Македонска академија на науките и уметностите
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
„Georgi D. Efremov“
The Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGIB) was founded in 1986 as a scientific unit of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Founder of ICGIB was Academician Georgi D. Efremov. In 2011 the Center was renamed into the Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Georgi D. Efremov.
The main goal of ICGIB is advancing the scientific knowledge in the field of protein chemistry, molecular biology, genetic engineering and biotechnology, by scientific research and educational and practical courses.
ICGIB acts as a national reference center for research, education and application of new technologies in the biomedical sciences and biomolecular sciences. ICGIB is the largest and most important institution in our country in the field of molecular genetics that has gained wide international recognition.
Since its establishing, the Center has been equipped with modern and sophisticated equipment.
In December 2015 ICGIB received the Accreditation Certificate and became an accredited laboratory according to the standards MKC EN ISO / IEC 17025> 2006.
The ICGIB staff consists of scientific and administrative and technical employees. The scientific research staff includes 4 scientific workers, 5 researches, 2 researchers employed within the scientific project in collaboration with the Columbia University titled Building of schizophrenia research in Macedonia, 4 young associates involved in the application activity of the Center and three administrative-technical employees.
Researchers are constantly visiting the ICGIB within the specialization in Medical Genetics, as well as postgraduates and doctoral candidates.
Over the past 30 years more than 30 research projects have been realized in the ICGIB, most of them in the field of molecular medicine, such as molecular characterization of the most common monogenic hereditary diseases in Macedonia and the neighboring countries, molecular epidemiology of the infectious diseases, molecular bases of the most common malignant disease and DNA markers in human identification. Projects in other areas have also been conducted in the ICGIB, such as genetic testing of the Ohrid trout, isolation and production of Taq polymerase, molecular identification of tobacco sorts, identification of bacterial sorts in the cave Vrelo etc.
The main goal of ICGIB is advancing the scientific knowledge in the field of protein chemistry, molecular biology, genetic engineering and biotechnology, by scientific research and educational and practical courses.
ICGIB acts as a national reference center for research, education and application of new technologies in the biomedical sciences and biomolecular sciences. ICGIB is the largest and most important institution in our country in the field of molecular genetics that has gained wide international recognition.
Since its establishing, the Center has been equipped with modern and sophisticated equipment.
In December 2015 ICGIB received the Accreditation Certificate and became an accredited laboratory according to the standards MKC EN ISO / IEC 17025> 2006.
The ICGIB staff consists of scientific and administrative and technical employees. The scientific research staff includes 4 scientific workers, 5 researches, 2 researchers employed within the scientific project in collaboration with the Columbia University titled Building of schizophrenia research in Macedonia, 4 young associates involved in the application activity of the Center and three administrative-technical employees.
Researchers are constantly visiting the ICGIB within the specialization in Medical Genetics, as well as postgraduates and doctoral candidates.
Over the past 30 years more than 30 research projects have been realized in the ICGIB, most of them in the field of molecular medicine, such as molecular characterization of the most common monogenic hereditary diseases in Macedonia and the neighboring countries, molecular epidemiology of the infectious diseases, molecular bases of the most common malignant disease and DNA markers in human identification. Projects in other areas have also been conducted in the ICGIB, such as genetic testing of the Ohrid trout, isolation and production of Taq polymerase, molecular identification of tobacco sorts, identification of bacterial sorts in the cave Vrelo etc.
The following projects are in progress::
- Building scientific research capacity of schizophrenia in Macedonia, fund- ed by the National Institutes of Health, USA;
- Genetic screening for mutation in GH1 and GHRHR in a cohort of patients with isolated deficiency (IGHD) elucidating the genetic cause (s) for a distinct associated of IGHD and myophaty funded by ICGIB, Italy;
- Balkan endemic nephropathy in cooperation with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts;
- Molecular bases of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in the Republic of Macedonia;
- Detection of urinary biomarkers of urogenital cancers using 2-D DIGE/ MS and LC-MS proteomic technologies.
The following programs are in progress:
- Study of molecular defects of numerous monogenic diseases (haemoglobinopathies, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia A, spinal muscular atrophy, Huntington’s disease, fragile X syndrome, hereditary deafness, Friedrich’s ataxia, haemochromatosis, cystinuria, phenylketonuria, galactosaemia, Rett syndrome, Darier‘s syndrome, Achondroplasia, etc.);
- Genetics of infertility;
- Molecular basis of malignant disease (cancer of the breast, prostate, testes, uterus, lungs, etc.);
- Quick and noninvasive methods for prenatal diagnosis;
- Study of DNA markers in the population of the Republic of Macedonia and application in forensic medicine and criminology;
- Study of infectious diseases (Human Papilloma Virus in women with cervical changes, hepatitis B and C virus infection and its role in the etiology of the chronic hepatic disease and hepatocellular carcinoma).
In the past 25 years, as a result of the research work in the Center, more than 200 scientific papers have been published, mostly in international scientific journals. The results of the scientific work of ICGIB have been presented with more than 250 posters or oral presentations at international and national scientific meetings.
Since 2001 the Center has been publishing the international scientific Balkan Journal of Medical Genetics.
ICGIB is the first institution in the Republic of Macedonia that has begun to use the techniques of recombinant DNA technology in the diagnosis and prevention of inherited, malignant and infectious diseases and in forensic medicine.
Apart from the research and the applied activities, one of the primary goals of ICGIB is education of young scientists through research. In the past 25 years numerous young scientific personnel have been educated in ICGIB in the field of molecular biology and the techniques of genetic engineering and biotechnology.
ICGIB cooperates with numerous institutions in the Republic of Macedonia, medical institutions from the neighboring countries, and with many scientific institutions from various European and world countries. The cooperation with these institutions includes collaboration on joint scientific and research projects, specialization and training of scientific personnel, invited lecturers and exchange of literature.
More information about the work of the Center can be found on the website: icgib.manu.edu.mk
