The regular meeting of the Scientific Council at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies was held on December 7. Opening the meeting, the vice-president of ANAS, director-general of the institute academician Irada Huseynova acquainted the council members with the issues on the agenda. She said that today the laboratory of Genome structure and expression would deliver an annual report on “Molecular-genetic and proteomic study of plant responses to environmental stressors”.

The head of the laboratory of Genome structure and expression, Ph.D. Alamdar Mammadov gave detailed information to the council members on the work carried out and results obtained on the mentioned topic at the laboratory, published articles, staff training. It was noted that the laboratory conducted an analysis of genes related to salt tolerance in wheat this year, a comparative study of DNA damage and repair of abiotic stress plants at the level of the total transcriptome using specific monoclonal antibodies. As part of the staff training, doctoral student Huseynova Fidan has successfully completed her education at the Laboratory of Bioengineering and Nanoscience at the University of Montpellier in France and is preparing to defend her dissertation.

Within the conducting joint research and staff training with the Lankaran Regional Scientific Center of ANAS, Hamidova Sugra, a dissertation student of Lankaran State University, majoring in "Molecular Biology", analyzed plant samples collected from the region at the Institute's Bioadaptation Laboratory.

Leading researchers of the Laboratory of Bioadaptation, Doctor of Biological Sciences Tofik Allahverdiev, Doctors of Philosophy in Biology Samira Rustamova, Nargiz Sultanova, Gulnara Balakishieva spoke in detail about the work done this year, published articles, grant projects, local and foreign science trips. It was noted that this year, using non-invasive digital phenotyping, the physiological status of contrasting wheat genotypes under conditions of water shortage and rehydration was assessed, the expression of the DREB1 transcription factor gene and components of the antioxidant defense system were studied, and the expression of the network of genes responsible for the tolerance of wheat plants to drought and high temperatures was analyzed. Interesting results were obtained in the field of epidemiology of the spread of viral and phytoplasmic plant diseases in Azerbaijan, molecular genetic characteristics, pathogen-host relationships in plants and studies of the mechanisms of resistance to pathogens. Research in laboratories was carried out in close cooperation with international research centers and universities. The laboratory has successfully continued training mainly young personnel. So, this year Lala Aydinli defended her dissertation in the specialty "Plant Physiology", and Gulnar Abdullayeva, a candidate for the degree in Molecular Biology, continues her doctoral studies at Oxford University in the UK under the doctoral scholarship program of the Islamic Development Bank. The junior researcher of the laboratory, Sabina Omarova, got the opportunity for doctoral studies at the University of Montpellier in France, having won the competition "State Program for Increasing the International Competitiveness of the Higher Education System in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2019-2023".

After the speeches, extensive discussions took place. At the end of the meeting, a unanimous decision was made to approve the reports.