A laboratory of Microbiology and Biotechnology has appeared at Derzhavin University. It is designed to form professional competencies of biology and biotechnology students whose activities will be related to environmental management, agriculture, food industry and pharmaceuticals.

The main scientific areas of the laboratory are the study of the microbial composition of various media, the development of methods and forms for using strains of microorganisms to restore soil fertility and biological plant protection products.

In addition to the methods of microbiological biotechnology, methods of cultivation of plant cells and plant tissues for reproduction of valuable plant species will be developed in the laboratory. According to Elena Skripnikova, Associate Professor of the Department of Environmental Management and Land Management, the laboratory will also be the venue for practical classes in the following disciplines: “Theoretical applied aspects of modern microbiology”, “Microbiology”, “Virology”, etc.

At the ceremony of the opening of the laboratory, Derzhavin University signed an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation with Zolotaya Niva (an agricultural firm) and the Federal Research Center named after I.V. Michurin.

“Today the Strategic Program of the University Development includes updating of the material and technical base of the University. We regularly open specialized centers and laboratories,” says Vladimir Stromov, rector of TSU. “Our task is to give students the knowledge they could put into practice. The laboratory of microbiology and biotechnology will create qualitatively new conditions for the training of biologists and biotechnologists.”