Marine Invertebrate Biology Interfaculty Laboratory

In 2010 the Russian Federation Government announced the start of a $400 million grant competition to involve leading national scientists in university projects.  Professor. Vladimir Malahov, a world-famous researcher is among the 40 winners of this competition. He is the Chairman of the Zoology and Invertebrate Comparative Anatomy Department of Moscow State University. In November 2010, Prof. Malahov established the Interfaculty Laboratory of Marine Invertebrate Biology at FEFU. 

The Laboratory research focuses on biological diversity and structure, reproduction, development and biology of marine invertebrates including those understudied, rare and culturally valuable. 

This project provides estimates of nature management efficiency, marine bio-resources production technology in the North-Western Pacific Ocean, ecological risk assessment and aquaculture analysis.

The Interfaculty Laboratory will contribute to the establishment of external relations with scientific and educational organizations of the Pacific Rim countries. 

FEFU provided the Laboratory with much high-tech equipment including: Axiolmager AI luminescent microscopes, a LMD 600 laser micro-dissection system, a Faxitron LX-60 highly sensitive soft X-ray unit, a 3130 XL genetic DNA analyzer, an Applied Biosystems Bio-Rad C-1000 amplifier, a Bio-Rad Gel Doc XR+System gel documentary system, a BioSpec-nano microquantity nuclein analysis spectrophotometer, and a ThermoBrite Abbott Fish hybridization system (USA).

Other major Laboratory research areas include:

• Structure, development, and biology of marine invertebrates, and animal kingdom systematics
• Abiotic influences on pathogenic ultra-structure
• Anthropogenic influences on marine invertebrate functional state and reproduction 
• Marine invertebrate stem and embryonic cells research; marine invertebrate cell technology development, including technologies of proliferation and differentiation induction; and marine hydrobiont cryo-conservation at ultra-low temperatures 
• Research of molecular and genetic mechanisms, evolution regularity and peculiarity among marine animal species
• Research of meiobenthos distribution and taxonomic structure of the upper shelf of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk: biological diversity, population and trophic structure
• Research of marine macrobenthos structure, compound and distribution in coastal shallow ecosystems; hydrobiont environment 
• Research of the Far Eastern species Corbicula Japonica: relative and intraspecific analysis, and morphological and genetic analysis
• Cellular and molecular regeneration mechanisms of sea urchins
• Marine lipids and individual variability, biochemical and chemogenic taxonomic aspects, and issues of adaptation to different environments and temperatures
• Mollusk immunity 
• Applied aspects of marine invertebrate usage in immunology
• Ultra-structure analysis of sea urchin spines
• Testing extracellular matrix proteins and various glycopolymers in cell cultures
• Mollusk somatic polyploidy 
• Composition and dynamics of bivalve mollusk hemolymph cellular populations 
• Comparative morphological and taxonomical research of Nemertinea