NNL "Centre of Cell Technologies in Veterinary Medicine" is ready for new challenges
On Friday, July 1, 2022, Vadym Kondratyuk, vice-rector of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for scientific work and innovation, visited the educational and scientific laboratory "Centre of Cellular Technologies in Veterinary Medicine" (hereinafter the Center) - a scientific division of the Department of Surgery and Pathophysiology named after Acad. I.O. Honorary student at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
The center, which was created by the order of the rector of NUBiP of Ukraine in 2016, has proven its relevance and effectiveness. In a relatively short period of time, a small team of researchers of the Center successfully performed all the tasks of the State Order with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ukraine. The results of the conducted research are published in more than 140 scientific works in domestic and foreign publications with a high citation index. Among them are monographs, scientific and practical recommendations, training manuals, articles, protocols for obtaining MSC and treatment of horses. Based on the results of these studies, 3 doctoral theses and 9 candidate theses were defended. Research results were repeatedly presented at international scientific conferences, scientific and practical seminars and round tables, protected by more than 20 patents. For the training of masters and doctors of philosophy in the scientific direction "Cell technologies in veterinary medicine", the first and only set of educational materials in Ukraine was developed, according to which 7 master's diplomas were prepared and defended; a program of advanced training courses for veterinary medicine specialists in the field of stem cell and cell technology products in veterinary regenerative therapy has also been prepared. In addition, on the basis of the Center, the preparation of student scientific works is carried out by the faculty members.
However, the successful implementation of research results into clinical practice in the last 2 years has been hindered by problems with research funding. The main research, which is carried out according to the requirements oriented to international standards, has stopped. It is with great difficulty that graduate students manage to carry out the planned experiments, since they, both in humane and veterinary medicine, require significant financial costs for equipment, reagents, and materials.
The management of the University, caring for the support of research in breakthrough scientific directions, tries to support this promising scientific direction in order to complete the solution of important tasks for this purpose, provided for by the "Concept of scientific support for the development of cellular technologies in veterinary medicine", developed by the author's team of the department, reviewed and approved by the meetings of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2017).
That is why the Scientific Director of the Center, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences A.Y. Mazurkevych expected certain positive developments from this meeting with the vice-rector on the territory of the Center.
The meeting began with an introduction to the material and technical equipment of the scientific laboratory. Meticulous and inquisitive, attentive and friendly, Vadym Kondratyuk was interested in the cost of each reagent, the conditions for storing biological material in a cryobank, the mode of operation in the boxes, the state of ensuring the operation of CO2 incubators, the use of special microscopes in research, the contents of refrigerators for storing reagents, keeping research journals, the conditions of compliance with the principles of asepsis and antiseptics in working with biological material, the availability of relevant regulatory documents, and in particular, the permission of the local bioethics commission for conducting research. Among many other questions, the question of the formation of a scientific school, the number of students and their role in the Center's activities did not go unnoticed.
Anatoly Yosypovych informed the vice-rector that the Center remains the first and only center for the study of stem cells in domestic veterinary medicine and needs state support, as the equipment and reagents used in the cultivation of stem cells are quite expensive. The use of cellular technologies, namely stem cells and their products obtained from tissues, including blood, allows to successfully cure sick animals even with diseases that are considered incurable by traditional methods. The main patients for this treatment are highly valuable animals - breeding, service, sports.
In the future, it is planned to expand research with the participation of animal breeders and doctors in solving the problem of providing medical transplantology with an alternative donor transplant of animal origin, but with a human genome.
Vadym Kondratyuk also visited classrooms where classes on the disciplines "Animal Pathophysiology" and "Veterinary Immunology" are held for students of higher education, postgraduate students, for the work of scientific student circles. In particular, he familiarized himself with the video complex for distance learning of students and the use of alternative teaching methods in pathophysiology and immunology in laboratory conditions.
During the meeting, the issue of the role of the local commission on bioethics to ensure the University's requirements for the ethical problems of using animals in experiments for scientific or educational purposes was also considered.
We hope that the results of this meeting will help to successfully overcome all underwater obstacles in the financing of the project, the results of which will accelerate the introduction of the most modern, highly effective and safe method of animal treatment into veterinary clinical practice.
