Young scientists discuss prospects for domestic microbiology and biotechnology

Newswise — The XIII Youth School-Conference on "Current Aspects of Modern Microbiology" was held in Moscow. The conference brought together scientists, postgraduate and undergraduate students and representatives of the business community to discuss current research in microbiology and the latest biotechnological developments. The best research was awarded diplomas. On the final day of the event, a conference for young scientists entitled "Modern Structural Biology" was held.

The Youth School-Conference was traditionally held in five directions, including research in general and molecular microbiology, molecular ecology of microorganisms, prokaryote taxonomy, microbial biotechnology, virology and structural biology. Young specialists presented their own research in these fields.

Invited leading specialists in biotechnology, microbiology, genetics and related fields also gave thematic lectures. This year the School-Conference was organized with the support of the world-class scientific centre "Agrotechnologies of the Future" (grant № 075-15-2022-318 from 20.04.2022).

The event was opened with a welcoming speech by Nikolay Pimenov, the Chairman of the School-Conference Organising Committee and Deputy Director for Research and Head of the Laboratory of Relict Microbial Communities at the RAS Biotechnology Research Centre."The last time we gathered together was five years ago," said Nikolay Viktorovich, "Many things have changed over this time. When we were preparing for this event, we realized that this year the biotechnological focus is dominant, which was not the case before. This is correct, because fundamental and applied science must develop together. Now it is particularly important that the results of all our activities can be put into practice".

Vladimir Popov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Scientific Director of the Biotechnology Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, delivered a plenary report entitled 'From Biotechnology to Bioeconomics'. Vladimir Olegovich talked about what biotechnology is, what the main trends of its development and possible areas of application are, and what big challenges biotech solves today.Modern biotechnologies are developing in various directions, but we can distinguish the main three of them: medicine, industry and agriculture. Their evolution in today's environment not only solves key problems, but also provides researchers with new tasks and challenges.

"Modern science has prepared an excellent foundation for an economic breakthrough. The world is gradually moving towards a bioeconomy based on renewable raw materials and energy, the creation of a closed-loop, zero-waste economy and the integration of biotechnological knowledge into various economic processes. Lagging behind in this area is fraught with national security problems. It is difficult to say exactly what we will face in decades to come, but I am certain that the future will belong to biotechnology and bioeconomics," said Vladimir Popov, ending his speech.

Elena Kochieva, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Systemic Plant Biology at FITs Biotechnology RAS, spoke about the technologies that have ensured a real revolution in breeding and agrobiology in general. Five innovative technologies appeared at the turn of the century: genomics (structural, functional and comparative), transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and systems biology. Together they have fundamentally changed the efficiency of breeding and the productivity of modern agriculture.

"The 21st century is the era of systems ecology. Systems biology also begins to enter the field of breeding: it allows you to create for specific tasks first a virtual variety, to determine what genes and metabolites should be there, and then use it in practice, "- explained Elena Zaurovna. In her opinion, the primary task is to create a virtual plant cell, which will dramatically speed up the use of data obtained by breeders.

"Overall, in summarising the work of the conference, we should note the significantly increased interest of scientific teams in conducting problem-oriented research, allowing to reach a specific practical result demanded by various branches of industry, agriculture and medicine," sums up Nikolay Pimenov.