Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Moscow

The Bach Institute of Biochemistry, the first biochemical institution affiliated with the Academy of Sciences, was established according to the Decision of the General Meeting of the Academy in 1934. The founders of the Institute were the renowned scientists Academicians Aleksey N. Bach and Aleksandr I. Oparin. The Institute plays an important role in organizing and advancing biochemistry in Russia. Former scholars of the Institute were among those who were at the forefront of the establishment of the Institute of Molecular Biology (Moscow), Institute of Protein (Pushchino, Moscow oblast), Institute of Photosynthesis (Pushchino, Moscow oblast), Institute of Physicochemical Biology of the Moscow State University (Moscow), Institute of Plant Biochemistry (Tbilisi, Georgia), Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan), Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), and others.
The main objectives of the Institute are focused on researching biochemical foundations of vital processes and further application of the achieved results to production. Studies of structure and function, as well as regulation of syntheses and activities of enzymes, enzymatic systems, their complexes, and main metabolic processes; research of physiologically active compounds, pathways of their biosyntheses and mechanisms of action; study of the molecular basis of photobiological processes; and study of the biochemical basis of human ontogenesis and pathogeneses of main diseases are among the priority topics of the Institute's research. Scientists currently develop methods for detection of microquantities of biologically active substances and theoretical foundations of enzymatic biotechnologies, phyto- and ecobiotechnologies. The Institute also pays special attention to innovative activities. The latest developments of the Institute include a highly efficient microbiological technology for purification of ventilation discharges from toxic volatile compounds. The gas-cleaning systems designed using this technology are successfully exploited in Russia, the UK and South Korea. Immunosensor systems for ecological monitoring and medical diagnostics have also been developed. Additionally, the Institute designed and introduced into practice the diagnostic kits for the detection of drugs and early diagnostics of phenylketonuria.
The research performed at the Institute is supported by domestic and international grants and foundations, namely, programs of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and grants of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Government of Moscow, INTAS, INCO-Copernicus, CRDF, NATO, Wellcome Trust, ISTC, and others. The Institute collaborates with many foreign institutions through implementation of joint projects, including European Laboratory for Molecular Biology, German National Research Center for Environmental and Health Research, and Ruhr University of Bochum, and Technical University of Berlin (Germany); University of Stockholm and Lund University (Sweden); Institute of Biological Sciences of the University of Wales and the University of Kent (UK); Institute for Food and Nutrition Research, University of Bologna, and Center for Magnetic Resonance (Italy); Institute of Environmental Chemistry (Spain); Swiss Institute of Technology; University of Jerusalem (Israel); Agricultural University of Athens; and University of California in Davis and Carnegie Mellon University (USA).
At present, the Institute also actively focuses on training scientific personnel, including students, postgraduates, and researchers working towards their doctorate degrees. Throughout 70 years of the Institute’s work, over 150 doctoral and 700 candidate dissertations have prepared their work and defended it at the Institute. Biotechnological developments of the Institute have found wide application in the national economy, yielding considerable benefits and winning highest state and scientific awards to their authors such as the State Prizes of the USSR and the Russian Federation, the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Lomonosov Golden Medal, and other prizes and medals of the Russian Academy of Sciences, named after prominent scientists, as well as scientific prizes of foreign countries. Today, the staff of the Institute represents a good blend of experts and young prospective scientists, which form a team of highly-effieicnt and like-minded people with a significant intellectual potential. Combining research into most topical problems in biochemistry with innovative activities, the Institute creates a new incentive for further development.