Meditation strengthens human speech control mechanisms

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Meditation can not only improve emotional well-being, but also influence the speech functions of the brain, according to the results of a research project by a bachelor's degree graduate Humanitarian Institute Novosibirsk State University in the field of "Fundamental and Applied Linguistics" by Nadezhda Istomina. The results were obtained using electroencephalography (EEG) and concern both speech and motor (non-speech) control of behavior. Her project is part of a larger study conducted by a team led by the head of the laboratory of psychological genetics of the ICG SB RAS and the department of fundamental and applied linguistics of the Humanities Institute of NSU, Doctor of Philosophy Alexander Savostyanov.

— We studied how brain reactions differ in people who practice meditation and those who do not. It turned out that the brain of meditating participants reacts more actively to speech errors. Their neural response was stronger and faster. This indicates a more developed mechanism of speech control, — said Nadezhda Istomina.

The experiments were conducted at the Baikal Meditation Center in Buryatia back in 2018, where the participants were people who had been practicing Buddhist samadhi meditation for a long time, and a control group that had no meditative experience. A total of 204 EEG recordings were analyzed. The participants performed two tasks: stopping a previously started movement on a signal (motor control) and looking for grammatical errors in sentences (speech control).

— The example sentences were as simple as possible, so that even a child could handle them. This helped us focus on the brain’s reaction, not on the complexity of the text. We didn’t want to test grammar knowledge, but to understand how quickly and vividly the brain reacts to an error, — Nadezhda explained.

The most striking differences between the groups were found in speech control. Meditators showed a stronger neural response to speech errors than non-meditators. This effect was independent of age, gender, or personality traits such as anxiety.

For motor control, the differences were less pronounced.

"Here, personality traits played a major role – anxiety, neuroticism level and age. The influence of meditation itself was weaker," she noted.

However, one of the most interesting discoveries concerned the relationship between speech and motor control. Meditators showed a significant correlation between these two systems in the left frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex – in Broca's area, which is responsible for controlling the correctness of speech. No such relationship was observed in the control group. This may indicate that the brain of meditators coordinates speech and motor processes more closely.

"We have shown for the first time that meditation can not only improve general health, but also establish new connections between speech and motor functions in the brain. This opens up interesting prospects – both for science and, possibly, for practice," Nadezhda emphasized.

The study is not yet complete — the work is ongoing, and in the future it is planned to study other possible correlations and mechanisms of the influence of meditative practices on cognitive functions. The team working on the project hopes that the data obtained will help to better understand how meditation affects the brain, and possibly use this knowledge in the treatment of speech disorders or cognitive disorders.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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NSU and BurService will create a new generation software package for interpreting geoinformation and constructing models in the field of geological exploration and development of hydrocarbon deposits.

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Russian oilfield services company BurService has become an investor in a project that is important for the oil and gas industry, within the framework of which NSU and the company signed an agreement on the joint creation and commercialization of a new generation software package for interpreting seismic and other geological and geophysical information in order to build digital models of fields. A pilot version of the new software, ready for introduction to the market, will appear by the end of 2025.

Currently, the software for building geological and geophysical models of hydrocarbon deposits is dominated by software products from Western companies that have left the Russian market and stopped supporting their software. Many of these products have become industry standards over the past 30 years and have formed the basis for corporate solutions for all leading Russian oil companies.

— BurService and NSU are jointly solving the problem of creating a new generation software package that will ensure a seamless transition of Russian oil and gas industry enterprises from Western software to a domestic product. Our company has accumulated extensive experience working with software that occupies leading positions in the industry both at the international and Russian levels. NSU is one of the leading universities in our country, which has a rich scientific heritage of the founders of geophysical science and practice in our country, as well as modern scientific achievements, technological developments and highly qualified personnel in the field of applied mathematics, geophysics, programming, — noted the project manager from BurService Stanislav Kopunov.

