A study by an international team of scientists led by researchers from the Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCh RAS) has been published in Nature Plants. The study presents and validates a simple and elegant approach to making autonomous bioluminescent reporters resistant to metabolic fluctuations. The researchers developed pairs of luciferases that use the same substrate but emit light of different colors and demonstrated that the ratio between the two signals reflects reporter gene activity rather than the metabolic state of the cell. This approach enables long- term monitoring of plant hormone signaling and defense responses.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, determines the severity of infection not only through virulent proteins but also through small regulatory RNAs. Researchers from the Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with colleagues from the Bach Institute of Biochemistry of the Research Center of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Central Tuberculosis Research Institute, studied two such molecules, MTS0997 and MTS1338, and showed that they simultaneously affect pathogen properties and shape the host immune response.

A photograph of the bioluminescent fungus Neonothopanus nambi, featured in a paper by researchers from the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, was selected for the cover of the October issue of The FEBS Journal (Volume 293, Issue 20, 2026). The paper also ranked among the top five most-read articles published in The FEBS Journal over the past six months.

Researchers from the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of bioorganic chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences and their colleagues studied Rip-2, a natural antimicrobial peptide from the bean bug Riptortus pedestris. This β-hairpin peptide is a more active natural homolog of thanatin, a well-known antimicrobial peptide from the predatory stink bug Podisus maculiventris. Such molecules are considered promising antibiotic prototypes against Gram-negative bacteria because they target the Lpt system, which is responsible for lipopolysaccharide transport and outer-membrane formation.

A T cell recognizes a diseased cell by a molecular “tag” on its surface, and which T cell receptor fits which tag now shapes the development of cellular cancer therapies, vaccines and diagnostics. The world’s databases collecting these matches have turned out to be less dependable than was assumed: an independent experimental screen confirmed only about half of their entries. Scientists from IBCH RAS and their colleagues have shown how to tell sound records from faulty ones — and that the situation is markedly better than it might have seemed. The work is published in Nature Methods.

From September 24-27, 2026, the Koltsov Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences will host a school for young scientists entitled "Objects and Methods of Developmental Biology: Genomic, Molecular, and Morphogenetic Mechanisms of Development and Regeneration." The school is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of the eminent embryologist D.P. Filatov (1876–1943). It is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 23-74-30005). Venue: IBD RAS (Moscow, 26 Vavilova St.).

Scientists from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCh RAS) and their colleagues have identified, cloned and characterized the luciferase of the fungus gnat Keroplatus testaceus for the first time. The study strongly suggests that the newly identified enzyme evolved from the storage protein hexamerin, revealing a previously unknown evolutionary pathway for the emergence of bioluminescence in insects. These findings reveal the molecular basis of light emission in dipteran insects and pave the way for the development of new biomedical imaging tools.

Researchers from IBCh RAS, as part of an international collaboration, have elucidated the mechanism by which the natural polyamine spermine blocks the human calcium channel TRPV6. The study was supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education (computational modeling) and published in Nature Communications.

Researchers from the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry at the Shemyakin- Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry together with international collaborators published two papers in The FEBS Journal confirming the role of the CPH enzyme in the fungal bioluminescence pathway: it breaks down oxyluciferin into caffeic and pyruvic acids, helping sustain light emission by recycling caffeic acid back into the bioluminescent system, while pyruvic acid may be redirected into central metabolism to help generate cellular energy. The findings open up opportunities for developing more efficient autonomous bioluminescent systems for medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, and environmental monitoring.

Scientists from the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry at the Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences developed autoluminescent reporters for non-invasive imaging of plant defence responses. Using consumer-grade cameras, they visualized the spatiotemporal activity of the phytohormones salicylic acid and jasmonic acid in Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana during normal development as well as in response to pest and pathogen attacks. The study was published in Nature Communications.