For the first time, scientists at the M.M. Shemyakin and Yu. A. Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences have successfully used computer generated simulations to study the TRPV1-Receptor temperature activation phenomenon for higher organisms. Up to this point, it was impossible to achieve such results in silico experiments due to imperfections in the computer simulation models. The results of the experiment were published in the Scientific Reports journal.

A team of scientists from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry RAS have discovered new information on how the PIWIL2 human gene expresses itself. This breakthrough discovery shall help create a diagnostic marker for determining testicular germ cell tumors. The research findings suggest the interchangeability of the PIWIL2 “helpers”: the promoter of this gene is also able to act as an enhancer of the expression of another gene. The work, published in the PLoS ONE journal, helps expand the background knowledge in this field.

On a moonless night deep in a Brazilian rainforest the only thing you are likely to see are the tiny smears of light from flitting fireflies or the ghostly glow of mushrooms scattered around the forest floor. Both effects are the result of bioluminescence, the peculiar ability of some organisms to behave like living night-lights. (this text was pblished in The Guardian)

A joint study on the Lynx1 protein that was conducted by researchers from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with their colleagues from the universities of Copenhagen and Leipzig, has revealed that this protein competes with human nicotinic acetylcholine receptors for binding to amyloids, which are the main cause for the development of Alzheimer's disease. In the future, the protein could be used in the development of new treatment therapies or future combinations for the treatment of disease. The results of the experiment were published in the Neurobiology of Aging journal.

Apart from being the ideal time for relaxing, travelling and organizing children's camps, summer time also presents an opportunity to gain the kind of valuable knowledge that you will not find in school, not read in a high school textbook, nor are you ever going to hear it on TV. On June 22, researchers from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (IBCh RAS) shared such knowledge during Biology Day, a popular science event that was organized at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry. This is the second time that such an event is taking place, at the initiative of the Council of Young Scientists.

A team of scientists from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry RAS, Xenetic Biosciences Inc., OJSC Pharmsynthez and Center of multiple sclerosis and AID of St. Petersburg City Clinical Hospital №31 has created a new form of the vaccine used for the treatment of one of the most severe neurodegenerative autoimmune diseases. The drug has successfully passed pre-clinical trials and two clinical stages. If the results of the third stage of the clinical trials would be positive, the dug shall officially be passed into circulation to be used for the treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis. The results are published in the Neurotherapeutics journal.

Researchers at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCh RAS) have created a database for peptide toxins from scorpion venom – Kalium. This database shall enable scientists to systematize information on the molecules that block potassium channels. In addition, such a database shall be a useful tool to conduct further studies on the channels themselves, which are today considered as pharmacological targets for certain autoimmune, oncological and neurodegenerative diseases. They published the results of their work in the magazine – Database: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation.

Scientists of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences works closely with different international research institutions. Now is the time to work in another area of ​​international scientific communication and to establish links with the international community journalism. That is why the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, along with the Institute for Information Transmission Problems (IITP RAS), Space Research Institute (SRI), and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), hosted a delegation of foreign journalists within the scientific press tour in Russia on June 15, initiated by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).

Biologists from the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCh RAS), together with colleagues from the Protein Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the A.N. Belozersky Research Institute of  Physico-Chemical Biology MSU, have studied the Noggin4 protein, which is a protein that plays a crucial role in the formation of the Xenopus toad heads (Xenopus laevis). The results of the research, published in the Scientific Reports journal, will help expand our understanding of the triggering preprocess for embryogenesis, and may possibly be instrumental in the discovery of new ways of using this protein for the regulation of biological processes involving stem cell manipulation.

Researchers at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, jointly collaborating with the Research Center of Neurology, have proposed a new hypothesis on the causes of the development of the complicated disease of the peripheral nervous system, the Guillain-Barre syndrome. The scientists showed that the onset of the disease might not be associated with autoimmune processes, as had been previously thought. The results of the study, published in the Molecular & Cellular Proteomics journal, will certainly be useful for the further study of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.