In the spring of 1957, a decree  of the council of Ministers of  the uSSr founded the Siberian Branch of the uSSr Academy of  Sciences. At the beginning, this branch  included 10 institutes, which were involved in various natural sciences. During the planning of the Siberian Branch  of the uSSr Academy of Sciences, no  provision was made for an institute specializing in physical-chemical problems  in biology. This new branch of science  remained a pariah, because the leader  of the country, n.S. Hrushtschev, was  under the influence of the charlatan  ideas of t.D. Lysenko. that is why Michael Alexeevich Lavrentyev, the man  charged with organizing the Siberian  Branch, could only create the Institute  of cytology and Genetics (IcG), headed by nikolai Petrovich Dubinin, who  undoubtedly understood the value of  chemical and physical methods in modern biology. even this veiled attempt at  organizing molecular biology research  failed as Hrushtschev arrived at the novosibirsk Academic town in person and  removed nikolai Dubinin from the post  of IcG Director. the institute was saved  after Dmitry Konstantinovich Belyaev  became the new director. He was a progressive geneticist working with furproducing animals, a commodity much  more understandable to the top officials,  rather than the Drosophila fruit-fly, the  research of which led to most of the fundamental discoveries in genetics. the  future of biology in this country worried  many prominent scientists. Among them was Nikolai Nikolaievich Vorozhtsov, a  well-known organic chemist, who was  appointed to organize the Institute of  Organic chemistry (IOc) under the Siberian Branch. He recruited many of his students, graduates of the Department  of Intermediary Products and Dyes and  also invited Dmitry Georgievich Knorre,  who was very willing to use his knowledge of chemistry in studying life sciences. n.n. Vorozhtsov supported the  young scientist in his wish and immediately agreed to create a Laboratory of  natural Polymers. the name was chosen carefully as the black shadow of Lysenko’s influence was still not gone from  biochemistry, and the use of “heretic”  words such as proteins and especially  nucleic acids as the name of a laboratory  was unsafe. But the idea of creating a  new line of scientific research in the Siberian Branch was firmly ingrained in  the mind of n.n. Vorozhtsov, and in 1964  he reached an agreement with Michael Alexeevich Lavrentyev, who decided to construct a new building, intended especially for biochemical research. The building was completed in 1969 and it  hosted the Biochemistry Department.  Thus the natural Polymer Lab received  its true and unmasked name; it became  the Nucleic Acid Chemistry Laboratory,  and, together with the newly created  ultramicrobiochemistry Lab, it became  the Biochemistry Department of the IOc  of the Siberian Branch (now Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; SB rAS). It was Vorozhtsov’s intention that the new department would  combine with the laboratory headed by  rudolph Iosifovich Salganik, a leading  biochemist who worked in the IcG SB  rAS. this would allow the creation of a  new institute. Alas, this intended path to  create a new institute did not succeed.  

However, it did not prevent a productive and lasting cooperative relationship  between D.G. Knorre and r.I. Salganik,  which led to the creation of several biochemical manufacturing facilities, which  were very much in need at that time,  since the possibilities to buy chemicals  and instrumentation with hard currency  were very limited. 

The issue of creating a new institute  was raised again when Yuri Anatolievich Ovchinnikov attained the high post  of vice-president of the uSSr Academy of Sciences and, no less importantly, gained influence in government and  party circles. For a long time, he advocated the creation of such an institute in  Siberia. the recently appointed chairman of the Siberian Branch, Valentin  Afanasievich Koptyug, also shared  this view. As a result, the Decree of  the cPSu central committee and the  uSSr council of Ministers dated June  24, 1981, № 662 On the Further Development of Physical-chemical Biology  and Biotechnology and their use in  Medicine, Agriculture and Industry had  an article that stipulated the creation of  the Novosibirsk Institute of Bioorganic  chemistry (nIBc). After several years  of preliminary activities, the institute  was officially approved in April 1984  and Dmitry Georgievich Knorre was  appointed its first director. 

