On guard of biological safety: scientists of the “Vector” center have been studying viruses for half a century
At the beginning of the pandemic, the name “Vector” was recognized by the whole country. It was to the scientific center from Novosibirsk that the Wuhan strain of coronavirus was delivered in February 2020, and scientists were the first to start studying it. The film crew of the MIR TV channel managed to get into the closed institution. Correspondent Anastasia Glebova found out how it all began and what developments are being carried out by the center's specialists.
Scientific Center “Vector” – there are dozens of sites, thousands of specialists and technologies that have no equal in the world.
In the mid-1970s, the best scientists of the Soviet Union – chemists, biologists, geneticists – received a residence permit in Novosibirsk at a new research institute. The main goal then and now is to ensure the biological safety of the country.
The Vector Science Center began in this residential building. While the buildings were being built, the laboratories were placed in the first entrance, the scientists were settled in the second. To some extent, it was even convenient – the path to work is very short: only some 10 steps.
47 years have passed, microbiologists and geneticists have moved to other apartments, but they remember that time with warmth.
“There are common balconies, one entrance with another connected, and it was easy to go to work. The laws were strict, you could be punished, deprived of some part of the award. And here we don't care, we went straight to work on the balcony, “said Alexander Ilyichev, head of the engineering department at the Vector State Scientific Center of Rospotrebnadzor.
It houses strains of Ebola hemorrhagic fever – a rare but extremely dangerous disease. Scientists from Novosibirsk were able to create a vaccine against this virus. They are studying smallpox and influenza and are working on platforms for vaccine drugs using reverse genetics.
“At its core, reverse genetics technology makes it possible to obtain a living virus from non-living components. Which we can, as a Lego constructor, assemble directly in the laboratory, and then, using special cell cultures, special methods and approaches, revive this virus and use it as a vaccine, ”said the head of the laboratory of vector systems based on viral genomes of the State Scientific Center “Vector” of Rospotrebnadzor Ilnaz Imatdinov.
It was the “Vector” scientists who were the first in Russia to create PCR tests to determine the presence of coronavirus. We did it in a month. These systems are now used by 50 countries of the world.
Watch a special report on the Vector Science Center today at 11:45 am.