The software package being developed will not only be comparable with Western analogues considered the industry standard, but will also surpass them in a number of parameters. In particular, the best practices from the experience of Russian and foreign companies are being implemented, including those based on machine learning. The product will be created based on the architecture designed by developers from Novosibirsk State University. The package will be based on the open database management system PostgreSQL and will provide multi-user distributed access, and the modern technological stack guarantees cross-platform and compatibility with various operating systems, including domestic ones.

— This is a rare case in the practice of Russian universities, when a university and private business agree on the joint development of a large software package and its promotion in the industry. This is an example of how a scientific development in the field of geological and geophysical modeling of hydrocarbon deposits, after appropriate revision and adaptation, finds further development and is introduced into the real sector of the economy, — commented Sergey Golovin, Director of the Advanced Engineering School of NSU.

The cooperation between NSU and BurService involves joint work not only on the creation of a software package, but also on its further modernization, improvement and support.

OOO BurServis is an independent Russian company, one of the largest players in the oilfield services market with its own equipment fleet, production bases and a team of over 4,000 people. Range of services: drilling and formation parameter assessment, general contracting (turnkey drilling), completion and production, project management, consulting, IT solutions, pipeline services, controlled pressure drilling.

Official company websites: VV. Burervice.ru; VBV Burervice.K.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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The final conference of the 5th SberLab-NSU Summer School took place

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The SberLab-NSU Summer School is held for the fifth year in a row and lasts for five weeks. The school is aimed at students of IT departments of Novosibirsk State University. During this time, participants solve real problems and projects related to modern technologies and industry trends, from web development and digital design to machine learning.

This year, 23 teams took part in the Summer School, presenting their projects in various areas. Both classic web development and front-end solutions in the field of digital design and programs that translate text written in a programming language into machine codes (Editor's note: compilers) were demonstrated.

Some of the Summer School projects have been in development for a long time, for example, a project dedicated to the identification of Amur tigers (Ed. note). Tigers. IO— a service that provides tools for convenient cataloging of animals and graphic interaction with their images), has been in development for two years. The Aqua Trainer software, presented at the SberLab-NSU conference last year, was improved as part of this year's school. They decided to add a system to the application for sports trainers that could track spinal defects (if any) from images and send the results to doctors.

— By the end of the training, students gain invaluable experience and significantly improve their skills. Over the course of a month, they have the opportunity to try out various modern technologies depending on the project. The Summer School works according to the same principles as work in large technology companies: daily planning meetings, the need to be at work for eight hours a day, planning sprints, in general, a lot of things. Naturally, based on the results of the school, we select students for practical training for the new academic year. Students can write their diplomas on the topics of the projects they are developing and receive a stipend for working in the laboratory, — says Artem Tregubov, Director of the Summer School, Industrial Associate Professor at NSU.

Every year, the school's pool of partners expands. As the head of the regional office of SberTech in Novosibirsk Denis Kolodny notes, this year SberTech and SberZdorovye joined the project.

All participants of the event received certificates.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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NSU team wins gold medal at international synthetic biology competition SynBio Challenge in China

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

On August 6, the final of the international competition SynBio Challenge was held in Shenzhen (Guangdong Province, China). The team Faculty of Natural Sciences (FNS) of NSU GeneMeow won a gold medal in the Synthetic Cell category. The team solved the problem of developing a DNA sequence no longer than 140 bp, which ensures high expression of the green fluorescent protein. Two more teams from Russia, representing Moscow State University and Pirogov University, became winners in the Protein Design track.

The GeneMeow team included six students of the NSU Natural Sciences Department who completed their 3rd year in the Biology program: Valeria Romanova, Ekaterina Bolotova, Nail Bikeev, Nikita Ivanov, Ulyana Borovikova and Dmitry Kurbatsky. GeneMeow was formed from two strong teams that had previously participated in the Biotournament and achieved high results.

