OPENBIO SUMMARY: EXOSKELETON, OIL INDUSTRY as a DONATOR and DEMAND for BIOPHARMACEUTICALS

15.11.2019 A set of industry events OpenBio-2019 has completed its activity. The two key events, a scientific conference and a business forum, were held at the sites of Koltsovo Science City from the 22th until 25th of October. This year, OpenBio was held for the sixth time and gathered a record number of 940 participants.

 'OpenBio-2019 is a transformation, a transition to a new level. We took a risk and it worked. The expansion of the conference is a response to the global demand for strengthening interdisciplinary ties and integration of diverse scientific solutions within the industry,' said Julia Linyushina, Project Manager, after the forum, ‘Life Technologies is a session that looked far into the future, for 7 hours of its work we have gone from the resistance of the conservative part of the community to "stories about ships wandering space" to acceptance and gratitude for the review of global technologies, inspiration from visionaries'.

Roundtable discussions, discussions of experts, B2B negotiations, open discussions, an exhibition of scientific achievements were held at the forum. Life Technologies plenary expert session was the longest one in the frames of the forum. OpenBio-2019 gathered almost 1000 participants, including representatives of 21 regions of Russia and 8 foreign countries. The event was attended by delegations from Belarus, as well as Germany, France, Spain and Belgium, who came to the Science City on business missions. The guests of the Science City participated in B2B negotiations with Russian companies, and the Koltsovo Innovation Center shared plans to work out the possibility of sending reciprocal business missions to foreign countries.

 Life Technologies
'The full hall says that the topic is relevant and interesting. For such a magnet as Koltsovo Science City, this is a completely natural phenomenon. There are all the resources here: scientists, investors, the platform itself,' said Julia Smirnova, moderator of the session, author and presenter of the program "Youth and Longevity". The duration of the Life Technologies session is explained by the wide range of topics discussed. Preventive medicine, cyborgization, the long-liver intestine and active longevity were among them.

 'This is a great platform for dialogue on serious issues. Many sites deal with the issues of the future, but not all of them are professional. At our session, I saw that the people gathered here are experts, and this is evident from both speeches and questions. People have a desire to understand, find the balance between the opinions of those who are sceptical about the future and those who understand that it is coming right before our eyes,' shared his opinion Sergey Chudakov, head of the Project Office of the Preventive Medicine direction at the HealthNet NTI working group.

 Visioner and expert at Philtech Initiative, co-founder of the Moscow branch of the Singularity University, Jin Kolesnikov said that robotics and cyborgization are much closer to the modern world than it is possible to imagine. The expert is sure: Russian reality is pushing the industry to developing chips for cyborgization. As an example, Kolesnikov cited statistics, according to which in our country every year there are up to 700 thousand car accidents. Victims of road accidents, according to Kolesnikov, suffer from loss of motor skills and partial paralysis. 'The question arises: what if I don't want to be paralyzed for life? The answer is simple: exoskeleton, which you put on immediately after the incident. It walks for you, and your muscle memory works on recovery. But how many exoskeletons there are in Russia, how many people can undergo such rehabilitation? Far not everyone has access to such products. If people start to think more about tomorrow, it will help a greater number of industries, ranging from biotechnology to robotics,' summed up Kolesnikov.

Unified health: veterinary biopharm industry development
The veterinary segment of biopharmaceutical industry is another topic, the discussion of which has gone beyond the time frame. Roundtable discussion "Unified health: veterinary biopharm industry development” was moderated by Tatyana Sevastyanova, the head of the department of statutory regulation of the National Veterinary Association. Among the important issues, Sevostyanova highlighted the improvement of the regulatory system.
 'This applies to producers of animal raw materials, products of plant and animal origin, and also optimization of medicines production which are used for veterinary use. Everything is done to make it convenient for business to work comfortably and coexist with the Federal Executive authorities. And this trend is set: changes are being made to the regulatory framework concerning certain steps that allow the application of control and supervisory actions to specific companies,' the moderator said; she also clarified that there are several levels of risk for different companies.

Innovation: Power System
At the expert discussion "Innovation: Power System" Olga Kochetkova, Assistant Director of the department of strategic development and innovation of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, made an opening statement. She believes today's needs of innovative business relate to the stimulation of demand for products that are created.
 'The new products do not always meet existing standards. One of our tasks is to reform technical regulation, change the standards and Construction Standards and Regulations. Now there comes the regulatory guillotine: all old, outdated norms are abolished and new ones are developed. This should help innovative companies,' Kochetkova explained.

