Scientists of St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU) were the first in Russia to receive a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The money will be spent on biomedical research to decode genomes.
The founders of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative are the creator of the social network Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. The organization was founded in 2015 to solve complex social problems, eradicate diseases and improve the quality of education.
The success of the bioinformatics of the Center for Algorithmic Biotechnology of St. Petersburg State University was announced by the press service of the university the evening before, on August 31.
“Bioinformatics of St. Petersburg State University became the first Russian scientists to receive a grant from the Zuckerberg Foundation for the development of their SPAdes and QUAST projects. The developed programs are used by thousands of specialists in the field of genomics around the world,” the press service of the TASS university quotes.
In particular, the SPAdes program restores the complete primary structure of genomic DNA and actually decodes the genetic code. Thanks to the QUAST project, scientists can determine the quality of genomic assemblies.
The Algorithmic Biotechnology Center has been operating on the basis of St. Petersburg State University since December 2014. The laboratory was created within the framework of the St. Petersburg State University mega-grants project to solve the most important computational problems of modern biomedicine.
In May, the deputies of the St. Petersburg Legislative Council decided to establish an award named after Professor Vatanyar Yagya, intended for the best international students of St. Petersburg State University. Starting in 2022, outstanding representatives of the Faculty of International Relations will receive 50 thousand rubles. Three students who are studying for a master's or bachelor's degree can be encouraged at a time.
Last summer, the St. Petersburg authorities increased funding for grants for young scientists. Thanks to the funds allocated from the budget, it was possible to support more than 250 young researchers.
