IMD stands in solidarity with Ukraine
The International Microorganism Day (IMD) initiative stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all those affected by military offenses being carried out in Ukraine.
This website has been a meeting and fraternization point for microbiologists from around the world, across borders, during happy hours. Now, it is also serving this purpose in times of trial, in support of Ukrainian microbiologists.
The Society of Microbiologists of Ukraine (SMU) and its members have contributed greatly to the celebration of the IMD. They were among the first who joyfully joined the IMD celebrations, in 2018. By the end of February 2022, they saw their lives and professional activities jeopardized by an armed invasion of their country. What is happening in Ukraine is against everything the IMD initiative stands for. We react with shock and deep regret.
The IMD celebrations that occurred in Ukraine are here recalled, in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. May they be soon repeated, in peace!
“Science is global – we should be building connections, not destroying them.”
Posters designed by the Society of Microbiologists of Ukraine (SMU), in 2018.
In 2018 and 2019, the IMD was celebrated at the Kyiv Palace of Children and Youth. Besides holding several events for engaging the public, SMU organized a conference presenting children's projects on Microbiology.
In 2021, after the harsh year of 2020 fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, IMD was again celebrated with in-person events in the Kyiv Palace of Children and Youth.
The SMU has coordinated several IMD dedicated conferences in September 17:
IMD dedicated conference in Kiyv, 2019.
IMD dedicated conference online, held in 2020. Speakers joined from Kyiv, Uzhhorod, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro and other cities. The event can be watched on Youtube.
IMD dedicated conference in September 17, 2021, with speakers from Uzhhorod, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odesa and other cities. This event can be watched on Youtube.
Since 2019, IMD commemorating conferences have been organized in Kyiv, by the School of Clinical Microbiologist and the Department of Microbiology, Epidemiology, and Infection Control of the National Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education, named after P.L. Shupika. These conferences were the result of the work of several enthusiastic Ukrainian microbiologists working in the area of clinical microbiology, mostly at the microbiological laboratories in hospitals all over Ukraine.
The leader of this initiative was Halyna Filonenko, the founder of the facebook community "School of Clinical Microbiologist", a former Ph.D. student at the Department of Microbiology, Epidemiology and Infection Control of the National Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education.
The Conferences became a great success, attracting microbiologists from different Ukrainian universities and academic institutes.
Events also involved various competitions including Microbial Art!
In 2020, Dr. Olena Livinska, microbiologist and founder of popular information resource "Microbe and I" ("Мікроб і я"), prepared this special video:
Have your heard about the Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine?
Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) in Kyiv is the largest and leading scientific institution in Ukraine in the field of microbiology, virology, and microbial biotechnology, engaged in basic research in taxonomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics and ecology of various groups of bacteria, microscopic fungi, and viruses, as well as in applied microorganism-based processes for agriculture, human health care, veterinary medicine and the protection of environment.
The Institute is named after prominent Ukrainian scientist Danylo Zabolotny, who found institute in 1928. Danylo Zabolotny was a talented student of the first Nobel Prize winner in medicine Ilya Mechnikov (Elie Metchnikoff), and then became world famous microbiologist and one of the fathers of epidemiology, publishing in 1927 one of the first texts in this field “Fundamentals of Epidemiology”. Zabolotny’s high principles of integrity in scientific research were continued in the institute to these days.
Traditionally the fundamental research of the institute is a basis for the successful development of novel microbe-based biotechnologies and preparations.
Ukrainian Strategy for Sowing season – 2022: microbiological plant protection products, and schemes for the application of complex microbial biotechnologies
One remarkable example of the biotechnologies developed in Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology of NASU is related to microbiological plant protection products and schemes of application of complex microbial biotechnologies, which can become a great help in the strategy for Ukrainian Sowing season – 2022 during Russian War against Ukraine. Learn more in the interview where Dr Lyudmyla BILIAVSKA, Head of the Department of General and Soil Microbiology of Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology of NASU, is talking to Valery BILOKON, “FreeFARM” Project Manager of the company “AGPOTERRA” on 25th of March 2022 (27th day of Russian War against Ukraine). The strategy of biological protection of wheat, rapeseed, corn, sunflower, and soybeans is discussed, and the focus is on the main questions related to effective planting that Ukrainian agrarians are currently interested in.
This post was prepared with the contribution of Ukrainian microbiologists, in particular those who were enthusiastically involved in the IMD commemorations. The post will be subjected to constant updates, depending on contributions from the community. Please contact us if you have more information.