2023 KF Biomed Award Laureates

The pool of the Biomed Prize this year amounted to 30.000 dollars. Meet the outstanding scientists who promote Ukrainian science and conduct research despite the war and all adversities.

Valeriya Trusova was born in 1984 in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine. In 2006, she graduated from V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (MSc. in Biophysics). In 2008 was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Biophysics, and in 2016 – the degree of Doctor of Sciences in Biophysics. Valeriya Trusova is Head of the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Nanotechnologies at V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. The research activity is focused mainly on a fundamental biomedical problem concerning the molecular level details of harmful biological action of specific protein aggregates and amyloid fibrils, using the broad arsenal of biophysical and biochemical analytical tools and computer modeling. Valeriya has h-index 17 and more than 870 citations (Scopus profile is  https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=36897689800). In 2016 Valeriya received Ukrainian National Award from the President of Ukraine; in 2018 – A scholarship from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine; and in 2019, Valeriya received L’Oreal-UNESCO Award “For Women in Science.” In addition, Valeriya received grants from the European Biophysics Society Association, Human Frontier Science Program, and many other Associations for internships in Great Britain, the United States of America, Finland, and Bulgaria. 

Prof.Oleh Lushchak is an Associated Professor and Principal Investigator at Precarpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine). He studies the molecular mechanism of aging and how physiological traits like feeding and reproduction affect the lifespan and are changed during aging. He was looking for interventions to extend the lifespan and health span and was among the first to show that dietary composition rather than total caloricity affect the lifespan. Recently, he discovered the molecule able to increase learning ability and extend memory in elder organisms. This molecule also extends the lifespan in low concentrations in wild-type animals and models of neurodegenerations. 

Dr. Nataliia Kozyrovska is a Ukrainian biologist whose interests lie in Systems Biology and Astrobiology on the background of multi microbial communities’ communications with hosts via extracellular membrane vesicles. Dr. Kozyrovska had higher education at Taras Shevchenko University (Kyiv, Ukraine), and she got her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics (Kyiv). Nowadays, she heads the Laboratory of Microbial Ecology at the IMBG. As a P.I., she initiated several conceptual studies which have been translated into the market. The deciphering mechanisms of the endophytic bacteria interaction with plant hosts via pectolytic enzymes resulted in the design of the first Ukrainian inoculant for growing plants awarded the WIPO gold medal. Dr. Kozyrovska’s articles can be found in Nature, Science Advances, Frontiers, Astrobiology, and other journals; her research results are summarized in three monographs. A recent project of Dr. Kozyrovska’s team was focused on genomic/metagenomic changes after the exposure of the kombucha multi microbial community on the International Space Station. Other astrobiological projects of her team are focused on growing pioneer plants for a lunar base or assessing extracellular membrane vesicles of postflight epigenetically changed bacteria as promising drug delivery vehicles and therapeutic postbiotics in long-distance mission.

Prof. Volodymyr Lushchak is a Ukrainian biochemist, Doctor of biological sciences, Honored worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, laureate of the Scopus Awards Ukraine and two Web of Science Awards Ukraine. He was born in 1956, in Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk). He studied Biochemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University, where in 1986, he defended his Ph.D. dissertation. Further, he moved to Crimea, where he worked at the Karadag Branch of the Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of the NASU and founded a fish biochemistry laboratory. In 1998, he returned to Ivano-Frankivsk, where he joined Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. In 2002, he defended his D. Sc. dissertation and founded the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, headed it until 2022. From 1993 to now, over three years, he worked as a visiting professor/researcher in universities in countries such as Canada, Brazil, the UK, Germany, Poland, and Finland. Professor Lushchak is interested in free radicals in biology and medicine, the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, the influence of biologically active compounds, adaptogens, xenobiotics, and pollutants on living organisms, and plant biotechnology. He has published over 200 papers listed in the Scopus database and has Hirsh indexes: Web of Science 41, Scopus 44, and Google Scholar 56.

Rostyslav Bilyy, Prof, Dr.Sci, holds the professor position at the Department of Histology, cytology, and embryology, Lviv National Medical University (LNMU), Lviv, Ukraine, and is a co-founder of Lectinotest R&D research cooperative company. He is the author of ~200 research papers, 110 in peer-reviewed Scopus-indexed journals, 6 U.A. patents, 3 U.S. patents, 5 PCT patent applications, six book chapters. H index – 31 (Google Scholar), Born – 1983, First research paper – 2003. Rostyslav graduated from Ivan Franko Lviv National University, receiving a diploma of M.S. in biochemistry. His research experience includes research positions at the Laboratory for Autoimmunity, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Germany; Engineer de Research, Unit Glycobiology Structural, and Functional, CNRS, Lille, France; Senior Researcher, Institute of Cell Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Recently he was elected as a member of (2022-2025) of the Steering Committee of the Cancer Immunology Working Group (CIMM), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).