UrFU Establishes the Center of Biotransformation Technologies

14:49, April 22, 2020

The CBT will provide input to processing environmentally hazardous technogenic wastes

UrFU scientists created the Center of Biotransformation Technologies. Its functions are conducting theoretical, experimental and applied world-class research, generating developments for subsequent implementation in production practice and fulfilling the demands of Russian and foreign enterprises in various sectors of the economy.

Already today, the project initiators possess advanced solutions and developments that have no analogues both in our country and abroad. The areas of their application are the processing of waste from vegetable growing, animal husbandry and industry (in particular, nuclear, metallurgical and food), purification of waters from heavy metals, and the production of functional, that is, healthy, food products.

“Some time ago, using biotechnological methods, it was possible to fulfill a task of national importance - to neutralize and process environmentally hazardous technogenic wastes in the form of powder masses left after the liquidation of the Rezhevsky chemical plant in the Sverdlovsk region. At the same time, the cost of work was an order of magnitude lower than that of companies offering other solutions, which saved money in the budget of the RF Ministry of Industry and Trade. The successful industrial technology that we have proposed is in demand at other facilities as well,” says Dmitry Savinykh, director of the Uralbiosynthesis Scientific and Production Center.

The general ideology of biotransformation technologies is the use of living forces of nature to obtain from waste, or rather, products of deferred solutions, new useful and valuable materials.

“Enzymes and microorganisms with pronounced selectivity, that is,“ tuned ”to one or another source material, absorb, process and enrich it, and as a result, for example, highly nutritious, environmentally friendly animal feed or expensive rare-earth metals are formed,” comments the deputy Director of the University Center for Work with Enterprises Alexander Cherepanov.

Thus, low-cost biotransformation technologies will gradually replace environmentally hazardous technologies at the enterprises of the mining, metallurgical and chemical industries, process as-yet unclaimed products of deferred solution concentrated in storage, and therefore will have a tremendous economic effect. In addition, the use of biotransformation technologies solves the problems of import substitution, ensuring food security and guaranteed quality control of the final product.

“The model of interaction with manufacturing enterprises has been successfully developed at UrFU, in particular, on sensor systems, magnetic and optical sensors. We have the experience necessary for the development of the Center for Biotransformation Technologies to be accepted by our industry, ”concludes Alexander Cherepanov.

The strategic partners of the university in this project are the Uralbiosynthesis Research and Production Center and the Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“The university today is doing all for young scientists and their mentors, recognized schools in various fields of science, modern equipment, instrumentation and laboratories. The research and production center “Uralbiosynthesis” has unique developments in the field of experimental medicine, pharmacology, biotechnology, veterinary medicine and ecology. The Institute of Immunology and Physiology is the only unit of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Sverdlovsk Region that conducts fundamental and clinical research in this direction, ”explains Elena Kovaleva, one of the initiators of the Center for Biotransformation Technologies, who explains the essence of the conglomerate.

Unifying science, education, and businesses scientists create a platform for studying the mechanisms of action of experimental samples of medical, immunobiological and ecobiological preparations.

“In general, the mission of the future center is to provide industrial enterprises with integrated engineering solutions, technologies and specific products ready for implementation and implementation. For this, trained, well-coordinated professional teams of specialists of various profiles will be provided with the constant support of the center, ”adds Dmitry Savinykh.

Another advantage is that cooperation with the center will save partner enterprises from serious research costs: they are carried out by scientists of the Ural Federal University and the Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Employees of the center - Russian and foreign young scientists, undergraduates and graduate students of UrFU - thanks to participation in its activities, will gain access to the resources of enterprises of the real sector of the economy, opportunities for practical implementation of the results of scientific research and growth in science, and in the long term - a highly-paid job.