The BalticSeaBioMed network meeting took place at the LSC on March19–20. The network brings together the Universities of Eastern Finland, Southern Denmark, Turku, Vilnius University as well as Åbo Academi and Karolinska Institutet. 

Through problem-based learning and state-of-the-art biomedical methodologies, the network helps students to develop the skills and competencies needed for future employment and a successful career. The activities are funded by Nordplus, the Nordic-Baltic International Cooperation Programme.

The Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (VU LSC) hosted science officers from the United States Embassies in the Baltic States and Denmark.

The structure of a protein is like a photo of it, allowing you to take a closer look at the world of molecules. And researchers have to work hard to see that. Structural information about the proteins is also very important in the field of bacterial antiviral defense systems, the study and application of which have already been awarded the Nobel Prize twice - for gene and genome editing tools. The latter is already used in Europe for the treatment of sickle cell anemia. We currently know more than 100 bacterial antiviral defense systems, which were studied and discovered by the aforementioned tools. "Only a few of them have been characterized. Therefore, we do not yet know what we will find and how researchers will come up with ways to apply them", says structural biology researcher Dr. Giedrė Tamulaitienė of Vilnius University (VU) Life Sciences Center (LSC).

Virus researchers of Vilnius University (VU) Life Sciences Center Dr. Gytis Dudas and Dr. Allison Black from the USA have published a book The Applied Genomic Epidemiology Handbook: A Practical Guide to Leveraging Pathogen Genomic Data in Public Health. The book is intended for public health professionals who are interested in genomic epidemiology or who want to start applying it in their work. The authors introduce the readers to the essential principles of genomic epidemiology, tools and the implementation and application of genomic monitoring systems in practice.

Vilnius University Life Sciences Center has become one of the new test centers in NATO transatlantic network.  Today DIANA’s network expanded from 11 to 23 accelerator sites and from 90 to 182 test centers in 28 allied countries.

On March 6, the Life Sciences Center, together with its partners Northtown Vilnius and 2AM Health, hosted the opening event of an entrepreneurship program StartBIO: from Lab to Business.

On Monday, the VU Life Sciences Center (VU LSC) hosted representatives of organisations from the healthcare sector in the German land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. During the visit, mutual cooperation opportunities were discussed.

Dr. Edvardas Golovinas has joined the ranks of PhDs at Vilnius University Life Sciences Center. After defending his thesis "Structural and Biochemical Studies of an Argonaute and Its Associated Protein from Archaeoglobus fulgidus", he was awarded a PhD in biochemistry. Congratulations!

At the age of 30–35, aging-related processes are already recorded in the brain, but some functions may improve. “For example, language skills either do not decrease or may even improve. Over time, a person gains more life experience, so the vocabulary expands as well,” says Prof. Osvaldas Rukšėnas, a neuroscientist at the Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University. According to him, a growing body of scientific evidence shows that physical and intellectual activity, a balanced diet and socialization can help maintain brain health longer.

The President of the Republic of Malta, Dr. George William Vella, together with an official delegation, visited the Life Sciences Center (LSC) of Vilnius University. The President met with VU Vice-Rector and Pro-Rector for Research, Prof. Edita Sužiedėlienė, VU Life Sciences Center researchers Prof. Virginijus Šikšnys, Dr. Urtė Neniškytė, and Prof. Eglė Lastauskienė, Chairwoman of the Vilnius University Senate and Director of the Institute of Biosciences at the VU LSC. Prof. Eglė Lastauskienė presented the Center, studies as well as the areas of research conducted.

Achievements of the AI program AlphaFold are mind-blowing, but it also has its limitations. “The program AlphaFold solved a problem that seemed insurmountable – it determines the structures of proteins and protein complexes by non-experimental methods. The program does it extremely accurately. […] Fortunately, AlphaFold is not yet all-powerful, because if it could do everything, we would be out of work”, jokingly says Dr. Giedrius Sasnauskas, a biochemist of Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (VU LSC).

Senior Researcher Dr. Giedrė Tamulaitienė and colleagues from Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (VU LSC), in collaboration with the researchers from Weizmann Institute of Sciences (Israel), revealed an activation mechanism of the Thoeris antiviral defence system effector. The article Activation of Thoeris antiviral system via SIR2 effector filament assembly was published in the prestigious science and technology journal Nature. Researchers have determined the structure of the previously unknown active SIR2 effector of the bacterial defence system Thoeris (named after the Egyptian goddess who protects childbirth and fertility) and proposed an activation mechanism.

“Many cancers are curable with existing protocol therapy, however, not all cancers respond to it. Based on the data of my research, I think that both treatment and diagnostics will become more and more individualized,” says Dr. Rūta Navakauskienė, researcher of Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (VU LSC). Her research group’s study on stem cells and their therapeutic application is part of this progress.

In October 2023, the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (LMA) nominated the cycle of works “Investigation of the role of cancer and stem cells in the pathogenesis of diseases and their application for therapy - synergy of experimental biology and computer informatics (2008–2022)” by Dr. Rūta Navakauskienė (together with Prof. Dalius Navakauskas, Dr. Veronika Viktorija Borutinskaitė and Prof. Dalius Matuzevičius) as candidate for the Lithuanian Science Prize.