EPFL and NEVA Foundation team up research diabetes
© 2011 EPFL
Funded through a generous grant from the Neva Foundation, a new Chair in Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Imaging and an extensive exchange program for Russian students and faculty has been created at EPFL.
The Timtchenko family, through their Neva Foundation, has been fostering collaboration between Switzerland and their native Russia through programs in the arts and sciences for several years. The partnership signed last week between EPFL, the Neva Foundation and the Perm State Pharmaceutical Academy (PSPA) in Russia will see the creation of a new Chair in Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Imaging as well as an exchange program for scientists. In addition, the two research institutes will establish a joint PhD program giving gifted Russian students the chance to study at EPFL over the next five years.
Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions with an estimated 285 million people suffering from the disease worldwide. The economic stakes are high with the European Union spending approximately 10% of their total healthcare budget on the disease. A key area of study is metabolism at a cellular level and in particular the way in which mitochondria (the energy producing elements of the cell) play a role in disease onset and development. EPFL has established expertise in this area and it is hoped that, together with PSPA’s track record of bringing new therapies to clinical trial, advances can be made in diabetes prevention and treatment.
The holder of the new Chair, Professor Elena Dubikovskaya, joined EPFL’s Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering earlier this year. She is an advocate of an interdisciplinary approach, combining synthetic chemistry, optical imaging, and an understanding of cellular functions at molecular level to find solutions to fundamental problems in biology and the medical sciences.
The exchange program will initially be open to students and staff from PSPA, with the intention of extending the program throughout Russia in coming years. The first two postgraduate students have been selected and it is hoped that a total of twelve students will be able to take advantage of a year’s study in Switzerland. In addition, the program will provide ten Visiting Postdoctoral Fellows and eight Professors the opportunity of a sabbatical of at least six months at EPFL, as well as a fund for new state‐of the‐art research equipment for PSPA’s laboratories.
Lionel Pousaz
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