Nail Bikeev, a member of the NSU GeneMeow team, spoke about preparation and participation in the competition:

— We learned about the competition in May and spent a long time choosing the track we wanted to participate in. The Synthetic cell track seemed to us to be a more interesting and challenging task. We needed to create a DNA sequence that could increase the yield of the target protein, in our case, Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), which glows a beautiful green color. In a short time, we had to develop a concept for the sequence, review many articles on the topic, highlight the necessary ones, and check the functionality of the design using bioinformatics methods. The trip to China and the presentation of the work at the international level was the best motivation, since we managed to assemble our sequence and send it! At the Olympiad, we met many guys from other countries: Japan, Thailand, and, of course, China, and also met colleagues from Moscow State University and the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University. Such events are very inspiring, showing how many like-minded people there are all over the world.

The final was held in the format of a festival, where each team presented their solutions to the problems at the selection stage. In addition, the organizers of the competition synthesized the DNA sequences proposed by the participants, inserted them into plasmids with a gene of a fluorescent protein, which is used to check the DNA sequence, and during the festival visualized the synthesized sequences, compared which team's glowed brighter. The brightness of the glow became one of the criteria for assessing the work of each team.

Sergey Sedykh, PhD, Senior Lecturer Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies NSU, a judge for the SynBio Challenge, commented:

— It was the first time I was a judge at such an international event. The Russian teams showed themselves very well. Our guys from NSU demonstrated that the field of synthetic biology and life sciences in general is actively developing at Novosibirsk University, both at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and at the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies, where a new Master's program "Industrial Pharmacy". I have no doubt that next year the team from Novosibirsk will include students of this new program. Our guys have confirmed by their own example that the NSU motto "We will not make you smarter, we will teach you to think" works at the international level as well.

The competition is organized by Shenzhen University of High Technology. A total of 1,800 students registered to participate in the competition this year, of which about 1,000 participants from six countries — China, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia — reached the finals.

The participation of the NSU team in the international competition was financed within the framework of the academic mobility project of the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies of NSU Priority 2030 programs.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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NSU student team showed the best result in 10 years at the 32nd International Mathematical Olympiad IMC-2025

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The International Mathematical Olympiad is the most important student competition in mathematics in the world. IMC-2025 was held from July 28 to August 3 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. More than 430 students from leading universities around the world took part in it. For NSU, this is the 12th Olympiad, and every year the university students take honorable places in it.

This year, Novosibirsk State University was represented at IMC by: Valery Pyatkin, Stanislav Yelovatsky, Timofey Vasiliev with Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics and Ivan Frolov with Faculty of Natural Sciences.

The tasks for the mathematical Olympiad are selected at a jury meeting. Students' work is assessed according to the presented criteria by team leaders, professors and associate professors of universities.

Based on the results of the individual competition, the NSU team received four medals: two gold, one silver and one bronze. The team leaders are Anatoly Albertovich Ruban, associate professor of the Department of Mathematical Analysis of the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of NSU, and three-time IMC participant Danila Sergeevich Belousov.

– I have been participating in IMC since my first year, this was my third trip. The Olympiad was held in the IMO format. We solved 5 problems every day for two days. The problems are non-standard and quite different from those we solve in Russia. The Olympiad is taking place in a somewhat familiar place, the city of Blagoevgrad, which is located in Bulgaria. Students from all over the world, from South America to China, come there. I was surprised by the number of Russian students, about 15% were from Russia: they represented Moscow universities, St. Petersburg State University and NSU. In my free time from solving problems, it was nice to talk to everyone and take a walk, – shared my impressions Stanislav Yelovatsky, a 4th-year student of the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of NSU.

In the team competition, NSU students beat the teams from HSE and MSU, taking 15th place – this is the best result in the last 10 years of the university's participation in the International Mathematical Olympiad.

Congratulations to the guys on their excellent result!

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Akademgorodok scientist gave a lecture at the World Chemical Congress in Malaysia

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The 53rd IUPAC General Assembly, together with the 50th World Chemical Congress, was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 12-19. A special feature of the congress was the allocation of a specialized section on “Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry.” Within its framework, Associate Professor of the Department of Solid State Chemistry Faculty of Natural Sciences of NSU, Senior Researcher at the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS Anna Nartova gave an invited talk on “Artificial Neural Networks for Microscopic Data Analysis,” in which she presented the iOk online platform to the global scientific community (HTTP: //yok. HSSU.ru/), developed by scientists from Novosibirsk State University as part of the program "Priority 2030".

