The pride of Vyatka State University is its graduates, whose success inspires the Flagship University of the region to develop and open up new prospects. The fact that these are not just words can be seen on a specific example.
Meet: Anna-Anastasia Misterova. This year, she is completing her master's studies at the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of VyatSU under the Pharmaceutical Biotechnology program in the Biotechnology direction of training.
Prior to the story about studying at Vyatka State University and plans for the future, Anna-Anastasia shared her memories of what determined her choice of specialty and university:
- Chemistry and biology fascinated me as a child, and at school I thought about how to connect my future life with pharmaceuticals. Even then, the prospect of studying and developing medicines myself seemed complex, but very interesting!
After graduating the Vyatka humanitarian gymnasium, I applied for directions related to medicine and pharmaceuticals in different universities. The direction “Biotechnology” at Vyatka State University was advised to me by my biology teacher - I decided to submit documents there too. As a result, the choice fell on Biotechnology direction at VyatSU. I considered this direction of training the most interesting and promising. After all, it is interdisciplinary in nature, which provides a wide choice of career opportunities in the future.
Speaking about studying at the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Vyatka State University, Anna-Anastasia emphasized:
- The biotechnologists training program is interesting and diverse; its feature is a combination of engineering, chemical, biological disciplines and computer science. And, of course, the most important component is special disciplines, including genetic engineering, immunology, cell biology, pharmaceutical production technologies, pharmaceutical biotechnology, microbiology, bionanotechnology. Sometimes it was not easy to learn, but I always liked it! The abundance of laboratory and practical works using the most modern equipment - this is also an important advantage of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of VyatSU - allowed me to master methods of working with cell cultures, assembling genetic constructs, and PCR. I learned to work on the most modern equipment. This is, for example, AKTAPure preparative chromatography system.
Also during the training, I mastered a huge arsenal of analytical methods, such as RP-HPLC, peptide mapping; ion exchange, affinity, hydrophobic chromatography of proteins, gel filtration, protein PAGE electrophoresis, immunoblotting, enzyme immunoassay. The practical skills that I have gained are really appreciated by biopharmaceutical companies. I was convinced of it personally! So, during the summer practice at the Generium International Biotechnology Center, I practically didn’t have to learn anything again, for the most part I could solve the company's tasks on a par with its employees. It gave me more confidence.
Anna-Anastasia also spoke about her scientific work:
- I wanted to study and learn more, going beyond the framework of the curriculum, so at the end of the 2nd year I chose the genetic engineering laboratory of the Department of Biotechnology as the place of study practice. With team of students of different courses, under the leadership of Andrey Sergeyevich Gerasimov, we were developing of technology for obtaining an extremely valuable protein for medicine - platelet-derived growth factor.
What attracted me to this work? First of all, the fact that it allows you to get a real result that could be used for the benefit of our society. I know that such a medicines is available only in the USA - and here, in our laboratory, there is an opportunity to create with our own hands something that is not yet produced in Russia! Using biotechnological methods, you can get many popular and promising medicines. The researches of VyatSU biotechnologists are becoming more interesting, more complicated and I'm very glad to be involved in it. All this allows me to develop step by step.
Anna-Anastasia already has a lot of truly impressive successes along this path.
- During my studies at the university, I presented the results of my research at the major annual conferences, such as “Young Pharmacy - the Potential of the Future” in St. Petersburg; scientific conference of young molecular biologists, virologists and biotechnologists, held in the framework of the OpenBio Open Communications Platform in Novosibirsk. In March of this year, I was selected for the international poster session “BIOMEDTECH” 2020 at the Skolkovo Technopark.
Last year, I won the competition for participation in the educational project “Gene from the test tube: at the junction of mathematics, biology and chemistry” from the BIOCAD company and, together with four other winners, completed an internship at the Sirius educational center. Qualifying competitive tasks were close to the real tasks that have to be solved when working in a modern biotechnology company - it turned out that almost all tasks we analyzed at the University in classes or as part of coursework!
This year I became the silver medalist of the All-Russian Olympiad “I am a Professional”, the project of the open platform “Russia is a country of opportunities”, in the direction of “Biotechnology” among magistrands. Being one of the best in the country is undoubtedly a significant professional victory for me.
More recently, I won the g-START case-championship organized by GEROPHARM, one of the largest biotechnological companies in Russia. The prize for victory is very valuable - a two-month internship at the company's R&D Center in St. Petersburg, -
Anna-Anastasia shared information about her achievements. To be sure, the success of the young biotechnologist is impressive!
What's next? What are the plans of the VyatSU graduate? What does she see as her prospects?
My immediate plans are to defend a master's thesis on the topic “Development of a technology for obtaining a stable analogue of platelet growth factor”. This event is particularly responsible for the fact that representatives of the largest biopharmaceutical enterprises evaluate graduates biotechnologists of VyatSU.
- I consider the education received at the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of VyatSU to be fully responsive to the needs of the time and future-oriented, truly multidisciplinary. Now I can engage in the development of medicines in R&D Center, transfer technologies for the production of foreign original medicines, control and quality assurance of the production of medicines and even, for example, management, logistics - and, believe me, I will not feel incompetent anywhere! As a university graduate, I learned to have my own opinion about existing problems and propose ideas for solving them - in my opinion, this is a main success.
To date, Anna-Anastasia has already received several job offers from the largest biopharmaceutical companies in Russia. However, the graduate decided to continue her studies at the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Vyatka State University - now in postgraduate school! This, according to Anna-Anastasia, will allow her not only to conduct independent scientific research, but also open up prospects for working in international pharmaceutical companies.
The success of Anna-Anastasia Misterova is of interest and respect. It is important that there are many similar stories at the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Vyatka State University. Any truly interested student can achieve impressive results: the only matter is his desire and hard work. All the possibilities - highly qualified specialists, the latest equipment, the best techniques, production practices in the largest companies in the country - are available for this. Come and see for yourself!
