Lidiya Kechidzhieva, a doctoral student in immunology at the Institute of Microbiology of BAS, is the new recipient of the annual doctoral scholarship of the Karoll Knowledge Foundation. She won the jury's vote in competition with two doctoral students from Sofia University and one from South-West University. The topic of her doctoral thesis is “Investigation of the effect of a specific methyl-supplemented diet on the development of systemic lupus erythematosus in mouse models of the disease.” Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is one of the most complex autoimmune diseases, characterized by impaired immune tolerance, chronic inflammation, and severe organ damage. Current therapies are limited due to their non-specificity and cytotoxicity which necessitates the search for new, more selective approaches. The project addresses this need by investigating [...]

 The paper has received outstanding recognition - it has been selected for the cover of the April issue (2025) of the Nature Cell Biology journal. An all-Bulgarian research team from the “Acad. Roumen Tsanev” Institute of Molecular Biology at BAS published an article in the Nature Cell Biology journal on 14 April 2025. The authors of the study are Rumen Stamatov, Sonya Uzunova, Yoana Kicheva, Maria Karaboeva and Tavian Blagoev, under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Stoyno Stoynov. The team overcomes long-standing methodological challenges in the study of chromosome dynamics during mitosis, a key process in cell division. Over the course of more than four years, scientists developed an innovative method called FAST CHIMP (Facilitated Segmentation and Tracking of Chromosomes in Mitosis Pipeline). [...]

A solemn celebration dedicated to the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology - BAS (IMicB) and to the 20th anniversary of its membership in the Pasteur network was held on 7 March at the Institute. The event was opened by Prof. Penka Petrova, Director of IMicB, with a presentation on the Institute's successes, vision and strategy for its development and its place in the Pasteur network. Dr. Cecilia Castillo, responsible for the regional and strategic development of the Pasteur Network in the Euro-Mediterranean region, welcomed the audience and presented the perspectives and directions for the development of the Network as well as opportunities for cooperation. In the "Success stories of Bulgarian scientists in the Pasteur network" session, presentations were [...]