This platform includes a set of digital services for automatic image analysis using deep machine learning and artificial intelligence methods. Three services are freely available on the platform. Universal Telegram service No Code ML (HTTPS: //t. T.NSU_ML_VOT) is designed for classical training of neural networks on user datasets. The second service is DLgram (HTTPS: //t. TA/NANOPARITICLECLY_NSK) — is designed to recognize multiple homogeneous objects of various natures. Includes training of the neural network by the user using a marked area from the same image. Online service ParticlesNN (HTTP: // Partiklesnn.NSU.ru/) is designed for automatic recognition of nanoparticles in scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and electron microscopy (EM) images by a trained neural network. Cloud services No Code ML and DLgram provide training of a neural network on user objects, automatic recognition of objects in images and the ability to adjust the recognition results by the user. They also analyze the detected objects and determine their parameters, such as quantity, size, area and concentration. The services are able to work with various images – pictures from electron microscopes, photographs from digital cameras (including smartphones). They recognize various objects: nanoparticles, microorganisms, cells, plant seeds, as well as larger objects – animals, plants, various parts, vehicles and much more. At the same time, to work with the services, the user does not need to have any special programming skills or understand neural networks. Preliminary image processing is also not needed. The results are provided in the form of information about all detected objects, and the user can adjust them if necessary. Currently, hundreds of researchers from all over the world use the developed services. At the same time, the services are most in demand by specialists working with images obtained using various types of microscopy.

– In general, the section “Artificial intelligence in chemistry”, despite the fact that the direction only – only the beginning to form and the number of reports was inferior to other, more traditional sections, was perhaps the most popular from the audience. Among the speakers there were many representatives of Russia. Nash the lecture aroused a very great interest in the audience. A lot of listeners went to her purposefully. Such an increased interest in our online platform is due to several reasons, including the fact that we promoted it at several scientific conferences. A number of articles were published, including in high -rated scientific journals. And, I must say that our team, in which A.V. Matveev and A.G. Okunev, was one of the first in the world to present their developments in this direction. Then, single work was devoted to this topic, and we walked alone with them and at times even ahead of them. Now their avalanche is huge, but we still recorded our championship. And even more so, we were the first to offer a “platform approach” when users are offered a ready -made service, and not just a code. At the moment, we have formed our own circle of users, so we received an invitation to make a lecture at this Congress. It was very pleasant to know that our development is known not only in Russia, but also in the world. So, young scientists from China, Malaysia and other countries who were already familiar with our work came to our lecture. During the discussions, after the report, young chemists asked a lot of questions, in most cases, interested in not how neural networks are arranged, but how to use them as a finished tool, while avoiding teaching the Python programming language. They were interested in neural networks, when using which the programmer’s skill is not required. And our platform is just such a product, ”said Anna Nartova.  

The section participants separately discussed the problem of the activation barrier, which is of fundamental importance in the use of neural networks in chemistry. It is the need for confident programming skills and deep knowledge of neural networks. According to Anna Nartova, the platform approach is the optimal solution to eliminate it and make neural networks a tool for working in the laboratory. The section participants, working in different areas, also related to chemistry, noted: if a chemist needs to have a high enough level of Python to use a neural network as a tool, he will most likely not do this. The situation should be changed by using a platform approach, which is a ready-made product that does not require the scientist to delve into the code, but allows you to simply upload your data to the application, process it and get a ready result. In this case, the return on using neural networks is maximum.

— We started promoting the idea of implementing a platform approach to solving the problems of accessible use of neural networks for scientists who do not have programming skills at our university several years ago. Now it has become a widespread trend. The first works in the direction of using neural networks in processing microscopic images were aimed at solving some specific cases, and usually the machine learning model was posted in the public domain. In our case, firstly, we are talking about the universalization of the approach, and secondly, about the creation of applications or services that facilitate work with neural networks. Thus, at the same time, a more universal tool is being developed, designed not to solve any specific problem, and a user-oriented product is being created. Currently, there is a trend: scientists are interested in working with neural networks, but are not ready to use them if they are not applications, — Anna Nartova explained.

