Biotechnology, along with information technology and nanotechnology, are essential for innovative development of modern economy. Global challenges such as the depletion of fossil raw materials, adverse climate change impacts, overpopulation and environmental pollution, dictate the need to ensure sustainable development of the world economy and are the major drivers for the development of the so-called bioeconomy. Bioeconomy is based on processing technologies of renewable raw materials.
Currently there is a growing need for organizations that coordinate research activities and can provide scientific support to major biotechnology projects implemented in Russia, as well as to work out programs for the scientific and technological development of the biotechnology industry. The Federal State Institution “Federal Research Centre “Fundamentals of Biotechnology” of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (Research Center of Biotechnology RAS) plays a role of such center of competence. It was established on the December 31, 2014, by the FASO Decree No. 1420 on the reorganization of the A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry RAS via inclusion of S.N. Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology RAS and the Center of Bioengineering RAS.
The strategic goal of the Research Center of Biotechnology RAS is to create scientific and technological basis for the bioeconomy development that involves the replacement of chemical products and processes with biological alternatives, the integrated use of renewable raw materials and waste, the expansion of the range of target products and the development of novel materials with fundamentally new properties and capabilities, the design of new bioactive compounds, the improvement of efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production, the insurance of food safety and quality.
Main research areas of the Center cover all essential areas of modern biotechnology − industry, medicine, agriculture, food technology and biogeotechnology − and are aimed at solving urgent national S&T problems.
In the framework of implementation of the Development Program of the Center, two interrelated objectives are solved:
- Basic research in the field of microbiology, genomics, bioengineering and genetic engineering, biocatalysis, system and structural biology;
- Problem-oriented research and development of technologies in the field of industrial biotechnology and green chemistry, biogeotechnology, bioremediation, molecular diagnostics and biosensors, drug design and technologies for drug production, agrobiotechnology, food safety and quality.
Institutions that form the Center possess intellectual property including 75 patents for inventions and utility model patents, 3 patents for selection achievements, 3 databases and 5 know-how, which form the basis for applied problem solving.