Scientific life in 2014

In 2014, the Federal North-West Medical Research Centre participated in 14 scientific research platforms of the Russian Ministry of Health, and its staff members became part of the expert groups in 6 of those platforms. The research teams working in the Centre contributed a lot in generating research topics for the platforms. In 2014, 44 state research projects planned for 2012—2014 were completed in the Centre including 28 basic, 13 applied and 3 experimental investigations. 550 positions formed a list of research workers in 2014, 54 scientific departments and laboratories were functioning in the institution. The overall Hirsch Index of the Centre's scientists was 640 in 2012 and 656 in 2014 in accordance with the development strategy. The average age of researchers was 44 years, 50% of all scientific workers were under 39. There are 3 academicians of the Russian Academy of Science, 99 Doctors of Science and 317 Candidates of Science (PhDs). 18 employees have the Hirsch Index higher than 7, and 13 of them — higher than 10.

642 basic science articles based on the results of state research projects were published in 2014, among them 228 publications in journals with impact-factor more than 0,3, and 66 publications in international journals with impact-factor more than 1,0. The overall impact-factor of publications was 91 in 2012, 119 in 2013, and 137 in 2014, that amounted to 347. Within the applied research projects, 6 testing systems were created, 8 models and experimental samples of medical devices were constructed, 2 medications were developed and preclinical studies performed, targeted drug delivery with inorganic nanoparticles was developed, 29 patents received, 37 patent applications submitted, 19 computer programmes, utility models and databases registered.

In addition to the state contracts, the Centre won several grant competitions to perform scientific research work in 2012—2014. The Centre carried out 14 research projects within the Federal Target Programmes “Research and development within the priority directions of the Russian scientific and technological complex in 2007—2013”, “Research and development within the priority directions of the Russian scientific and technological complex in 2014—2020”, “Scientific and educational specialists for innovative Russia” in 2009—2013 as well as two grants of the Russian Science Foundation, 14 grants of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, and 1 grant of the Russian Foundation for the Humanities. In 2011—2013, the Centre also was a performer in the research programme “stem cells” of the Union State Russia-Belarus.

Scientometrics indicators significantly increased in 2014. That included the number of international publications and their impact-factor. In general, the standards established by the state assignment were exceeded more than twice. Quarterly reports on the number of publications in top-rated journals per a researcher were also higher than the established requirements for scientific institutions.

Annually, more than 300 abstracts were published at high-scale scientific conferences, 25 oral presentations were made at international and European congresses. At present, the Centre's research employees are included in international expert communities, are the members of editorial boards of European journals, edit articles in various publishing systems, are presented in working groups developing international clinical guidelines, in expert committees and scientific programme committees of big congresses, conferences and meetings.

The Centre owns 20 critical scientific technologies. By 2014, such innovative techniques as Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), ultracentrifugation for membrane transport organelles isolation and their imaging with scanning electron microscopy, Patch-Clamp technology, cell microencapsulation for evaluation of their differential and paracrine effects in tissues, out-patient blood pressure monitoring in every cardiac cycle, etc. Such innovative technologies as separate catheterization of suprarenal veins, renal artery denervation, catheterization of petrosal and cavernous sinus, hybrid interventions on coronary arteries were introduced into clinical practice.

At present, the Centre is a founder of three scientific journals included into the register of Russian index of scientific citation. One of those became a winner among the Russian scientific journals in 2014 according to the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. The Centre has international cooperation agreements in different research spheres with 17 universities and scientific institutions worldwide, and annually more than 10 articles are published in collaboration with international partners. During three years of work within the state contracts, 25 monographs were published, 54 textbooks and manuals were prepared. The Center's researchers won in many contests, they received a Diploma for the best innovative project in science and higher education in Saint-Petersburg in 2014 (nomination — «The best scientific and innovative idea»). They also were awarded with a prize for the best event dedicated to the World Sleep Day 2014 by the World Association of Sleep Medicine. The research employees repeatedly received young scientists grants from different societies and conferences, became fellows of many scientific societies.

The effective work of the scientific research team in 2014 helped the Centre to take its position in the list of leading research medical institutions and come close to organizing on its basis a scientific and educational cluster with participation of scientific organizations, educational institutions and production companies.