"Dialogues on Genomics: Best Practices of Laboratories of the Russian Federation and Europe". Day 1
The business program of the international conference of the Russian-Austrian forum of civil societies Sochi Dialogue: "Dialogues about genomics: the best practices of laboratories of the Russian Federation and Europe" with the participation of research teams from Russia, Austria, Germany and France was launched on July, 8.
A welcome speech was delivered by: Andrei Fursenko, assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Co-Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of the Russian-Austrian Forum of Civil Societies "Sochi Dialogue"; Valery Nikolaevich Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation; Elena Vladimirovna Shmeleva, Head of the Foundation «Talent and Success»; Andrey Olegovich Stolyarov, Acting Head of the Federal Territory "Sirius"; Roman Alekseevich Ivanov, Rector of the Sirius University of Science and Technology.
Today, when the “big challenges” of scientific and technological development are in the focus of attention and discussion, it is necessary to base them on the new forms of the dialogue that improve mutual understanding and strengthen trust between science and society. Such formats as Russian-Austrian Forum of Civil Societies «Sochi Dialogue», Russian-French Forum of Civil Societies «Trianon Dialogue» and Forum of Civil Societies of Russia and Germany «Petersburg Dialogue», create the basis for the development of international relations, expanding cooperation between state universities, research centres, business and civil societies.
“International cooperation is becoming especially important in the face of a pandemic. It is important to consolidate genetic research of scientific communities of different countries in order to create new technologies for early diagnosis of virus-related diseases, and subsequently vaccines and drugs of a new generation, - said the head of the Nanobiomedicine direction of the Sirius Scientific Technological University, Nikitin Maxim Petrovich. “The Forum will undoubtedly contribute to the development of genetic technologies in Russia and the world.”
The Co-Chair of the Sochi Dialogue, Fursenko Andrey Alexandrovich, acknowledged the achievements of face-to-face format of the event and stressed the relevance of the conference themes.
The Conference was held at the initiative of the civil society dialogue, and it is probably right that, in this difficult situation, such structures and organizations still retain the opportunity to communicate not only by videoconference, said the Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation. – It is a red hot issue. I think it is focused on young scientists. The situation with genetic research in Russia has recently improved due to the scientific community. Of course, a lot has been done by the government, by the ministries. But it’s very important to arouse interest in the scientific community. And the fact that today there are new laboratories, new centers, is a good sign».
The conference was opened by the panel discussion "The present and the future of genetic research programs in Russia and European countries" (moderator - Evelina Vladimirovna Zakamskaya). The session was attended by: Project Manager of the Full-Genome Sequencing Centre, Laboratory Manager at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences , Director of the Centre for Life Sciences at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Professor at Rutgers University (USA), Doctor of Biological Sciences - Severinov Konstantin Viktorovich;Head of the Molecular Allergology Laboratory at the State Scientific Centre «Institute of Immunology» (Russia), Professor of Allergology of the Vienna Medical University (Austria), Doctor of Medical Sciences - Valenta Rudolf; Rector of the Scientific and Technological University «Sirius» - Ivanov Roman Alekseevich; Rector of the Scientific and Technological University; Honorary Doctor, Professor of Biology at the University of Texas at College Station (USA), Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Würzburg (Germany), Member of the German Academy of Natural Sciences «Leopoldina» (Germany); Doctor of Science - Chartle Manfred; Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Medvedev Alexey Mikhailovich; Coordinator of the Forum of Civil Societies of Russia and France «Trianon Dialogue», Vice-Rector for Development -Head of Staff of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation - Malgin Artem Vladimirovich and other honorary figures of science and education of Russia.
Experts discussed incentive programmes for genetic research that are being implemented in the Russian Federation and EU countries today. Experts identified key challenges in the implementation of genetic initiatives worldwide: the lack of global bioethics and balance between basic and applied science; differences in national legislation of countries in the field of genetics, complicating international cooperation in this area. The staff issues of research teams were highlighted: scientific project administrators who are able to promote the results of colleagues' research, are also in demand.
In response to the problems faced by scientific community, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Medvedev Alexey Mikhailovich stated that the Ministry’s priority is to create such a scientific space in which it will be possible to implement those practices for which there is a shortage.
