Sergey Lukyanov, Rector, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Oksana Doronina, Director of the Directorate of Development Programs, participated in the signing ceremony on behalf of Pirogov University.
On the part of the Diacon Group of companies are Elena Arkhangelskaya, General Director of JSC Diacon, Alexey Nirman, Deputy General Director of JSC Diacon-DS, and Anna Timchenko, Director of the Development Department of JSC Diacon-DS.
GC "Deacon" is one of the leaders of the Russian market of products for in vitro diagnostics. The holding was founded in 1995 by a group of scientists from the Scientific Center for Biological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushchino, Moscow Region). The Group of Companies includes JSC "Diakon-DS", JSC "Diakon", JSC "Diakon-M" and LLC "Diakon-Innovations". The product portfolio includes more than 5,200 products in 11 areas. The company employs more than 500 people and has a dealer network of more than 300 partners in all regions of the Russian Federation.
The parties discussed three main areas of cooperation.
1. Training of personnel for laboratory diagnostics. GC "Deacon" is interested in attracting young and talented specialists. As part of the agreements, the company will provide students of Pirogov University with its laboratories for practical training and final qualifying work. The possibility of creating targeted areas of study in specialties in demand in high-tech diagnostics is also being considered: molecular biology, biochemistry, and medical instrumentation.
Elena Arkhangelskaya, General Director of JSC "Deacon", noted: "Deacon Group, as a domestic manufacturer and supplier of analyzers and reagents for the country's laboratories, is interested in developing modern diagnostic methods, and this becomes possible in cooperation with Russia's largest medical university."
Pirogov University, based on its own Engineering Center, is ready to organize advanced training and short—term courses for existing employees of the Deacon Group of Companies — medical equipment maintenance engineers and field technicians.
Sergey Lukyanov, Rector of Pirogov University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, emphasized: "This is a real incentive for the guys: they understand where they can go to work after graduation. They will know what they have to do, which team awaits them. And for the company, it is a guarantee that really trained and motivated personnel will come."
2. Development of a University-based Shared Use Center. The parties intend to jointly develop the CCP as a platform for testing new diagnostic tools and forming research projects. The University has already started to create a CCP; now it is planned to "re-calibrate" the Center together with a partner and use it as a testing ground for developing new types of research, including those that do not yet have ready-made solutions.
3. Joint scientific research. Pirogov University implements major projects in the field of neuroprotection (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, depression), gene therapy of orphan diseases (creation of personalized drugs in three to six months) and oncodiagnostics (prediction of the effectiveness of expensive drugs by cellular receptors).
Deacon Group has its own R&D expertise, from fluorescent proteins to gene search tools. The partnership with the University will take these developments to a new level. Of particular interest is the joint work in the field of reference centers (the University already oversees complex cases in pediatrics and dermatology), as well as the creation of digital support systems for doctors (LIS, artificial intelligence algorithms).
Sergey Lukyanov, Rector of Pirogov University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted: "Our University is already creating drugs that have no analogues in the world. Teams of scientists from Pirogov University are working on tasks that no one in the world has solved yet. It is necessary to do the impossible and what is not there."
In the near future, the parties will begin launching specific projects for the training of students and staff, the creation of joint laboratories based on the CCP, as well as the launch of new diagnostic systems on the market. For Deacon Group of Companies, the partnership opens up the opportunity to strengthen expertise in PCR and predictive cancer diagnostics. For Pirogov University, the goal is to turn scientific know—how into a commercial product and strengthen ties with the real sector of the economy.
Photos from the event can be found in the album.