A young scientists' school in biomedicine held at St Petersburg University

The scientific programme began with a presentation on trace amines by Professor Raul Gainetdinov, Director of the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at St Petersburg University and Academic Supervisor of the Pirogov Clinic of High Medical Technologies at St Petersburg University. Trace amines, chemical transmitters of signals between cells, are present in low concentrations in the human body. In large quantities, they are found in food, especially in cheese and wine. They are directly related to the so-called cheese effect – the occurrence of headaches after consuming cheese and red wine.

The results of recent research on metabiomics of human intestinal microbiota show that the amines are present in the intestinal tract in high concentrations. Since it is known that intestinal microbiota modulates brain functions, it can be assumed that it is the trace amines that connect the intestines and the brain.

Professor Raul Gainetdinov, Director of the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at St Petersburg University

However, the most important area of study of trace amines is related to their receptors, the protein molecules that perceive and transform external stimuli into intracellular processes. It is found that humans have six subtypes of trace amine receptors. The most studied receptor is TAAR1. Based on this receptor Sunovion Pharmaceuticals have created a remedy for schizophrenia. This breakthrough development will appear on the market in the coming years. It will be the first antipsychotic drug that does not block dopamine receptors. Researchers from the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at St Petersburg University have turned their attention to another trace amine receptor, TAAR5.

The research  is expected to lead to the development of fundamentally new types of drugs for depression, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders.

On the second day of the workshop, Alsu Saifitdinova, Associate Professor of the Department of Human and Animal Anatomy and Physiology at Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, leading research associate of the Department of Genetics and Selective Breeding at St Petersburg University, Deputy Head of the Laboratory of Assisted Reproductive Technology of the International Centre for Reproductive Medicine, spoke about chimeras and mosaics in modern biology. Chimeras are organisms that consist of genetically heterogeneous cells of different genesis. Mosaic cells also differ in genotype, but their variations arise as a result of changes in initial genetic information during development.

'Until recently, it was believed that the genotype of a normal organism is a constant characteristic of all cells and that variations are a pathology. Now we know that multicellular organisms have cells with different DNA sequences. This mosaicism emerges in the course of normal development. It is an important part of both cell differentiation and the protection mechanisms of the body. Failures in the normal development programme can lead to the appearance of chimeras and pathological forms of mosaicism, which can provoke the development of various diseases,’ said Alsu Saifitdinova.

The presentation by Konstantin Demin, a senior research associate of the Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry in the Institute of Translational Biomedicine, was dedicated to zebra danio fish, which are used by scientists to study the reaction of the human body to stresses and various substances. More than 80% of the genes of this small fish are homologous to human. Compared to mice and fruit flies, which are largely used in experiments, zebra danio is closer to humans. Evolutionally, fish separated from humans about 400 million years ago, which is much earlier than rodents. 'Zebra danio is a kind of time machine, the study of which we hope will enable us to find an evolutionarily conservative pathogenesis between the two models and man. Through this, we hope to explain disease pathologies,' said Konstantin Demin.

During the young scientists' school, 19 lecturers from Russia, the USA, Italy, Belgium and Canada made their presentations. The programme finished with the report by Elsevier representative Andrey Khudoshin. He spoke about Embase, a new search platform for publications in biology, neurosciences and pharmacology. The platform proved to be more effective than PubMed and other similar resources. Employees and students of the University can learn to use the new tool through the electronic resources of the M. Gorky Scientific Library at St Petersburg University. Embase will be available to all university students in test mode until 15 December.