The creation of the nIBc SB rAS played an important role in establishing physical-chemical biology in Siberia.  A Molecular Biology Division was created in the novosibirsk State university  (nSu) at the natural Sciences Department on the basis of the nIBc and the  laboratory of r.I. Salganik. the division  trained several hundred young specialists. this not only allowed to staff the  two main biological institutes with young  researchers, but also to create new institutions specializing in biochemistry.  In particular, this fact played a major  role in the choice of location for a large  virology center. The Glavmicrobioprom  (head organization for microbiological  industries) chose a location adjacent to  the Novosibirsk Academic town, which  eventually led to the formation of the  scientific town of Koltsovo, a center of  research and manufacturing of prophylactic drugs against most viral infections,  including those deemed extremely dangerous. now this center is called Vector,  the state scientific virology and bacteriology center. 

In 1996, D.G. Knorre turned 70 and  left the post of director, and the newly  elected director was D.G. Knorre’s student, a corresponding member of rAS,  Valentin Victorovich Vlasov (who became a full member of rAS in 2003).  He decided that the most important applications of physical-chemical biology were medical, and so he strengthened  this branch of the institute’s research  and created a division for novel medical  technology in the institute. thus, the  institute received a new name in 2003;  it became the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB  rAS (IcBFM). 

Today, IcBFM is the main site for  training specialized staff of all levels in  the field of physical-chemical biology,  starting with college graduates up to  PhD. and higher levels of academic research (Doctors of Science). Among the  graduates of the Molecular Biology Division are Valentin Victorovich Vlasov,  a full member of rAS, and corresponding members Olga Ivanovna Lavrik and  Sergey Victorovich Netesov. A very important step in training staff of the highest qualification was the establishment  within the institute of a Scientific council empowered to award PhD degrees.  More than 200 PhD. projects have been  delivered and defended as of today. the  institute continues to be actively involved  in the training of students and post-graduates, specializing in the varied fields of  chemistry and biology. The institute has  post-graduate programs in 3 specialties  and trains about 40 people every year. 

The chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine Institute of SB rAS  is well known for the level of its scientific research, and it has a high scientific potential, with a wonderful stock  of modern research equipment. the  institute is one of the acknowledged  leaders among biological institutions in  the Siberian Branch of rAS and in all  of russia. every year, researchers from  the institute publish more than 150 articles in leading russian journals and in  international peer-reviewed journals. 

At present, the Institute includes 16  laboratories and research groups, and 2  divisions (the Molecular and Cell Biology  Division and the Center of Novel Medical Technology). the institute employs  about 200 scientists, including 3 full rAS  members, 1 corresponding member, 18 Doctors of Science and 78 PhD. researchers. More than half of the scientific staff  are young scientists under the age of 35. Several projects completed in the institute have received national prizes,  such as the Lenin Prize, two State Prizes  in the field of Science and technology,  the russian Federation State Prize for  education, and a number of other russian and international prizes, including  awards for young scientists. 

The main topics of research in the institute are the following:

• Studying the structure and function  of biological molecules and supramolecular complexes; creating compounds which have specific effects  on genetic structures; bioengineering  and synthesis of biopolymers and synthetic biology.  
• Biotechnology, including gene therapy, cellular technology for regenerative  medicine, and nanobiotechnology.
• clinical physiology, genetic basis of  personalized medicine, molecular basis of immunity and oncogenesis
• the ecology of organisms and commu nities, communities of extremophilic  microorganisms, viral and bacterial agents in mammal organisms. 
• Among the major scientific results  obtained during the quarter century of  the institute’s existence are the following:
• The establishment of the fundamental  basis for obtaining gene-directed bioactive compounds. the development  of effective methods for the synthesis  of nucleic acid fragments and their  analogues and derivatives. 
• Development of methods for the analysis of the structure and function of  complex biopolymeric supramolecular ensembles. 
• Creation of a technological basis for  the diagnosis of genetic and infectious diseases and for the sequencing  of the genomes of biological objects.  the development of novel molecular  tools and methods for the diagnosis of  oncological, autoimmune, and infectious diseases.