Anna Nartova noticed that an important part of the congress was the section on chemistry. This is due to the fact that the Chemistry Congress was combined with the Assembly of the Jupak, so not only purely scientific issues were considered. It is very important that it was, first of all, about teaching schoolchildren chemistry. Teachers in this subject became a problem for many countries whose representatives participated in Congress. In the profession of “teacher”, and in particular the “teacher of chemistry”, they go reluctantly: it is labor -intensive and responsible, but, unfortunately, does not belong to the highly paid. Colleagues from different countries noted, based on their own experience, that in order to attract students to this science, it is necessary to focus not on high -grade, but on students of the middle or even junior school link. Section participants shared work experience in different countries. The Indian chemist Udi Maitra made a report “Improving the perception of science/chemistry through simple experiments associated with everyday life.” This project is of deep humanitarian significance, spreading the natural science worldview, as well as increasing the motivation for education. The scientist from Taiwan Khsien Chang Cao presented the message “Chemistry on wheels”, in which he spoke of a huge personnel hunger, growing since 2017. Working on the problem of attracting personnel, scientists -enthusiasts with mini -laboratories go to provincial schools and show the children experiments with various chemicals and in exciting form tell the children about chemistry as an interesting science. Many of these guys at the end of school make a choice in her favor and return to their schools already as teachers of chemistry or become volunteers of educational projects. It is interesting that this work is supported by both the state and corporations, since they are very interested in improving the level of school education and attracting motivated teachers to the school. Anna Nartova noted that this work exactly corresponds to the concept of the project “Entertaining science for schoolchildren”, which has been implemented at NSU since 2009, and in recent years has been part of the school center of the Faculty of Physics of NSU. And we had something to share with colleagues in this area. 

Material prepared by: Elena Panfilo, NSU press service

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Bloggers from different cities visited NSU under the Student Tourism program

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Since 2021, the Student Tourism project has been uniting students and young people, giving them the opportunity to travel and get to know the country's leading universities. Every year, participants travel to various regions of the country – from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. Universities across Russia open the doors of their campuses to travelers, offering unique tourist programs developed on the student-to-student principle. They include popular science routes, master classes, events and much more. This contributes not only to broadening the horizons of program participants, but also to the development of scientific, historical and sports tourism.

The main point of the route was Novosibirsk State University. The blog tour participants were accommodated in the new dormitory #4/2. Over the course of two days, the children were introduced to the campus, given excursions to the NSU history museums, the Evolution of the Earth and New Archeology RECs. The children were especially interested in the excursion to the accelerator mass spectrometry laboratory, where they were explained how scientific research works are carried out. In the Startup Studio and the Demonstration Center of the Center for Information Technologies, the bloggers were shown smart developments created by university students. The Ministry of Culture of the Novosibirsk Region and the Novosibirsk Museum of Local History gave the blog tour participants a walking tour of the Akademgorodok, and the children were also shown the science town from the NSU dome, where at a height of 63 meters from the observation deck a breathtaking view of the Ob Sea, the campus and endless forests opened up. The journey ended with a PISHNIK from the Advanced Engineering School of NSU, where bloggers and students competed in volleyball and engineering games on the sand.

Kirill Zhigulin, the author of a blog dedicated to Russia and patriotism, noted the uniqueness of Novosibirsk and its potential.

— I was particularly struck by the fact that it is the youth who are building the future of Novosibirsk through science and sports. NSU demonstrates high indicators in education and scientific activity. I am sure that Novosibirsk is a unique brand of the region with huge potential, and the future here is built by young people and NSU graduates. I think more and more young people will come here not only for scientific, but also historical, sports and aviation tourism. This is a really cool and unique idea, — Kirill shared.

Karina Zakharova from Kazan, media ambassador of “Student Tourism”, spoke about her experience.

