Biological Research Center of Hungarian Academy of Sciences [antikvár]

In 1962, the Hungárián Academy of Sciences decided to concentrate a substantial part of its means on supporting of research in the field of modern biology. Professor Bruno Straub F. initiated the foundation of the Biological Research Centre. Szeged was chosen as the site for a number of reasons. It is a university town with numerous excellent traditions. Work began in the BRC in 1971, but the official opening ceremony was held in 1973 when the construction of the whole building was finished. Based on the concept of interdisciplinarity, scientiíic work in the BRC is carried out in 5 institutes: Biophysics, Biochemistry, Enzymology, Genetics and Plánt Biology. The research groups of the Institutes have the freedom to select their field of research. Traditionally, the major activities are dominated by molecular and cellular approaches. Topics from developmental or environmental biology belong to the research priorities as well. Collaborative projects among groups of different Institutes of the BRC and with international partners have gained considerable significance over the years. The competitive research in various fields of biology requires constant improvement of the instrumentation. The BRC has organised several central laboratories with facilities in DNA chip technology, protein analysis /MALDI-TOF/, bioinformatics, DNA synthesis and sequencing furthermore flow cytometry. As a continuation of the previous traditions, the directors of the BRC encourage the originality and competitiveness of the research groups to carry out high standard, internationally recognised academic research and transfer of knowledge into inventions with intellectual property rights. In 1998 the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) performed a detailed evaluation of the research performance in the BRC. "The EMBO committee", chaired by Prof. Kai Simons, "was most impressed by the high standards of the Centre. Out of 46 groups, the Committee evaluated 16 groups as very good to excellent. These groups are world class. The most outstanding achievements were in the areas of plánt biology and developmental genetics." This acknowledgement has essentially contributed to the success of the selection of the BRC as a Centre of Excellence of the European Union in 2000. With the financial support of the EU, BRC could organise an International Scientifk Advisory Board /SAB/. In 2001 SAB concluded that, "The BRC is continuing its research activities at a world class level. The BRC was nominated as a Centre of Excellence by the European Union, paying tribute to the quality of the research at the BRC. The SAB classihed the research activities into 3 categories: excellent, good and below average. Out of 36 groups which were evaluated, 14 were classified as excellent. The real strengths are in fields of developmental genetics, enzymology and plánt biology." Scientists in the BRC are encouraged to participate actively in the educational programmes of the University of Szeged. The International Training Course, initially supported by UNESCO and UNDP, in addition to the Molecular Biology PhD school, are important components of the educational activities of the Biological Research Center. Students from the neighbouring and developing countries gain academic knowledge in the fields of molecular and cell biology. Recently, UNESCO funded a UNESCO Chair in the field of environmental biology within the BRC that provides a new framework for increasing teaching activities based on ITC and Ph.D. programmes. The intellectual and infrastructure capacity of the BRC provide a unique situation to serve as a régiónál centre both in Hungary and in the central European region. The BRC employs about 450 persons, 220 of which belong to the scientific staíf including 15-20 graduate students of the International Training Course and 60-70 in various Ph.D. programmes. Recently BRC has initiated the organization of the Biopolis Szeged - Life Science Consortium that integrates activities in the field of biology, medicine, biotechnology, and plánt breeding in the town. Functional genomics and bioinformatics serve as common platform to improve teaching and research performance furthermore to organize technology transfer companies. The BRC organises each autumn a small conference, which provides a fórum for the scientists to present their new research achievements. We dedicate these scientific meetings to Professor Bruno Straub F., the first Director General of the Biological Research Centre. Szeged, 2003. ttrCL Prof. Dénes Dudits Director General We would like to call your attention to our homepage, address: http://www.szbk.u-szeged.hu