MINSK, 7 April (BelTA) - The role of scientific support in the activities of the Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation (BNBC) is to help create a ready-made market product with which one can enter niche markets with high demand and seize them in time, Vladimir Karanik, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB), told the media following a meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to discuss the development of the BNBC on 7 April, BelTA has learned.
The NASB head emphasized that the BNBC is truly a landmark project, during which new production facilities have been built and new technologies have been mastered. Figuratively speaking, Belarus now possesses these technologies at the user level, he explained. “That is, we were given the production technology to launch all the technological processes and obtain the final product,” said Vladimir Karanik.
Now the goal is to move to the next level, with the assistance of the National Academy of Sciences, to master the technologies at the developer level. “This requires scientific and methodological support aimed at increasing the stability of corynebacteria [used to produce lysine, which in turn is used as a feed additive in livestock farming and the food industry] and its productivity, as well as creating waste-free cycles, where a by-product of one technological process, which has minimal residual value, becomes raw material for the next technological process, turning into a product that can be easily sold with good profitability,” said the head of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to him, specialists at the BNBC have already made significant progress, increasing the productivity of corynebacteria. Currently, it is important to ensure the stability of this process by calculating its economic efficiency. “So that the components that need to be added to the nutrient solution do not, by their cost, negate the entire gain in the increase [in the volume of lysine produced by the bacteria]. The task is to make this process stable, less costly, but highly productive. This is no longer just a technological task but a scientific one. I hope (we discussed this with Nikolai Snopkov) that cooperation with Chinese partners and our own experience will let us solve this problem more effectively than before,” he said.
By the president’s decision, Vladimir Karanik has been included in a working group that will assess the effectiveness of biotechnology development prospects in the country. Speaking about the tasks facing this group and his own role within it, the head of the National Academy of Sciences emphasized: “To select the most promising areas where we will be among the few offering a ready-made product with high market potential and high profitability. Not to try to do what others are already doing and where the market is overheated. We need to find precisely those niche markets with high demand and have time to seize them.”
As for the competencies of Belarusian scientists in this field, the head of the Academy of Sciences is confident that they are sufficient. For genome editing, the world uses CRISPR/Cas9 technology. In Belarus, it has been mastered by, for example, specialists at the Institute of Microbiology and the Institute of Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences. “The level of laboratory experiments shows that our scientists have mastered the technology of working with microorganisms, plant cells, and animal cells. I believe that in cooperation with Chinese partners, based on the specific production of the BNBC, our competencies will be sufficient to provide scientific and methodological support for the technological process and to propose some new directions and new products, the introduction of which into the BNBC’s technology will improve its economic performance,” Vladimir Karanik said.
Now the goal is to move to the next level, with the assistance of the National Academy of Sciences, to master the technologies at the developer level. “This requires scientific and methodological support aimed at increasing the stability of corynebacteria [used to produce lysine, which in turn is used as a feed additive in livestock farming and the food industry] and its productivity, as well as creating waste-free cycles, where a by-product of one technological process, which has minimal residual value, becomes raw material for the next technological process, turning into a product that can be easily sold with good profitability,” said the head of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to him, specialists at the BNBC have already made significant progress, increasing the productivity of corynebacteria. Currently, it is important to ensure the stability of this process by calculating its economic efficiency. “So that the components that need to be added to the nutrient solution do not, by their cost, negate the entire gain in the increase [in the volume of lysine produced by the bacteria]. The task is to make this process stable, less costly, but highly productive. This is no longer just a technological task but a scientific one. I hope (we discussed this with Nikolai Snopkov) that cooperation with Chinese partners and our own experience will let us solve this problem more effectively than before,” he said.
By the president’s decision, Vladimir Karanik has been included in a working group that will assess the effectiveness of biotechnology development prospects in the country. Speaking about the tasks facing this group and his own role within it, the head of the National Academy of Sciences emphasized: “To select the most promising areas where we will be among the few offering a ready-made product with high market potential and high profitability. Not to try to do what others are already doing and where the market is overheated. We need to find precisely those niche markets with high demand and have time to seize them.”
As for the competencies of Belarusian scientists in this field, the head of the Academy of Sciences is confident that they are sufficient. For genome editing, the world uses CRISPR/Cas9 technology. In Belarus, it has been mastered by, for example, specialists at the Institute of Microbiology and the Institute of Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences. “The level of laboratory experiments shows that our scientists have mastered the technology of working with microorganisms, plant cells, and animal cells. I believe that in cooperation with Chinese partners, based on the specific production of the BNBC, our competencies will be sufficient to provide scientific and methodological support for the technological process and to propose some new directions and new products, the introduction of which into the BNBC’s technology will improve its economic performance,” Vladimir Karanik said.
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