News
April 18, 2022
Late complications after the new coronavirus infection are studied by the new laboratory at the KarRC RAS Biomedical Research Center (BMRC). On April 15th it was visited by the Republic of Karelia Health Care Minister Mikhail Okhlopkov.
KarRC RAS Director General Olga Bakhmet and BMRC Director Ekaterina Shoshina introduced the regional Minister to the unit’s activities and staff and gave him a tour of the well-equipped rooms.

The innovations center was established after the KarRC RAS Outpatient Clinic had been reformed in 2020. While keeping its medical care functions, the unit has expanded its capacities to include research. Thus, KarRC RAS BMRC now includes a scientific laboratory which studies the development mechanisms of various pathological conditions, including complications after COVID-19.

– People in the North are susceptible to socially significant diseases: cardiovascular, endocrine, infectious, and others. The factors promoting their development – not only genetics, but also lifestyles and the external environment – are the subject of our studies. We primarily focus on the internal mechanisms of human resistance or proneness to diseases, – told the Research Area Leader Lyudmila Lysenko.

The laboratory has the equipment necessary for clinical diagnosis and medical genetic testing, including PCR analysis, purchased with federal subsidy funds for upgrading the equipment of scientific organizations.

Scientists are now assessing the risk of remote consequences in post-COVID-19 patients, such as prothrombotic conditions or vascular endothelial dysfunction. Researchers will also use biochemical and molecular genetic testing to estimate the time needed for people in the North to recover immunologically and how long traces of the infective agent can persist in the organism.

Mikhail Okhlopkov asked the staff of the laboratory and other BMRC divisions questions regarding the equipment, facilities, and working conditions. In conclusion, participants of the meeting discussed potential cooperation areas and the possibility to promote personified diagnosis and patient-oriented therapy of various diseases at BMRC – another promising sphere related to the scientific activities of KarRC RAS.

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April 28, 2025
Karelian biologists ran successful trials of a technique for detecting fish infection with helminths based on traces of their DNA in water

Specialists of the Institute of Biology KarRC RAS were the first in the republic to test the method of environmental DNA analysis (eDNA) to detect a model fish parasite in an area impacted by trout farms. This is especially important in the context of a growing number of fish farms that use the practice of transporting stock (fry) from between water bodies, which creates a risk of new parasites appearing in lakes. Currently, fish have to be captured and examined to detect an infection, and for the output to be accurate the sample should be at least 15 fish. This may be problematic in the wild and costly in cage facilities. The eDNA diagnosis system can detect the presence of parasites directly in water samples.