Department of Biological and Medical Sciences of ANAS issues report

On January 31, the mobile meeting of the Presidium of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences was held in a hybrid format, the press service of ANAS told SIA.

The President of ANAS, Academician Isa Habibbayli, members of the Presidium, Nijat Mammadli, Advisor to the Minister of Science and Education, Vugar Karimov, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Rector of the Baku State University Elchin Babayev, representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, general directors of scientific institutions and organizations, relevant persons, employees of higher education and medical institutions and mass media participated at the event held at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies.

Firstly, a presentation of reflecting the important results achieved by scientists of the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences of ANAS in 2022 was viewed.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli, president of ANAS, opened the event and informed about the agenda of the meeting. The head of ANAS reminded that reports on the activities of the Lankaran Regional Scientific Center, Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical-Mathematical and Technical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Earth Sciences departments and the Sheki Regional Scientific Center in 2022 were heard at the meetings of the Presidium of ANAS. The president noted that this year the reports are presented in a different format, in large audiences, which as a step plays an important role in communicating the achievements of Azerbaijani scientists to the general public.

Informing about the reforms carried out in the Academy, the head of ANAS drew attention to the establishment of the Electronic Academy Department, which deals with the work of "Wikipedia", analysis of scientific indicators, expanding the access of journals to international databases, at the expense of internal resources. Academician Isa Habibbeyli, who said that increasing the number of articles published in journals with an impact factor, especially by Azerbaijani scientists, is one of the main goals, and that an agreement was reached to include scientific journals of ANAS in Turkiye's Ulakbim-Dargi Park electronic database register.

He also emphasized that ANAS was accepted as a member of the international scientific organization - the Association of Asian Academies and Societies of Sciences for the first time, and currently the works related to the membership of the Association of European Academies are being continued.

"The Academy's membership in international associations will encourage the expansion of the scope of Azerbaijani science and the increase of relations of our scientists with foreign colleagues," he stated.

The memory of academician Jalal Aliyev and correspondent member of ANAS Tofig Mammadov was commemorated with a minute of silence.

Then the Vice-President of ANAS, Academician Irada Huseynova, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences, presented the report on the scientific and scientific-organizational activity of the division in 2022.

Academician Irada Huseynova said that in the reporting year, the decrees and orders of the head of the country, the decisions and orders of the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as the "Year of Shusha", the "State Program for the development of cocooning and sericulture in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2018-2025", " State Program for the development of cotton cultivation in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2017-2022", "State Program for ensuring food safety in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2018-2025", including the preparation of the III edition of the "Red Book" of the Republic of Azerbaijan , studies have been carried out within the framework of tasks given by the decisions of the General Assembly and the Presidium of ANAS.

The coordination of research was carried out in the institutes of the unit and the Lankaran Regional Scientific Center of ANAS, research and educational institutions of the AR Ministry of Health and the AR Ministry of Agriculture, research institutions of TABIB, relevant departments of higher education institutions.

Academician Irada Huseynova pointed out that in the work of the Working Group on Environmental Issues of the Inter-Departmental Center, as well as other working groups operating under the Coordinating Headquarters established for the centralized solution of issues in the territories freed from occupation, units and institutions, in the implementation of relevant action programs, biological and actively participated in conducting radioecological monitoring and assessing the extent of environmental terrorism committed by Armenia in Karabakh. Numerous expeditions were conducted to the regions - Kalbajar, Zangilan, Gubadli, Fuzuli, Shusha, etc. rare and endangered species, soil and water resources, drinking water sources, forest and other ecosystems were also monitored.

"In particular, the expedition researches along the Okchuchay basin have become important, the results of the monitoring make it possible to confirm that the water belongs to the category of dirty water and this happens mainly in the territory of Armenia," the academician stated.

Huseynova said that one of the most urgent problems in the attention of the department is the preparation of the third edition of the "Red Book" of the Republic of Azerbaijan. She said that during the reporting period, the editorial staff and working groups of ANAS operated under the strict control of BTEB. She noted that at present, scientific studies, writing of essays with characteristic pictures and distribution maps related to the preparation of the third edition of the "Red Book" have been completed, and the works of the creative team regarding the final editing and layout have been completed.

Including the research of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and the surrounding ecosystems, the activities on the study of the biological resources of the sea have been intensified. In the reporting year, the researches in biological, agricultural and medical sciences are mainly research, restoration, protection, efficient use of biodiversity, land and water resources with modern approaches, creation of electronic databases and maps, molecular-genetic and physico-chemical bases of biological processes, genome, proteome and metabolomic studies, development of fundamental and application bases of new bio-, nano- and postgenome technologies, application of computer biology, machine learning methods, artificial intelligence in biology and medicine, research of physiological and molecular-genetic bases of pathologies, new diagnostic and treatment methods, medicinal preparations development and implementation of high technologies and stem cells in reproductive medicine.

The speaker said that researches on 22 problems, 82 topics, 246 works, and 501 stages were conducted in the reporting year, 6 topics, 31 works and 369 stages were completed. 527 (76 completed) stage studies covering 32 problems, 145 topics (17 completed) and 305 tasks (32 completed) were conducted in medical institutions. In 2022, 23 important results were obtained in the institutions of the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences, 5 as a result of international and local cooperation, 2 in non-departmental science and educational institutions, 16 in the field of medicine, and 2 in agricultural science. In the reporting year, 6 patents were obtained by the department's institutes, and 16 patents were obtained by medical research and educational institutions of the republic.

Academician Irada Huseynova, who drew attention to the publishing activity of the department's scientists, during the reporting period, the department's institutes produced 1099 scientific works, including 14 books (2 abroad), 17 monographs (1 abroad), 547 articles (317 abroad, 165 of them in journals with impact factor, 86 of them in "Web of Science" and "Scopus" databases), 521 theses (198 abroad) were published.

3100 references were made to the works of the collaborators. 3056 scientific works by non-departmental medical institutions, including 20 books (2 abroad), 22 monographs (1 abroad), 1445 articles (579 abroad, 84 of them in "Web of Science" and "Scopus" in journals from the databases), 1569 theses (585 of them abroad) were published, 390 scientific works were cited.

The speaker also drew attention to the fact that currently 16 young specialists of the department are receiving doctoral studies at well-known foreign universities.

In the end, by the decision of the Presidium, the activity of the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences in 2022 was considered satisfactory.