First Student Internship Begins at MSU’s Belomorskaya Biological Station’s Building Upgraded by Rosneft

With the support of Rosneft Oil Company, a building for flow-through aquarium systems has been commissioned at the Moscow State University’s Pertsov Belomorskaya Biological Station. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology for microbiological research, the laboratory has welcomed its first interns. Individual projects of MSU Biology students focus on metagenomic profiling (studying the diversity) of water column bacterial plankton, searching for and isolating new strains of oil-oxidising microorganisms, studying invertebrate microbiota and other fundamental and applied tasks.

Over the year, the aquarium flow-through unit will serve as a testing ground for a biopreparation that disposes of hydrocarbon pollution from the northern seas. This is an innovative product designed by Rosneft’s Arctic Research Centre and Innopraktika. The laboratories are now installing the flow-through marine aquarium system that allows the preparation to be tested in conditions as close to real as possible, without affecting the Arctic ecosystem.

The microbial preparation based on thermophilic bacteria has already shown high potency in laboratory conditions, in experiments at low temperatures and high salinity. The research team is currently working on the commercial scale-up of the agent and preparing the necessary regulatory and technical documentation.

Rosneft
Information Division
August 12, 2022