc in Cell and Molecular Biotechnology


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Master's Programmes

Master's in Cell and Molecular Biotechnology


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Doctoral Programmes

Doctoral School of Biology


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Departments

International Laboratory of Microphysiological Systems

The laboratory is developing a new method of personalized drug therapy for cancer patients, which includes establishment of a three-dimensional culture of tumor organoids, followed by a personalized test of chemotherapeutic and targeted drugs to determine the most effective therapy for each individual patient.


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Laboratory of Molecular Physiology

Established in 2020, the Laboratory of Molecular Physiology studies the role of microRNA isoforms in the pathogenesis of intestinal diseases and develops new therapeutic approaches to intestinal condition treatment using microRNA isoforms. We collaborate with the National Medical Research Radiological Center, the Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.


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Joint Department with RAS Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry

The aim of the department is to use the scientific and teaching potential of the leading IBCh researchers to organize a world-class scientific and educational center at the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology.


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Publications

  • Book

    Alshanskaia Sokolova E. I., Martynova O.

    2023 Fifth International Conference Neurotechnologies and Neurointerfaces (CNN) 18-20 Sept. 2023

     Cognitive and emotional load in the course of increasing the complexity of tasks leads to the activation of various parts of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and can be accompanied by an increase in the efficiency of problem solving. An increase in cognitive load under the condition of high motivation is a stress factor and is expressed in a different reaction of the sympathetic and parasympathetic links in response to the load. This study explored the ANS reactions by measuring the pupil size of 61 healthy sub-clinical volunteers in response to the gradually increasing complexity of tasks. The experiment included 3 blocks of a combined visual search and 1-back task with six levels of difficulty. K-mean clustering method was used for the analysis. An increase in the complexity of the task from the first to the sixth level led to different dynamics of the pupil size in the three clustered groups. In one group, an intense high switchability and an active reaction with a large amplitude of changes were visible, in the second group the dynamics of changes was minimal, and a third intermediate group was also identified. Our results highlight individual differences in the reaction of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of ANS under cognitive workload depending on biometric and psychometric parameters. 

    IEEE, 2023.

  • Article

    Petushkov V. N., Vavilov Matvey V., Khokhlova Anastasia N. et al.

    Henlea earthworm bioluminescence comprises violet-blue BRET from tryptophan 2-carboxylate to deazaflavin cofactor

    We recently identified the deazaflavin cofactor as a light emitter in novel bioluminescence (BL) system from Siberian earthworms Henlea sp. (Petushkov et al., 2023, Org. Biomol. Chem. 21:415–427). In the present communication we compared in vitro BL spectra in the absence and in the presence of the cofactor and found a wavelength shift from 420 to 476 nm. This violet-blue BRET to deazaflavin cofactor (acceptor of photonless transfer) masks the actual oxyluciferin as an emitter (BRET donor) in the novel BL system. The best candidate for that masked chromophore is tryptophan 2-carboxylate (T2C) found previously as a building block in some natural products isolated from Henlea sp. (Dubinnyi et al., 2020, ChemSelect 5:13155–13159). We synthesized T2C and acetyl-T2C, verified their presence in earthworms by nanoflow-HRMS, explored spectral properties of excitation and emission spectra and found a chain of excitation/emission maxima with a perfect potential for BRET: 300 nm (excitation of T2C) - 420 nm (emission of T2C) - 420 nm (excitation of deazaflavin) - 476 nm (emission of deazaflavin, BL). An array of natural products with T2C chromophore are present in BL earthworms as candidates for novel oxyluciferin. We demonstrated for the Henlea BL that the energy of the excited state of the T2C chromophore is transferred by the Förster mechanism and then emitted by deazaflavin (BRET), similarly to known examples: aequorin-GFP in Aequorea victoria and antenna proteins in bacterial BL systems (lumazine from Photobacterium and yellow fluorescent protein from Vibrio fischeri strain Y1).

    Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 2024. Vol. 708.

  • Book chapter

    Okhrimenko G., Malko D., Zateyshchikov D. et al.

    Detection of non-coding variants in regulatory elements in patients with early atherosclerosis based on whole genome sequencing data

    In bk.: Proceedings of 11th Moscow Conference on Computational Molecular Biology MCCMB'23. IITP RAS, 2023.

  • Working paper

    Liutsko L., Malova Y., Vinokurova E. et al.

    Stress Resilience (Proprioceptive and Verbal Individual Differences) in Onco-Patients, Sportsmen and Controls

    The characteristics of response to stressful situations depend on a complex of factors such as personality traits, emotional regulation, health state, features of the nervous system, motor functions and proprioception. In cases of disruption of the brain's dopamine system due to disease or chemotherapy, hormone discharge due to stress, changes in emotions and proprioception may occur. The aim of our study was to find the relationship of stress resilence in verbal test and individual differences performed in proprioceptive test in onco-patients, sportsmen and group of control; as well as to observe the differences between these groups in the verbal stress resistance and individual differences proprioceptive tests. The results showed that onco-patients were less resistant as per verbal stress resistance outcomes for a major part of variables compared to other groups. The sportsmen were superior in verbal Risk and Control dimensions compared to other groups; but less in Positive Affectiveness. The proprioceptive test perfomance revealed the only statistically significant difference in performance in the dimension related to Mood, showing more Pessimism in the sportsmen group, but more Optimism in the oncopatients at temperamental (or intrisinc) level. The obtained results can be used by psychologists, therapists, coach and healthcare when needed to attend the specific needs of public, being pateints or sportsmen, etc.

    public health and health services. 20944. MDPI, 2023

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