“Acad. Roumen Tsanev” Institute of Molecular Biology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is the founder and leading national scientific institution in the field of molecular biology.

Mission

The mission of IMB-BAS is to conduct, at a high scientific level, fundamental and applied research in the field of molecular biology and related disciplines such as structural and cell biology, molecular genetics. IMB-BAS develops some complex research projects jointly with national and foreign scientific organizations and the private sector, thus becoming a national and regional centre for development and coordination of the fundamental and applied research in the fields of genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, etc. and bioorganic chemistry for the purposes of their application in medicine and pharmacy.

Administrative Structure

Administratively IMB-BAS is built up of four departments and three laboratories, and conducts research in the following priority areas of research:

  • Gene Regulation
    Conducts research in: regulation of gene expression in heterologous systems; alternative initiation of translation in bacteria; expression of eukaryotic genes in bacterial hosts; post-translations modifications of the recombinant proteins; human cytokines; glycation in bacteria – structure and function relationship; bioinformatics and in silico modeling; applied research – development of human interferon-gamma based pharmaceuticals, environmental microbiology.
  • Molecular Biology of the Cell Cycle
    The Molecular Biology of the Cell Cycle department studies the control of DNA replication and DNA repair in mammalian cells and the role of chromatin regulators in these processes. A separate aspect is related to the study of new ways of delivering therapeutics to tumor cells in order to increase the specificity and effectiveness of anti-cancer therapy.
  • Structure and Function of Chromatin
    The department develops several main topics: HMGB1 – a chromatin protein involved in cellular and extracellular signaling and its role in carcinogenesis and metastasis; To study the mechanisms of synchronization between different processes taking place during replication, repair and transcription of DNA; Evaluation of the biological activity of newly synthesized compounds with potential application in pharmacy on cellular and animal models.
  • Biochemical Pharmacology and Drug Design
    The department uses a state-of-the-art and highly efficient technological platform for drug design. It is not only applied to screening and evaluation of biological activity, but also for estimation of diverse pharmacological parameters of new chemical entities and natural com­pounds.
  • Laboratory of Yeast Molecular Genetics
    The research interests are in the field of Molecular Biology, Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics. Scientific work involves use of state-of-the art methodologies which aim at elucidation of the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate and control genome activity in norm and pathology.
  • Medical and Biological Research Laboratory
    Development of cutting-edge research programs to address significant physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms and maintenance of an active linkage between basic and clinical investigators with research programs in atherosclerosis, cardiovascular biology, diabetes, cancer and nanotechnology.
  • Laboratory of Genomic Stability
    By using a variety of high-tech methods of molecular biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics and physics are explored the mechanisms of synchronization between different processes taking place during replication, repair and transcription of DNA.

Memberships

  • IMB is a member of the European Research Infrastructure for Biological and Biomedical Sciences (Euro-BioImaging) with 29 centers (nodes) in 11 European countries, offering access to 36 state-of-art imaging technologies.
  • IMB is a partner of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications – a representative of Bulgaria in the PRACE Association with 25 member countries.

 

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