The conference, dedicated to the memory of its founder, Academician Nikolay Zefirov, started today at Kazan University.

Rector Ilshat Gafurov in his greeting at the plenary session reflected on the recent developments at KFU, “There was a decision to move to the format which previously existed at Kazan Imperial University because that structure was the most effective. As a result, we re-established the faculties which in their time seceded to become separate universities”.

One of such entities is the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, founded in 2012. It has grown quickly, and in 2016 three local clinics – now collectively called the University Clinic – merged with Kazan University. A reconstruction of new facilities is underway right now, and soon they will host labs and administrative departments.

The honorary guest, Director of Khimekspert LLC, Tatyana Meschchankina, noted, “Kazan has always been a special place for us, and Kazan University has been a special partner, an institution where our products have been well received by scientists. We have conducted an analysis and understood that our products have first emerged in Kazan, which is a testament to the University’s forward-thinking approach”.

The University, of course, has long been a part of Pharma 2020, a big national project aimed at boosting the domestic industry. KFU’s major partner in this is Tatchempharmpreparaty. In 2016, the first state contract on anti-tumor medication passed pre-clinical trials.

There is the Department of Medicinal Physics and the Biophysics Lab (Institute of Physics), a group on medical instruments and devices (Institute of Engineering), and the Department of Medicinal Chemistry (Institute of Chemistry). The latter is only the second such department in Russia, after Moscow State University.

Kazan became the third city to host this conference. This year it is specifically dedicated to founder Nikolay Zefirov, who passed away in April 2017. His daughter, Olga Zefirova, contributed to the plenary session.