Report 2008-2010

3
Director’s note
This triennial report is dedicated to the 35 th anniversary of the Institute of
Biotechnology. A completely new generation of scientists has evolved in thirty
five years. The brief overview of the history of the Institute is presented on next
pages. In my opinion, the most important happening in our history is the creation
of Lithuanian modern biotechnology industry, which is competitive on
the world market. We take exceptional pride of our internationally recognized
spin-offs UAB Fermentas (currently ThermoFisher Scientific), UAB Sicor-Biotech
(currently Teva), UAB Biocentras, UAB Biok, and the new UAB Profarma (2007)
and UAB Nomads (2010).
We are extremely lucky that our scientists get prestigious and financially gratifying
research grants, namely, National Institute of Health, The Max Plank Institute,
Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, as well as the 5th, 6th and
7th FP, EEA , and the Lithuanian Science and Study Foundation (currently the Research
Council of Lithuania). The substantial financial support from these outside
sources significantly contribute to the budget of IBT, the allocation of the
state budget comprises only 31% of the income. IBT draws the attention of the
scientific community by publishing 20-25 scientific papers in the leading international
journals each year.
Both the National Integrated Programme of Biotechnology and Biomedicine
and the Programme of Industrial Biotechnology were initiated by the scientists
of the Institute. These programmes provide opportunities to purchase new
equipment and consumables, and help to integrate research with industry.
We constantly think about the development of IBT. Recently we have won the
project of 7th Framework programme (FP7- REGPOT-2009-1) MoBiLi (1.600.000
Euro), directed to the integration of European research entities into the European
research area. This project provides the Institute with a reasonable mechanism
for turnover among researchers and enables the influx of new scientists,
providing the feeling of well-earned stability to the best and brightest. According
to this project, nine scientists from abroad will be invited for 2-3 years to
work in the laboratories of IBT.
The 35th anniversary and the triennial report mark the end of independent status
of the Institute of Biotechnology, since it was integrated into Vilnius University
on October 1st, 2010. From this day its official name becomes Vilnius
University Institute of Biotechnology (VU IBT) and a new period of the development
of the Institute begins. We hope that a tight connection between IBT
and the study processes will be very useful for both, the Institute and students
of Vilnius University and VU IBT will meet challenges of the forthcoming changes
and become an outstanding member of the knowledge based society.
Prof. Kęstutis Sasnauskas