— This is my first blog tour as part of Student Tourism, although I have been actively traveling for about four years and have two blogs. Previously, I had only been to Novosibirsk in transit, and now I had the opportunity to get to know the city and the university. I was impressed by the VivaAvia festival and the NSU museums, which are truly worth attention. NSU is a university with a developed student culture, startups and great potential. Despite my attachment to my hometown, if the opportunity presented itself, I would gladly study at NSU. I want to wish everyone to travel and discover Russia through Student Tourism — it is a great budget option, — said Karina.

Georgy Favorsky, media ambassador of "Student Tourism", blogger, student of the I. Ya. Yakovlev Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University, emphasized that he values his university very much, but NSU also impressed him very much.

— All the events were very rich and interesting. I especially liked the excursion to the museum, where they study earth rocks and you could touch all the exhibits. The atmosphere was very friendly, you could feel the real care and support from the participants and organizers of the program. Novosibirsk, as the third most populous city in Russia, really has great potential. The university has a high level of education, comparable to the leading metropolitan universities. Now I am sure that Novosibirsk is the center of Siberian civilization, and I recommend everyone who is considering moving or studying in another city to pay attention to this wonderful city and university, — added Gosha.

The Student Tourism program continues to unite young people from different regions of Russia, allowing them to expand their horizons and participate in the intellectual and cultural life of the country's leading universities. NSU, with its unique combination of science, sports and innovation, confidently occupies one of the leading positions in this youth movement, inviting students from all corners of the country to become part of the large Siberian educational family.

Material prepared by: Ekaterina Mukovozchik, NSU press service

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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NSU biology students will take part in the final of the international SynBio Challenge competition in China for the first time

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The final of the international SynBio Challenge competition will be held in Shenzhen (Guangdong Province, China) on August 6. The competition is organized by the Shenzhen University of High Technology. A total of 1,800 students registered to participate in the competition, of which about 1,000 participants from six countries of the world – China, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia – made it to the final. Our country is represented at these competitions by only two teams – from the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University and Faculty of Natural Sciences (FNS) of NSURussian teams are taking part in the competition for the first time.

The GeneMeow team included six students of the NSU Natural Sciences Department who completed their 3rd year in Biology: Valeria Romanova, Ekaterina Bolotova, Nail Bikeev, Nikita Ivanov, Ulyana Borovikova and Dmitry Kurbatsky. GeneMeow was formed from two strong teams that had previously participated in the Biotournament, won prizes in its regional stage and received a second-degree diploma at the final in 2024. Participation in the Biotournament allowed them to gain experience in solving interdisciplinary problems in biology, publicly defending ideas to experts and project work. The students joined forces to jointly solve problems at the intersection of biology and engineering.

All the guys from the NSU team regularly participate in student Olympiads and are engaged in scientific activities at the institutes of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, combining their studies with research and educational activities.

The selection round of the competition was held in absentia in April-May; participants were offered a choice of several problems, one of which the students had to solve.

— In the SynBio Challenge, we solved the problem of developing a DNA sequence no longer than 140 bp, providing high expression of GFP (green fluorescent protein) in E. coli. It seemed familiar and interesting to us, since we had already studied molecular biology at the university, have laboratory experience and are well acquainted with the methods of genetic engineering. This gave us confidence in our abilities and the desire to apply our knowledge in practice, — said the captain of the GeneMeow team, Valeria Romanova.

— We conducted a bioinformatics analysis of regulatory elements, studied relevant literature and modern approaches to increasing gene expression. Based on this, we developed an optimized design that includes strong promoter (a region of a gene that triggers the synthesis of mRNA and then protein) and post-transcriptional (regulatory) elements and is aimed at efficient expression of GFP. Such developments are relevant for medicine, biotechnology, agriculture and fundamental research, — said GeneMeow team member Ulyana Borovikova.

The final will be held in person and will be a festival, where each team will present their solutions to the problems at the selection stage. In addition, the organizers of the competition synthesized the DNA sequences proposed by the participants, inserted them into plasmids with a fluorescent protein gene, which is used to check the DNA sequence, and during the festival they will visualize the synthesized sequences, compare which team has them glowing more strongly. The brightness of the glow will be one of the criteria for assessing the work of each team.

