On September 26, 2017, the 7th International Weigl Conference began its work in the Assembly Hall of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. 130 participants from Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Iraq, Estonia and the Netherlands took part in the scientific meeting.
The conference is devoted to the memory of the prominent Lviv biologist of Austrian origin Rudolf Weigl, who created the first vaccine against typhus and organized its industrial release. Among his students are Ukrainian and Polish scholars.
The conference was congratulated by the Vice Rector for Research, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Professor Roman Gladyshevskii. Having briefly acquainted the participants with the history of scientific research at the University of Lviv, the Vice Rector emphasized the important role of Rudolf Weigl for world science and medicine.
“We are glad that this year’s conference takes place in Lviv, because Rudolf Weigl worked most of his life in our city, and his scientific work helped save thousands of lives around the world,” said Roman Gladyshevskii.
Congratulating the participants, Deputy Mayor of Lviv Andriy Moskalenko stressed that the city council pays special attention to the development of the scientific potential of the city, and therefore readily supports the idea of holding conferences and other events aimed at intensifying the intellectual life of Lviv.
The participants were also greeted by the Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Director of O. V. Palladin Institute of Biochemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Serhiy Komisarenko and Corresponding Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Professor of the University of Gdańsk Grzegorz Wegrzyn.
At the end of the official opening of the Conference, the chairman of the organizing committee, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Director of the Institute of Cell Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Andriy Sybirnyi told about the tradition and history of Weigl Conferences, which take place in Ukraine and Poland in a row.
At Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, the Weigl Conference was first held in 2003.
The organizers of this year’s conference say that the event will serve to further develop partnerships and mutually beneficial scientific cooperation between Ukrainian and foreign microbiologists, biotechnologists and immunologists, in particular from Poland and other countries of Central and Western Europe. Thanks to the successful collaboration within the framework of the conference, one can hope for joint scientific projects, exchange of students, scholars and graduate students, as well as joint scientific publications in international scientific journals.
The organizers of the conference are: All-Ukrainian public organization “Ukrainian Society of Cell Biology”, Society of Microbiologists of Ukraine named after. S. Vynogradskyi, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the Institute of Cell Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Key members of this year’s conference are: the Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Andriy Sybirnyi (Institute of Cell Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Chairman of the Organizing Committee), Corresponding Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Professor Grzegorz Wegrzyn (University of Gdańsk, Poland, co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee), Professor Bauke Oudega (the Netherlands, President of the Federation of European Microbiologists), Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Valentyn Pidgorskyi (Institute of Microbiology and Virology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv), Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Serhiy Komisarenko (Institute of Biochemistry named after O. V. Palladin, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv), Prof. Folkmar Passat (Swedish Natural Science University, Uppsala), Professor Patrick Fiker (University of Liège, Belgium), Professor Yaroslav Dziadek (Institute of Medical Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Łódź), Professor Andrzej Dzhugaj (Rector of the Higher Medical School, Klodzko, Poland), Professor Andrzej Gamián (Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław), Professor Wiesław Barabash (Kraków University of Natural Sciences, Poland), Corresponding Member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences Professor Alexander Rapoport (University of Latvia, Riga), Professor Rimantas Daugelavičius (University of Kaunas, Lithuania), Professor Jaak Truu (University of Tartu, Estonia), Associate Professor Oksana Teglivets (University of Graz, Austria) and many others.
The conference will continue until September 29th in the following sections: “Metabolism and Regulation”, “Immunology”, “Biotechnology of Microorganisms”, “Medical Microbiology”, “Pharmacology”, “Microbiology of the Environment”.