Meridians of cooperation

Meetings in Baku

On 25 - 27 November, a working visit of the JINR delegation headed by JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov to the Republic of Azerbaijan was held.

The programme of the visit included a meeting with the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan to JINR, Vice-President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and Director of the Institute of Physics of ANAS Arif Gashimov, as well as meetings with Deputy Minister of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Firudin Gurbanov and President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Isa Habbibayli. The delegation of the Institute visited a number of leading scientific organizations and universities of Azerbaijan. A cooperation agreement was signed between Khazar University and JINR.

A meeting of the JINR delegation with Director General of the National Oncology Centre (NOC) of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan was organized. The participants discussed the status and prospects for the development of nuclear medicine in Azerbaijan, as well as current methods of cancer prevention and treatment. Deputy Director of the Centre Dr. Fuad Guliyev introduced the capabilities of the Nuclear Medicine Department to the guests, including SPECT and PET diagnostics, advanced approaches to working with patients and the production of radiopharmaceuticals.

During the meeting, the prospects for joint investigations in the field of proton therapy and nuclear medicine were discussed and the high social significance of using advanced nuclear physics technologies on cancer was emphasized. The Azerbaijani party highly appreciated the presented project of the new medical proton accelerator MSC-230 and expressed interest in the developments of specialists from the Joint Institute. The doctors of the Oncology Centre and scientists emphasized the significance of joint research in the field of radiochemistry and medical radiobiology and agreed to discuss promising areas of cooperation within the framework of subsequent meetings in future.

At the meeting of the JINR delegation with the representatives of A.I.Karaev Institute of Physiology of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, the goals and objectives of implementing a joint research project dedicated to the investigation of promising medicinal products of plant origin were discussed. The parties came to a consensus on the need to apply a comprehensive scientific approach to meeting the tasks and successfully implementing the project. The samples provided by the Institute of Physiology staff are scheduled to be included in the programme of experimental measurements at the IBR-2 reactor. Based on the results of studying the structure of molecular mechanisms, investigations of the potential radioprotective effect of the substances in question will be carried out on cell cultures and laboratory animals.

During Grigory Trubnikov's visit to the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a meeting was held with Deputy Minister Firudin Gurbanov, the subject of which was a detailed discussion of priority areas of cooperation and prospects for strengthening the cooperation of scientific and scientific-educational organizations of Azerbaijan and JINR. The meeting was attended by Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of Azerbaijan to JINR Arif Gashimov.

The first day of the visit ended with a fruitful meeting of the Institute's delegation with President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Isa Habbibayli, during which Isa Habbibayli and Grigory Trubnikov informed each other about the strategic development areas of ANAS and JINR, as well as discussed priority areas of cooperation.

On 26 November, a solemn ceremony of signing an agreement on cooperation in the field of education and science between the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the first private university in Azerbaijan was held at Khazar University. The document was signed by JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov and the founder of Khazar University Hamlet Isayev.

During these days, a seminar was organized for students and staff of the university, where Grigory Trubnikov presented general information about the research activities of the Institute and the staff members of LRB, FLNP and DLNP made reports on research in the field of life sciences. The event ended with a discussion of the prospects for joint activities in this area. Rector of Khazar University Irada Khalilova, Head of the Engineered Biomaterials Research Centre (EBMRC) Sudabe Davaran, Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences Jamala Eldarova, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Electronics Farida Tatardar, Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering Fahranda Afandi participated in the discussion. JINR was represented by LRB Director Alexander Bugay, FLNP Deputy Director Norbert Kucherka, Deputy Head of Department of VBLHEP Oleg Belov, FLNP senior researcher Tatyana Murugova, Head of Sector of LRB Yury Severyukhin, DLNP junior researcher Mikhail Zarubin and Head of the Azerbaijani Community at JINR, DLNP senior researcher Nazim Huseynov. Following the discussions, the parties agreed to carry out joint interdisciplinary research in the field of multicomponent radiation therapy for oncological diseases.

This working visit laid a solid foundation for adjusting cooperation priorities and determining the most effective ways of Azerbaijan's participation in multilateral scientific and technological cooperation among JINR Member States.

Based on the information from the JINR Press Office