Historical Milestones
Director of the Institute (1972-1983)
On February 25, 1972, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR adopted a resolution “On the organization of the Institute for Problems of Cryogenic Biology and Medicine of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR” on the basis of two laboratories of the Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Task Research Laboratory for Low-Temperature Preservation of Bone Marrow and Blood of the Kharkiv Institute for Advanced Training of Physicians of the Academy of Sciences. The creation of the Institute was initiated by Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Boris Ye. Verkin and Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Mykola S. Pushkar, who became the first director of the Institute. The Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine (IPCC) was and remains today the only one of this profile in Ukraine
In 1972, the Institute consisted of 6 scientific departments. It employed 4 doctors and 33 candidates of science.
The main areas of the Institute scientific research were as follows :
- fundamental studies of the mechanisms of cryoinjury and cryoprotection of biological structures at different levels of their organization.
- Investigations of antigenic rearrangement of tissues during low-temperature preservation
- development of scientifically substantiated methods of low-temperature preservation of tissues and creation of necessary cryogenic equipment.
- designing and study of new cryoprotective agents.
In 1976, the Scientific Council in Cryobiology and Cryomedicine was established at the Institute.
To implement scientific achievements into practice, the Kharkiv City Clinical Hospital No. 13 was approved as a clinical base for the Institute. And in 1979, the Southern Railway Clinical Hospital (Kharkiv) was allocated to implement the results of scientific and technical developments into medical practice at the Institute.
Later within the framework of the planned scientific directions, the Institute has continued the studies of the influence of low temperatures and related factors on proteins, enzyme systems, membrane structures, neurohumoral regulation systems, as well as on cells, tissues and organs in order to clarify the mechanisms of their damage and repair, and also to determine possible ways of cryoprotection of biological structures.
In 1980, a specialized Academic Council for the defense of dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Sciences in the specialties: cryobiology and human and animal physiology was approved at the institute. On December 22nd, 1981, the first meeting of the academic council for the defense of doctoral and candidate dissertations in the “Cryobiology” specialty was held.
The IPCC has developed as a comprehensive research institution, where scientists from various fields of science work together. Since 1981, the Institute has had a special designing and technological bureau, which develops devices for both scientific research and industrial application in the field of cryobiology and cryomedicine.
From 1983 to 2011, the Institute was headed by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Valentyn I. Grischenko.
In May 1994, the Ukrainian Society for Cryobiology and Cryomedicine was established at the Institute, the first congress of which was held in October 1995. The Ukrainian-American Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics was established at the Institute on the basis of the Department of Cryobiology of Reproductive Systems, jointly managed by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Valentyn I. Grischenko and Director of the Chicago Institute of Reproduction and Genetics, Prof. Yuriy S. Verlinsky.
On December 12, 1997, the Interdepartmental Scientific Center for Cryobiology and Cryomedicine was established at the Institute, the main task of which was to put into service the most significant achievements of the IPCC in fundamental and applied cryobiology and cryomedicine.
In 1998, the UNESCO Chair in Cryobiology began operating at the Institute.
In 1997-1999, owing to many years’ studies performed at the IPCC, a new direction in medicine was formed, namely cell therapy. The scientific developments of the institute in this field were used by numerous health care institutions in Ukraine and abroad. During these years the Institute cooperated with many scientific foreign partners from such countries as Great Britain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, USA, Japan, Spain, Czech Republic, etc. The institute has a number of developments that have been successfully implemented in clinics. Among them, it is worth noting the technology of ultra-rapid cooling-freezing of human sperm and embryos, cryopreservation and lyophilization of organisms of various taxonomic groups, long-term storage of different biological objects, transplantation and correction of endocrine disorders using cryopreserved cells and tissues, treatment of diseases of various etiologies based on the use of cryopreserved biological objects of embryonic nerve and hematopoietic cells.
In 2011, Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Anatoliy M. Goltsev was elected and appointed as the Director of the IPCC.
During this period, the Presidium of the HAH of Ukraine approved the following scientific directions for the Institute: study of the mechanisms of cryoinjury, cryoprotection, natural resistance of biological objects to cold and its repair after exposure to cold; – creation of effective means of artificial cryoprotection of biological systems of various levels of organization and development on their basis of technologies for cryopreservation of biological objects and technical means of their implementation; application of hypothermia, cryotherapy and cryopreserved biological objects for the treatment of various diseases; cell and tissue therapy.
The methodological base was partially updated, which contributed to the development of important fundamental and applied research into the mechanisms occurring in biological environments , cells, tissues, organs, and organisms within the above-mentioned areas. Based on original fundamental research, the cryogenic technology for long-term preservation in cryobanks of strategic stocks of donor’s blood was improved.
Since 2021 to the present, the Institute is headed by Prof. Oleksandr Yu. Petrenko.
In 2022, the Institute celebrated its 50th anniversary. During this period, the mechanisms of cryodamage and cryoprotection of biological systems of various levels of organization, the features of the resistance of organisms to extreme factors and cold adaptation of biological systems have been studied; effective cryoprotectants and cryoprotective mixtures have been created for low-temperature preservation of biological objects of various origins and organizations. Much attention is paid to the cryopreservation of plant and animal genetic resources, the development of cryogenic biotechnologies in reproductive medicine. Today, such a scientific direction as the development and creation of tissue-engineered constructs that contain stem cells of various origins, as well as raw materials for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals which can be used in the national economy and medicine, is developing quite actively.
The IPCC employees have received five State awards, published more than 3,000 scientific papers, 80 original monographs, some of those have been published abroad; 367 copyright certificates and patents of Ukraine and 18 foreign patents for inventions have been obtained. The IPCC has repeatedly been the winner of the All-Ukrainian competition “Invention of the Year”, and the employees have been recognized as the best inventors of the year by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Leading scientists of the IPCC are engaged in teaching activities at higher educational institutions of Kharkiv.
