Vikram Punia —
President, Pharmasyntez Group of Companies
Born on March 15, 1973 in Jaipur, India. Russian citizen.
Graduated from Birla High School in Pilani. In 1992 started his higher education in Russia, at Irkutsk State Medical University. Later graduated from the Far Eastern Federal University, majoring in Finance and Credit. Married, with three children.
Founder of Pharmasyntez, member of the Leaders’ Club to Promote Business Initiatives (a non-profit partnership), Co-Chairman of the Business Council for Cooperation with India, participant in several investment forums and business missions.
Pharmasyntez manufactures medicinal drugs for socially significant diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, cancer, hepatitis and diabetes. The company’s profile includes over 113 various pharmaceutical forms and dosages – caps, pills, granules, IV solutions, sterile dry powders, solutions for injection and lyophilisates. Currently Pharmasyntez has five GMP compliant manufacturing facilities in the following Russian cities: Saint Petersburg, Tyumen, Bratsk, Irkutsk and Ussuriysk. The company employs over 1500 qualified specialists.
Pharmasyntez was number one Russian pharmaceutical manufacturer based on hospital purchases in 2016 (and No. 5 out of all pharmaceutical manufacturers, based on hospital purchases records). In 2016 it also became the fastest growing Russian manufacturing company with the revenue of 12 billion, which has doubled in comparison with 2014.
Currently Pharmasyntez is Russia’s leader in manufacturing medicinal agents for tuberculosis, retrovirus and cancer. Farmasintez does innovative R&D and exports pharmaceutical agents from Russia. The company is Irkutsk’s biggest tax payer.
Ruslan Sarkisov —
General Partner, Voskhod Venture Capital
Starting from December 2021, Mr. Sarkisov has been heading the Voskhod Venture Fund (Interros Group).
In 2018ؘ—2021 — Head of the Far East High Technologies Fund.
2014-2018 Ruslan was Deputy to CEO at the Far East Developpment Fund responsible for launching Far East High Technologies Fund and projects in logistics, housing and Utility Infrastructure and manufacturing industry.
2011-2013 Ruslan was Senior Vice-President at the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) where participated in the implementation of investment projects in the telecommunications and commodities sectors as well as in the creation of the Russian-Chinese investment fund with a capital of 2 billion dollars.
Since 2002, Ruslan has held various positions in Russian and international companies (Ernst & Young, Basic Element, CentreInvest Capital Partners, Rusnano.
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Pavel Volchkov —
Executive Director of the Center for Living Systems, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology; Deputy Director for Research, Federal Research Center for Original and Prospective Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies
Candidate of Biological Sciences
- Director, Institute of Personalized Medicine, National Medical Research Centre for Endocrinology, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation
- Executive Director, Center for Living Systems and Biopharmaceutical Engineering; Head, Genome Engineering Lab, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)
World-class geneticist, Moscow State University alumnus, worked at the University of Chicago and Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on applied projects in the realm of genetics and bioinformatics for agro- and biomedicine.
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Education:
In 2004, he graduated with honours from Moscow State University with a degree in biochemistry, specializing in plant, animal, and human viruses.
In 2008, he successfully defended his Candidate’s dissertation on genetics and stem cells at the Institute of Gene Biology and the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
From 2006 to 2015, he held postdoc fellowships with the University of Chicago and the Boston Children's Hospital (Harvard University).
Professional experience:
Biomedical scientist specializing in molecular biology, genetics, microbiology, and stem cell biology, with experience in flow cytometry, especially of hematopoietic stem cells and immune cells. Over 10 years of experience in creating genetically modified animals, experience working with animal models, including the organization and management of gnotobiotic vivarium facilities at the University of Chicago.
● From 2020 — Executive Director, Center for Living Systems and Biopharmaceutical Engineering, MIPT
An MIPT scientific and educational centre, an extension of the Genome Engineering and Orphan Diseases Therapy laboratories, focused on conducting basic and applied research in the realm of genome engineering, gene therapy development, bioinformatics, and related fields
● 2019–2020 — Director, Centre for Genomic Technology and Bioinformatics, MIPT. A scientific and educational centre created through the Science National Project, part of the Kurchatov Genome Centre, in the domains of ‘Genetic Technologies for Agricultural Development’ and ‘Gene Technologies for Industrial Microbiology’.
● From 2016 — Head, Genome Engineering Lab, MIPT. Research: editing human stem and somatic cells to create therapies for oncological, autoimmune, and infectious diseases, developing technological platforms for editing animal and plant genomes, e.g., creating animals and plants that are resistant to viral and bacterial pathogens, translating gene editing technologies (CRISPR-based technologies) to applied research projects.
● 2015 — Gene editing laboratory with a focus on creating genetic animal models in the fields of virology and immunology, regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, at the Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Centre of the Federal Medical Biological Agency, at the MIPT Laboratory of Pre-clinical Research. Research: creating new animal models for studying the biology of hematopoietic stem cells, the interactions of innate and acquired immunity with microflora and pathogenic bacteria and viruses, gene editing of hematopoietic stem cells using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to create therapies for diseases previously thought to be incurable such as HIV and even inherited blood disorders (sickle-cell anemia).
● 2015 — Visiting Scholar, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University. Organizing scientific and educational activities, developing a laboratory complex, teaching by way of mentoring undergrad students, graduate students, and staff.
● 2011–2015 — Postdoctoral Fellow, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard University, USA. Research: identifying combinations of transcription factors for reprogramming differentiated blood cells into hematopoietic stem cells to develop clinical protocols for creating hematopoietic blood stem cells during transplantation, applying CRISPR/Cas9 technology to edit genomes, creating animal models for studying the biology of hematopoietic stem cells, the role of miR-142 in hematopoiesis.
● 2006–2011 — Postgraduate/Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA. Research: the role of intestinal microflora in the development of type 1 diabetes, the creation of animal models for studying the role of PAMPs (DAMPs) in the development of autoimmunity, the role of intestinal microflora and regulatory T cells in suppressing the development of an autoimmune response.
● 2005–2008 — Postgraduate, Institute of Gene Biology and Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Research: epigenetic regulation of key transcription factors regulating the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells and tissue-specific differentiation.
Research Interests:
Biochemistry; genetics; molecular biology; medicine; immunology; pharmacology, toxicology, and pharmaceutics; regenerative medicine; stem cells; bioinformatics; engineering