— NSU has historically developed leading scientific schools in synthetic biology and bioinformatics. This year, the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies is opening a Master's degree program in Industrial Pharmacy, where students will work on solving specific problems of industrial partners. At one time, the iGEM-Siberia team became the first team from outside Moscow to take part in the world's largest competition of genetically engineered machines, iGEM-2021. This year, our Chinese colleagues invited us to take part in SynBio Challenge, an international competition of comparable scale. I hope that the team will return with a victory; the guys have been working on the project for a long time and will present a poster presentation at the festival. The development of biomedical technologies is a global trend. I am very glad that we always find support for students' initiatives at our university! — commented Sergey Sedykh, PhD, Senior Lecturer at the NSU Natural Sciences Department, and judge of the SynBio Challenge competition.

The participation of the NSU team in the international competition is financed within the framework of the academic mobility project of the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies of NSU Priority 2030 programs.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Bioinformatics: the key to the future of oncology. Results of the conference "tumor markers" in Novosibirsk

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The VII All-Russian Conference "Tumor Markers: Molecular, Genetic and Clinical Aspects" was held in Novosibirsk from July 28 to 30, 2025. The event brought together more than a hundred leading Russian specialists: opinion leaders, professors of the Russian Academy of Sciences, heads of molecular laboratories, heads of clinical departments and diagnostic centers. The central topic of discussion was the transformative role of bioinformatics in the search for new biomarkers, the development of personalized methods for diagnosing and treating cancer. Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies of NSU (IMMT NSU) The event was presented by the head of the biotechnology and medicine department, Maria Lomova, and the head of the bioinformatics laboratory, Alexander Vikhorev.

The conference confirmed the status of bioinformatics as one of the most dynamic and sought-after scientific disciplines in modern oncology. Participants unanimously noted that without complex big data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), further breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms of oncogenesis and creating effective diagnostic tools are impossible.

The event became a unique platform for the formation of scientific and practical cooperation between bioinformaticians, molecular biologists and clinicians. Only the joint work of these specialists allows us to translate fundamental discoveries in the field of tumor markers into real clinical protocols.

The conference actively discussed advanced bioinformatic approaches for searching and validating new biomarkers in genomic data, platform solutions for determining the mutational status of patients. A special focus was made on the use of AI in oncology research. Participants shared their experience in using AI to analyze medical images, gene expression patterns, predict drug resistance, and develop individual treatment regimens.

— The conference clearly demonstrated that bioinformatics has ceased to be an auxiliary tool — it has become the driving force of oncological research. It is bioinformaticians, who possess methods for analyzing the most complex genomic data, who today decipher the "language" of cancer, helping to find new targets for therapy and create tests for early diagnostics. For young scientists and students, this is an area of enormous opportunities and a real contribution to saving lives, — noted Alexander Vikhorev.

The participants of the event noted that the VII All-Russian Conference "Tumor Markers" in Novosibirsk successfully fulfilled its task, providing specialists of different profiles with an important platform for professional dialogue. The exchange of relevant experience and views on the application of modern approaches will undoubtedly contribute to the development of more effective solutions in the field of oncology. The example of IMMT NSU shows that participation in such events remains significant for the scientific community and practical healthcare.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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NSU student identifies regular phonetic correspondences between Chinese and Korean consonants

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

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A comparative study to identify regular phonetic correspondences between consonants in Chinese and Korean was conducted by a student of the Department of Oriental Studies Humanitarian Institute of Novosibirsk State University Artem Tashlykov. The result of the work was a summary table of regular phonetic correspondences of consonant phonemes of the Chinese and Korean languages. When compiling it, all possible syllables of the Chinese language were taken into account, as well as all syllables of the Korean language corresponding to each syllable of the Chinese language. For an objective comparison of the articulatory-acoustic characteristics of sounds, the young researcher used the methods of electroacoustic analysis – spectrography and oscillography. Artem Tashlykov conducted his research under the scientific supervision of Anton Shamrin, PhD in Philology, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Oriental Studies. This work is very important, because there are very few comparative studies on the Chinese and Korean languages in the Russian-speaking scientific space. The results of the study can be used to improve linguodidactic and methodological materials used in training specialists who speak both languages. Such employees are currently in high demand on the labor market.

