History and Objectives

The division of food safety and biotechnologies was established in 2010. In 2000 the Laboratory of Cell Interaction of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia was established by the initiative of A. Z. Pepoyan, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor and the lab was carried over to Armenian National Agrarian University and renamed into Laboratory for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in 2008. The collaboration of scientists of different fields, such as molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, biotechnology, plant physiology, technology of food, bioethics, created big opportunities for analyzing issues of food safety and biotechnologies and finding ways for fixing the issues. The scientific researches are conducted in three directions – the quality of food and life safety, diagnostics and biotechnology. The main directions of the division activities are studies on molecular mechanisms of humans, animals, plants and bacterial cells at genetic, metabolic, and membrane levels, as well as their use for biotechnological purposes.

QUALITY OF FOOD AND LIFE SAFETY

– vitamins and toxins,
– the determination of pathogenesis in food (fish products, juices, meat products)
– antibiotics, antibiotic residue
– antioxidants
– proteins, protein residue
– food allergens.

DIAGNOSIS

Microbial, immunochemical, hematological researches are being carried out by the staff. The significant achievement of the research team is “Biotest” project, which allows making a high-quality diagnosis that is also economically beneficial.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

The main objective of the division is to discover the role of probiotics during the process of improving the health conditions of animals and humans based on the modern achievements of molecular biology, biochemistry and immunology.

Pedagogical activity.

• Lectures – General biology, methods of molecular biology and genetics, methods of modern immunology

• Theses supervision

• Seminars, discussions, and students involvement in scientific researches

• Organization of professional lectures by RA NAS and foreign researchers

• Organization of trainings

• Developing microbiological ways for intestinal microflora regulation of humans and animals.

The staff of the division collaborates with the leading scientific research centers in Armenia, Russia, USA, France, Japan, Slovakia, Canada, Great Britain, etc. “Biotest”, a very effective project, developed by the division is prepared for Enterobacteriaceae bacteria differentiation and can be widely applied in the process of diagnostics.