Newswise — Baltimore, Maryland, USA, January 20, 2022: The Global Virus Network (GVN), representing 66 Centers of Excellence and 10 Affiliates in 35 countries comprising foremost experts in every class of virus causing disease in humans, and the Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnologies at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) announced the addition of the Institute as GVN’s newest Center of Excellence.
“We look forward to working with the Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnologies as a Russian GVN Center of Excellence for genetic vaccines [saRNA, mRNA, DNA] development, computational, structural and systems virology,” said Christian Bréchot, MD, PhD, who is President of the GVN and Professor at the University of South Florida. “The Institute joins its Russian GVN Center of Excellence colleagues at the Moscow Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment, the MP Chumakov Center for Research/Development of Immuno-Biological Products and the Russian Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza (SRII).”
More than 320 partner universities from 70 countries and over one hundred of the world's leading companies have direct contracts with Polytechnic University. The Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnologies at SPbPU is the core scientific and educational structure for molecular biology and biotechnology, including molecular virology expertise that includes vaccine development, structural virology, computational virology and bioinformatics, molecular diagnostics, neuroscience, education. The latest GVN Center is led by Andrey Vasin, PhD, DSc, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnologies, and WHO NIC Director and GVN Center of Excellence Co-Director of the SRII.
"We look forward to productive cooperation and collaboration with our GVN colleagues in the area of vaccine research and development, including joint grant applications and possible experience exchange, and collaboration on educational programs in molecular virology," said Dr. Vasin. "In turn, we are interested in hosting training and exchange programs such as fellowships for our young scientists in order to improve their professional skills, to broaden their scientific experience and to create excellent outstanding future specialists with wide experience and views in molecular virology.”
The Institute develops vaccines against COVID-19, HIV, and influenza and houses facilities for structural virology (mass-spectrometry, NMR, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations), genetic technologies for virology application (reverse genetics, saRNAs technology, non-viral delivery, CRISPR/Cas), computational virology, bioinformatics and mathematical modelling (supercomputing center (SCC) is 5th in Russia), recombinant proteins, and monoclonal antibodies development. In 2021, SPbPU was awarded the Russian Federal Academic Leadership Program “Priority 2030” and headed a consortium with more than twenty Russian research organizations, universities and industrial partners, including the GVN Center of Excellence at SRII, Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Serum, Research Center of Biotechnology RAS, St.Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums and many others.
About the Global Virus Network (GVN)
The Global Virus Network (GVN) is essential and critical in the preparedness, defense and first research response to emerging, existing and unidentified viruses that pose a clear and present threat to public health, working in close coordination with established national and international institutions. It is a coalition comprised of eminent human and animal virologists from 66 Centers of Excellence and 10 Affiliates in 35 countries worldwide, working collaboratively to train the next generation, advance knowledge about how to identify and diagnose pandemic viruses, mitigate and control how such viruses spread and make us sick, as well as develop drugs, vaccines and treatments to combat them. No single institution in the world has expertise in all viral areas other than the GVN, which brings together the finest medical virologists to leverage their individual expertise and coalesce global teams of specialists on the scientific challenges, issues and problems posed by pandemic viruses. The GVN is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, please visit www.gvn.org. Follow us on Twitter @GlobalVirusNews
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