The Laboratory of Comparative Biochemistry.
Above you see the lab's official name. However, bearing in mind that the substances we study are lipids and the major objects of our studies are ones from the sea, we called this page «The Laboratory of Marine Lipids».
The lab is headed by A.B. Imbs, Cand. Sci. (Chem.) (senior researcher)
The lab's staff comprises 12 persons including 8 scientific researchers, 3 doctors of science, 5 candidates of science, and 1 post-graduate student.
We study lipids of all classes from marine plants and animals. The priorities include:
- studying the composition, distribution, and paths of biosynthesis of lipids
- investigating trophic relations in marine communities using lipid markers
- marine bacteria chemotaxonomy
- structural analysis of lipids
- synthesis of fatty acids and other lipids
- elucidating the functional role of eicosanoids in marine organisms
- studying biological activity of lipids from marine organisms
The applied research includes:
- synthesis and preparative isolation of pure fatty acids
- production of antipsoriatic and antipyrotic preparations from marine fats
- production of cattle sperm cryoprotectors
The laboratory was founded by V.E. Vaskovsky in 1972. He headed the development of a widespread lipid analysis technique, which has been widely used both in Russia and abroad. Studies on the distribution of polar lipids in marine organisms were among the lab's first activities. Later on, investigations on the distribution, structure, path of biosinthesis, and role of fatty acids were initiated. The lab's other activities include elucidation of a general pattern of the distribution of polar lipids and fatty acids in the main types of marine invertebrates and in micro- and macroalgae; structural analysis of unusual fatty acids, including long-chain ones; studying trophic relations and finding new symbionts in marine communities.
Some methods of isolation of polyenic fatty acids and other bioactive substances from marine organisms developed in the lab are granted with patents.
The lab's current acivities span a large domain including the role of lipids in microalgae, fatty acids of marine bacteria, marine invertebrate and algae prostaglandins, algal polar lipids, effect of oil pollution on marine communities, role of «marine» (eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic) fatty acids in human skin inflammation.
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Address:
Russian Federation
Vladivostok
690041
Palchevsky 17
Institute of Marine Biology
The Laboratory of Comparative Biochemistry
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