— Some words in different Eastern languages sound similar to a certain extent, which causes certain difficulties for those who study them in parallel. This similarity is especially clearly expressed in vocabulary based on hieroglyphic writing. The writing of Korea and Japan has been influenced by Chinese hieroglyphic writing since ancient times, which became one of the reasons for the penetration of a certain set of hieroglyphic vocabulary into the vocabulary of these countries. When borrowing vocabulary, pronunciation was accordingly borrowed. But over time, it inevitably underwent changes. This happened, perhaps, due to the difference in the articulatory-acoustic base of these three languages. As a result, pronunciation was distorted to some extent, adapting to the set of sounds familiar to native speakers of these languages. Probably, phonetic changes that occur in all languages of the world due to their natural and logical development also made their contribution. The result of changes in the pronunciation of hieroglyphic vocabulary in Chinese and Korean was the fact that one phoneme of the Chinese language corresponds to several phonemes of the Korean language, just as one phoneme of the Korean language can correspond to several phonemes of the Chinese language. In this way, regular phonetic correspondences were formed. My goal was to identify such regular phonetic correspondences and their subsequent systematization, – said Artem Tashlykov.

The young researcher had previously compiled a list of 150 two-syllable words that had common hieroglyphic roots in both Chinese and Korean. These words were selected in such a way that it would be possible to analyze each of the phonemes presented in both languages in all variants of their implementation in speech. Then audio recordings were made of two native speakers of Chinese and two native speakers of Korean.

The informants were first asked to familiarize themselves with the given list of words and then read them out loud. In order to eliminate recording errors and expand the statistical data, each word was pronounced 4 times, with a pause between them. This helped to avoid combinatorial changes in pronunciation between words when reading. Thus, a total of 2400 audio fragments were analyzed.

In order to measure the absolute durations of sounds and to describe in detail the formant characteristics, the recorded material was analyzed using electroacoustic methods – oscillography and spectrography.

— Using an oscillogram, we can determine the boundaries of vowels and consonants, as well as the method of articulating consonants. However, using only an oscillogram, it is almost impossible to determine which sound is being pronounced. Therefore, for a more detailed analysis and determination of the row and rise of vowels, the place and method of articulating consonants, we obtained spectrograms, which are graphs of the dependence of the spectrum of sound frequencies on time. As a result of applying such a comprehensive approach, we were able to establish the degree of correspondence between similar consonant phonemes of the two languages and discover differences in the articulation and acoustic characteristics of the sounds of the Chinese and Korean languages. We compared the syllabic structures of both languages, compiled a description of the acoustic properties of the main allophones of all consonant phonemes, and made a statistical calculation of the correspondences. A total of 40 regular phonetic correspondences were established, including 32 correspondences between phonemes that have a similar method of articulation, 4 regular correspondences in the affricate-plosive pair, 3 in the fricative-plosive pair, and 1 in the affricate-fricative pair, explained Artem Tashlykov.

The young researcher compiled a table containing all the unique correspondences of syllables between Chinese and Korean, on the basis of which calculations were made, and created tables of the frequency of occurrence of phonetic correspondences. A summary table of the identified regular correspondences was also formed with a classification of phonemes by the method of articulation, which clearly demonstrated the presence or absence of regular correspondences between certain phonemes of the Chinese and Korean languages.

— My work systematizes extensive empirical material and creates a basis for further theoretical and applied research in the field of comparative phonetics of East Asian languages. And the practical significance of my research is that it contains information useful for the simultaneous study of Chinese and Korean. The results of my work can be used in the development of teaching aids and methods aimed at students who speak one of the languages and study the second, — said Artem Tashlykov.

Material prepared by: Elena Panfilo, NSU press service

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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