At the turn of the seven years

Today, the 132nd session of the JINR Scientific Council was held in a mixed format in Dubna. One of the main issues of the agenda was the discussion of the draft of the Seven-Year Plan for the JINR Development in 2024-2030. JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov made a report on this issue. On the eve of the Scientific Council, the newspaper editorial office turned to the heads of the Institute's laboratories with a request to comment on the preparation of this relevant document that determines the near future of our Institute.

LRB: based on new concepts

The development of an international scientific programme in radiobiology and astrobiology entered an active stage in 2019 that was facilitated by several key events. At the beginning of this year, the first meeting of the international biophysical collaboration was held, where strategic programmes of biological research on the world's leading accelerator complexes, such as NICA, FAIR, HIT, HIMAC, GANIL, MI2B, iThemba Labs, INFN, CNAO, KVI-CART and many others were discussed. The programme of LRB JINR was represented by A.N.Bugay. The results of the meeting were published in a thematic issue of the journal Frontiers of Physics. In September 2019, at a meeting of the JINR Scientific Council, the first working draft of the strategy for radiobiological research until 2030 was presented for discussion. The focus was on the radiobiology of heavy charged particles and its applications in the field of assessing radiation risks for the central nervous system of astronauts, as well as meeting fundamental issues of astrobiology in the search for traces of living organisms and the investigation of the synthesis of prebiotic compounds.

During the pandemic, much attention was paid to the development of biomedical projects and interaction with clinical centres. At the end of 2019, the international conference "Radiobiological Foundations of Radiation Therapy" was held, where the Scientific Leader of LRB E.A.Krasavin for the first time presented a new breakthrough approach patented by JINR to increase the efficiency of beam radiation therapy for cancer. Based on the new concept, research on medical radiobiology started to be carried out at LRB and the expansion of the strategic development programme in this area began. In 2020, the first measures were taken to develop the concept of the JINR Innovation Centre for Nuclear Physics Research. Among the main projects, the development of a new superconducting proton accelerator for medical purposes was discussed. LRB proposed a draft program for biological research on a new promising machine, the construction of which is in an active phase today.

In 2021, several key international meetings dedicated to the further improvement of the strategic programme of radiobiological research at JINR were held. At the beginning of 2021, the concept of the updated programme was consistently presented at the interlaboratory seminar and the JINR Scientific Council. The centre of gravity of interdisciplinary fundamental research on the effects of radiation upon living organisms was focused on when solving global socially significant issues, such as investigating the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases and developing breakthrough approaches to radiation therapy for oncological diseases. In May 2021, the international round table "Nuclear Physics Methods in Life Sciences: Neuroradiobiological Research and New Approaches to Radiotherapy of Tumors" dedicated to discussing current issues in these areas and coordinating joint research on the basis of LRB and institutes of the JINR Member States was held.

In September 2021, at the international round table "Applied Research and Innovations at the NICA Complex", the LRB research programme on the applied beams of the Nuclotron was outlined, focused on investigating radiation risks for astronauts and modeling complex radiation fields produced by cosmic radiation. The LRB research programme in a whole range of areas was discussed at the VIII Congress on Radiation Research organized by JINR and FMBA in October 2021, in which young researchers took an active part.

In 2022, the current draft of the radiation research programme in the field of life sciences was developed that was included in the Seven-Year Plan for JINR Development in 2024-2030. The new programme includes both fundamental research in the field of molecular radiobiology, genetics, neurophysiology, medical radiobiology, astrobiology, mathematical modeling and radiation safety, as well as the development of innovative projects in the field of omics technologies, breakthrough methods of radiation and radionuclide therapy. In the next seven years, LRB is looking forward to purchasing and installing new unique equipment with the possibility of collective access that will allow to attract more researchers from other scientific centres to the execution of the JINR scientific programme and to enrich it with new ideas. The young and expanding staff of LRB looks to the future with confidence and hopes for the implementation of the scheduled scientific plans and the achievement of breakthrough results of international standard.

Material provided by LRB JINR