Department of Microbiology

Head of Department

Prof. Olga Ilinskaya

Dr. Microbiology and Biochemistry,

Member of Academy of Science of Republic Tatarstan,

Coordinator of the partnership between Kazan Federal University and Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany.

About the Department

Within the major line of research of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, the Department of Microbiology develops two research directions:

- the biomedical, which is related to disclosing molecular mechanisms of interaction of microorganisms, microbial enzymes and their metabolites with eukaryotes for the development of new therapeutic agents.

- the biotechnological, which develops the application of microorganisms for the transformation of hazardous environmental wastes.

Today the Department's faculty includes 4 Dr.Sc., 17 PhDs, and 20 Ph.D. students. Researchers  collaborate with foreign scientists from Germany, United States, Mexico, France, Egypt and Vietnam. Three international laboratories have been established under the supervision of high qualified specialists from Germany and USA. Some projects for young scientists has been supported by DAAD and Fulbright Programs.

History

The Microbiology research group at the Medical College of Kazan University was established in the middle of the 19th century by Prof. Aristovsky. It was developing the classical medical microbiology branch. In 1930, the Medical College together with the Department of Microbiology of Kazan University was reorganized into Kazan State Medical University.

In 1969, the Department of Microbiology was established at Kazan University for the second time by Prof. M. Belaeva, who was convinced that microorganisms should be explored not only from the medical point of view but as promising objects for biotechnology and biotechnological industry that needed highly educated microbiologists.

Laboratories

The laboratories of the Department are well-equipt with microscopes (electron, fluorescent, light), the equipment for protein isolation and characterization (high and low-pressure liquid chromatograph Biorad), the equipment for molecular biology and genetic, biochemical analysis: zeta-sizer «Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZS», nanodrop «Implan», microcentrifuges, PCR-analyser «Biorad», fluorescent spectrograph LS-55 «Perkin-Elmer», flow cytometer BD FACSCanto II etc.