The Research and Educational Center for Molecular Microbiology and Immunology of Mucous Membranes (hereinafter referred to as the Center) of the Uzhgorod National University of Higher Education and Research, in accordance with the decision of the Academic Council of the University of April 4, 2011 (Order No. 73/01-03), was created as a separate scientific structural unit for the successful implementation state budget, international, bilateral and economic and contractual research topics, conducting modern fundamental and applied, including clinical research. The Center is a structural associative association of performers of scientific and research works based on common scientific and financial and economic interests.

It was created for the purpose of full and effective use of the intellectual potential of the relevant teaching and research staff, the unification of financial, material, technical and labor resources, to improve the qualifications and quality of professional training of students, specialists (scientific and pedagogical staff), the implementation of scientific and research, educational and educational works in the priority areas of microbiology and immunology of biological and medical direction.

Today in the Center are working 

Prof., D.Sc. Boyko Nadiya Volodymyrivna is the director of the Center

Prof., D.Sc. Sukharev Serhii Mykolayovych 

Assoc., D.Sc., Polishchuk Volodymyr Volodymyrovych

Prof., D.Sc. Drobnych Volodymyr Hryhorovych 

Ph.D. Yusko Lesya Serhiivna 

Assoc., Ph.D. Chendey T. V.

Assoc., Ph.D. Devinyak Oleg Teodoziyovych

Ph.D. Meleshko Tamara Vadimovna 

Ph.D. Pallag Oleksandra Volodymyrivna

Ph.D. student Burmei (Tymoshchuk) Svitlana Andriivna

Ph.D. student Rukavchuk Roman Oleksandrovych 

junior research fellow Ivashko Maxim Vasyliovych

junior research fellow Seniv Maria Mykolayivna 

junior research fellow Bek Vladyslav Antonovych

Engineer Sokolov Oleksandr Olehovych 

Engineer Baksha Hanna Petrovna

Challenges to which the Center's activities are directed as opportunities for development

The need for human microbiome research

Most of the modern approaches in P4 medicine are based on today's proven ideas that the personal microbiome is the key to the formation and maintenance of personal health of a person, and therefore a tool for the prevention of a number of infectious and non-infectious diseases.

The problem of studying the microbiome is the difficulty of tracking its daily changes due to the influence and interaction of the total number of various external factors on us.

It is extremely difficult to characterize the concept of a "normal" oral or intestinal microbiome, also considering the fact that it is not so much the determined ratio of different representatives of the microbiome that is diagnostic, but rather its functioning or "functionome".

Our scientific research is precisely aimed at:

• • development of a comprehensive approach for assessment and consideration of local (epigenetic) risk factors in differentiating the microbiome of any individual;
• • creation of composite databases of food products as one of the most powerful factors in modulating the microbiome
• • development of bioinformatics approaches for the correct interpretation of individual microbiome features for the purpose of early diagnosis of non-communicative diseases (obesity, type 2 diabetes, CVD, youth depression, etc.);
• • development of new pharmaceutical preparations (pharmabiotics) and innovative functional food products for targeted purposes with clinically proven effectiveness and predetermined properties;
• • justification of the possibility of personalized nutrition;
• • proposal of a new strategy for the prevention and treatment of diseases, taking into account the stratification of patients and the use of new generation biomarkers.

The Center's staff is working on the search for new generation biomarkers, which is based on the discovery of correlated and characteristic ratios of indicators of one or another condition for a certain individual, taking into account a set of parameters such as:

1) individual microbiome;

2) biochemical indicators;

3) immune status relevant to age, gender;

4) mental health, stress level;

5) physical activity;

6) socio-economic status;

7) food preferences.

For this, we solve the following tasks

• • correct mathematically proven probable interpretation of human clinical data, limited data on cohorts or results with directly opposite data and recommendations;
• • the complexity of the structure of food products and, therefore, a low probability of providing an accurate prediction of the expected effect on the correction of the human microbiome, which is related or modulated through the immune response to the state of the whole organism;
• • correct interpretation of personal microbiome data;
• • creation of adequate databases;
• • search for synergy between "environmental" (all types of pollution, such as pesticides, antibiotics, as well as poor plant nutrition and other external factors) and actually "individual" (behavior, food culture, socio-economic status, education) factors, which additionally affect unique individual characteristics, physiologically determined by "genes", mental health, body constitutions, etc.

The need for the implementation of IT and the development of bioinformatics

Interpreting individual microbiome data with other relevant and decisive factors (evidential and correlational biomarkers, taking into account age, gender, personal health status indicator, personal nutritional needs, food composition data, lifestyle specifics, cultural preferences, environmental conditions, etc.), which can be carried out exclusively with the help of bioinformatics.

In addition, it is important to create food databases. The use of the latter would help the development of:

• national population nutrition strategy;

• food safety;

• sports nutrition;

• public catering;

• a healthy lifestyle;

• food industry (for example, product development and labeling of food products);

• personalized nutrition.

In this way, it would be possible to harmonize a large amount of data, which includes all essential aspects of human health and other relevant databases using machine learning methods and tools.

The social aspect of our research developments consists in our contribution to the development of the circular bioeconomy in Transcarpathia, as a basis for increasing economic potential, environmental sustainability and the growth of the number of jobs.

Regions that envisage the bioeconomy as the main prosperous sector in their intellectual specialization strategies ensure their sustainable and progressive development for years. The processes of utilization of utilization resources (agricultural biomass and organic waste) should be intended for innovation chains (bioplastics, bioenergy, second-generation biofuels, biological fertilizers) – and in our case, they are the raw materials of BARs, which are part of pharmabiotics.