Letter from the Editors

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Dear readers of Acta Naturae, We are delighted to bring to your attention the 12th issue of our journal, the first for 2012. In spite of some skeptical voices, our journal is alive; the backlog of manuscripts is huge and we remain optimistic about the future. However, some problemsdo indeed exist; we are still yet to attain our deserved place in PubMed. Unfortunately, this process has dragged on, and for no fault of ours. We have had to overcome a large number of obstacles, first and foremost of which are the constantly changing requirements that we are subjected to. At this juncture, it looks as though our struggle has entered its final stage, and we are hopeful that this leap year will be one of fortune for the journal in this and other respects. Let us return to our main topic, the current issue of the journal. The "Forum" section opens with an article devoted to the life and work of Academician Alexander Evseevich Braunstein, whose 110th anniversary we celebrate this year. Alexander Evseevich is remembered as a remarkable man and one of the 20th century's most revered scientists in the field of biochemistry. The article is written by Prof. T .V. Demidkina, a follower of Alexander Evseevich, who heads the Laboratory created by him at the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology. Another material presented in the "Forum" section is an interview with V.A. R ichter, in which he shares his thoughts concerning the promotion of innovative biomedical developments and the role of the government in the process. We hope that the material presented in the "Forum" section will be of interest to a wide audience. The scientific section of the journal opens with two reviews devoted to topical issues in cell biology: the investigation of induced pluripotent stem cells (I.A. Muchkaeva et al.) and immunomodulation by multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (Y.P. R ubtsov et al.). The authors of both reviews consider these problems from the standpoint of their medical application, thereby arousing special interest. As usual, the bulk of the papers presented in this issue are in the field of biomedicine (see the papers written by N.A. Orlova, L.Z. Velsher et al., and M.A. Volodina et al.) A series of reports are devoted to different aspects of molecular genetics, mostly related to medicine (see the works of S.A. Borinskaya et al., E.A. T rifonova et al., and G.A. Stepanov et al.). Finally, there are reports in which the technologies for obtaining and testing biomolecules and cells, including those with modified properties, are discussed (see the works of E.M. Smekalova et al., E.S. Kolotova et al., O.N. Solopova et al., and O.V. Bondar et al.). The presented papers differ in terms of the themes and methods used. However, the high degree of modernity and professionalism with which they were completed are a common feature of all of them, hence our optimism about the future of our journal.