The path to success
Laboratories will be created in Russia under the program for the development of genetic technologies
About 60 laboratories will be created in Russia as part of the program for the development of genetic technologies, said Roman Sandu, First Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the Kurchatov Institute Research Center.
He explained that the purpose of the program is to accelerate the development of science and genetic editing in four areas: biosafety, agroindustry, biomedicine, industrial microbiology.
"The ideology is that first of all it is an engineering program. Mechanisms, platforms, and technologies will be developed that should form the basis of developments in all these four areas. This is not a program for sequencing all the living things that surround us," Sandu said at the "Path to Success" conference at the Sirius Center in Sochi.
According to him, it is planned to form laboratories of several levels. "There should be at least 15-20 basic laboratories where end-to-end technology projects will be concentrated throughout the country. There will also be about 30-40 laboratories with monocollectives working in each direction. It is also possible for small teams and startups to participate on the basis of competitions held by our scientific foundations," Sandu said.
He added that in order to support second-level technical laboratories and small startups, it is planned to create technical support centers, there will be at least 15-20 of them throughout the country. One center will serve from three to five second-level laboratories and about 10-15 small teams. It also provides for the development of domestic scientific equipment, instruments and the creation of markers and reagents necessary for the development of the program.
"All the tasks of the program require forecasting the number and structure of personnel for the development of this direction in a 15-year perspective. It is important to understand the trajectory of personnel training and identify institutions that will carry out such training," said Maria Vorontsova, a pediatric endocrinologist, member of the Presidium of the Russian Association for the Promotion of Science.
Roman Ivanov, Vice President for R&D and International Business Development of BIOCAD, stressed that advanced Russian companies are not interested in academic science simply reproducing biotechnologies created abroad, they cope with this themselves.
"What we need is capable, best-in-class, clean technologies that allow us to create globally competitive products. These are both best-in-class editing and delivery tools. We know that there are teams in Russia capable of this," Ivanov said.
The decree on the creation of a program for the development of genetic technologies in Russia was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 28, 2018. It is designed for 2019-2027. The Government will have to ensure the creation and development of laboratories and centers for genetic research, including genetic editing technologies, on the basis of scientific and educational organizations. According to the decree, the federal state budgetary institution "National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" is entrusted with the functions of the main scientific organization of the program.
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