«The opportunity given by the Sochi Dialogue is particularly the design of the place where young scientists can meet, participate and, having seen the success of colleagues, command support», - Alexey Medvedev.
The panel discussion was followed by a round table "New laboratories as mechanisms of research leadership" (moderators - Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, Oleg Alexandrovich Gusev). During the discussion, the effectiveness of the program "Creation of new laboratories" of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, was assessed. This year, the first cycle of the program is completed, and a new competition for the next cycle has been announced. An active discussion of the evolution of the idea of youth laboratories was attended by: Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Alexey Medvedev; heads of new laboratories (Volkova Polina Yurievna, Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "All-Russian Research Institute of Radiology and Agroecology"), directors of institutes where such laboratories were created (Zinovieva Natalia Anatolyevna, L.K. Ernst Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry; Vasiliev Andrey Valentinovich( Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences), potential applicants for the next competition (Romanov Roman Alexandrovich, Medical University of Vienna (Austria).
As the program is evolving towards a more complex organization, new options should be added. In this regard, a request for a high level of organization in all processes, in particular the process of awarding grants to scientific communities was made.
“A burning topic that concerns not only this program, but many foundations and grants is the request for a grantee’s organization. I am not talking about “organization”, rather about “self-discipline” and less chaos in the requirements for members, ”noted Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, member of the Presidium of the Russian Association for the Promotion of Science, the leading researcher at the National Medical Research Center of Endocrinology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.
The program for supporting youth laboratories by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education is one of the key projects promoting genetic research in the Russian Federation. Representatives of the ministry noted that they will provide funding for youth scientific laboratories for a long time.
“We are talking about youth laboratories. We know each of them and will support them. They are all successful and will be financed on a sustained basis, ”said Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Nikolayevich Falkov.
The Federal Scientific and Technical Programme of the Russian Federation for the Development of Genetic Technologies has several working groups, one of which deals with the legal regulation of genetic technologies and bioethics.
The issues of interaction between science and society were presented today in the form of an open report by members of the working group: Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences Elena Georgievna Grebenshchikova and Deputy Director for Research Centre for Medical Genetics Izhevskaya Vera Leonidovna. Various models of interaction between science and society, factors that foster relations between science and the general public were on the table. The speakers also stressed the importance of focusing the public attention on the goals of scientific research, in particular genomic, and the need to collect, store and exchange data for this. The scientific community needs to increase the level of public confidence, create appropriate mechanisms to protect confidentiality and non-discrimination.
In the afternoon, leading Russian and European scientists spoke before conference members. Not only did they share their scientific knowledge, but also highlighted organizational aspects of the creation and functioning of laboratories, gave useful recommendations to the listeners based on their life and professional experience, and answered questions.
Belousov Vsevolod Vadimovich, director of FGBU «Federal Center of Brain and Neurotechnologies» revealed the issues of transition from synthetic biology to synthetic medicine.
Rogaev Evgeny Ivanovich, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Genomics of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics (VIGG) gave a talk about neurogenomics of the brain.
Romanov Roman Aleksandrovich, Leading Researcher at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria), prepared a presentation on the topic "Cellular Heterogeneity of the Brain Revealed by Single Cell Transcriptomics".
Austrian speakers joined the conference via online format and shared their view on issues important for the scientific community: Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Allergology of the State Research Center "Institute of Immunology" (Russia), Professor of Allergology at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria), Doctor of Medicine Valenta Rudolf with report "Development of a vaccine for the treatment and prevention of allergy to birch pollen and associated oral allergy syndrome"; Head of the Department of Cellular Immunology and Immunohematology at Medical University of Vienna (Austria) Winfried Franz Pickl, with a presentation on "Education and research in postgraduate studies in molecular-cell and clinical allergology".
Along with the scientists' presentations, a meeting of the Working Group on Regulatory Law on Genetic Technologies was held. The issues of genomic editing, and bioethics were also highlighted at the presidium of the Council for the Implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies for 2019 - 2027.
Simultaneously with the conference, a scientific and technological educational program "Big Challenges" is being held on the territory of the educational center "Sirius". For schoolchildren and young researchers taking part in this project, the leading researcher of the sector of genomic mechanisms of ontogenesis of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Veniamin Semenovich Fishman, gave a lecture on the topic "Genome in 3D".