The Moscow expert also spoke about the mechanisms of assistance to fast-growing innovative companies.
 'The Department does not have a direct opportunity, but we operate through other means. Development institutions have been established: Innovation Assistance Fund, Russian Venture Company. Now there is a new tool: an agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the largest state corporations associated with artificial intelligence, quantum computing and quantum sensors. Also, an agreement will be signed with the fuel and energy companies, when oil companies will act as a donator for the development of new technologies,' Olga Kochetkova mentioned.

 'I called innovation "the power of the system" on purpose, it's not just nice words. I am convinced, and the experts of the session will support me, that new technologies are necessary for the economy, without them there is no development in any industry, but the bridge from science to business goes through a complex ecosystem. That is why we spent two hours quite emotionally discussing the problems of implementation and the possibility of supporting innovations at the Russian and international level. The dialogue was attended by key development institutions: Russian Venture Company, Skolkovo; representatives of venture funds and large corporations, and there were developers and entrepreneurs at the meeting, and this fact allowed this dialogue to happen. We have outlined several steps within and outside the site to strengthen the cooperation. I am grateful to Olga Kochetkova, the representative of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, for her contribution to the discussion. We have seen that federal activity often does not reach regional companies. We are interested in finding "places of leakage" of information about significant initiatives,' comments the moderator of the session, the head of OpenBio Julia Linyushina.

 Megascience research infrastructure: network approach and interdisciplinary opportunities
The possibilities of MegaScience research centers were discussed in two sections: roundtable discussion "Scientific instrument engineering for biology, medicine, chemistry” and expert discussion "Megascience research infrastructure: network approach and interdisciplinary opportunities”. The participants were concerned about what kind of research can be carried out on the fourth-generation synchrotron radiation source in the Novosibirsk region.

According to Jan Zubavichus, Deputy Head of the Project Management Office of Center for collective use “Siberian Ring Source of Photons” (SKIF), SB RAS, everything will depend on the tasks of specific working groups in our region. 'The creation of a specialized station for protein crystallography, auxiliary infrastructure for growing protein crystals will allow users to implement a full cycle: to come with the purified, worked-out protein, pick up conditions of crystallization, crystallize, allocate a crystal, decipher its structure, receive mutant derivatives, understand functions of proteins. The implementation of X-ray microscopy methods, including that for tissues and cells, will allow studying the processes of cell division and visualizing whole living organisms. In case of the growing demand of the scientific community in the research of biological samples, it is possible to expand the functionality of the experimental stations of the second stage,' said Zubavichus.

Export borders
At the forum, some export issues were also discussed such as customs clearance required for the export of biopharmaceutical products and assistance from industry bodies. Elena Bragova, Head of the Separate Division in Novosibirsk, JSC Russian Export Center spoke about the intricacies of this area. 'Different markets have different requirements for the same products. It depends on the legislation, the standards that are adopted in this country. Europe and post-Soviet countries have different requirements. Russian Export Center supports exporters of biotechnologies and biopharmaceuticals, as well as other companies. We have a line of products that allow us to provide a certain block of information and advice at each stage of the life cycle. This is assistance in choosing the market, customs clearance, logistics, consulting on certification, promotion of products abroad, and more. There are many support options, but they are limited to only one requirement: the goods must be non-raw,' said Bragova.

 Scientific conference
 The OpenBio-2019 scientific conference was held in Koltsovo from the 22th until 24th of October. There world-class scientists from Russia and the USA gave special introductory lectures, and young scientists presented the results of their research to the expert jury. The speakers spoke in 4 sections: Biophysics, Virology, Biotechnology, Molecular biology, they presented 79 reports.

 In the Biophysics section, the most breakthrough report was made by Irina Vakhrusheva, Junior researcher in National medical research center for Circulation Pathology n.a. academician E.N. Meshalkin, "Calibration-free method for determining the number of receptors on the cell surface." In the Virology section, the first place was taken by Andrey Matveyev, Junior researcher of the Institute of Сhemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS, with the report "Chimeric antibody protects model animals from the far Eastern, Siberian and European subtypes of tick-borne encephalitis virus". The report of Alena Stupnikova from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS "Development of approaches to the clinical application of vascular cells in regenerative medicine" was the best in the Biotechnology section. Master student of the Natural Sciences of NSU Maria Dmitrieva with the report "Primary cultures of human brain tumors as a model for tumor-addressing therapy of gliomas” took the first place in the Molecular biology section.

'OpenBio has been widely known not only in our country but also abroad for six years. The forum brings together scientists, representatives of business, education, medicine, biology, allowing for making meaningful decisions.The events of the forum solve a number of state tasks implemented among others within the framework of the Science, Health and Demography national projects' commented on the importance of the forum Sergey Nelyubov, the Deputy Governor of the Novosibirsk region.