The 40th anniversary of the Lithuanian biopharmaceutical industry and science was marked on Monday with the opening of the Lithuanian Biotechnology Museum in the village of Savaitiskes in Trakai District. The founder of the museum, Professor Vladas Algirdas Bumelis, has accumulated a collection of unique instruments and equipment reflecting the development of life sciences in Lithuania over 50 years of activity.
"Lithuanian biopharmacy has come an impressive way in 40 years, and most importantly, it has actively joined the global scientific community and became an active innovator. We managed to combine basic scientific research and private business to create high-added value and bring together a community of talent. The Biotechnology Museum shows how far ambitious goals can go. It also shows the enormous potential of the biopharmaceutical industry in today's world, where more and more technologies are interacting, and artificial intelligence is making it possible to achieve results that only a year ago seemed impossible. Let the Museum be an inspiration to move forward, to create progress and value," said academician Prof. Habil. Dr. Vladas Algirdas Bumelis at the opening of the Lithuanian Biotechnology Museum.
Before the opening of the museum, Prof. V. A. Bumelis, who is considered the founder of genetically engineered pharmaceuticals in Lithuania, invited the Lithuanian scientific community to an academic reading on the topic "40th Anniversary of the Lithuanian Biopharmaceutical Industry and Science". The event happened at the Grand Conference Hall of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius. His fourth book, "My DNA", was also presented there.
The first visitors of the Lithuanian Museum of Biotechnology were also able to see the author's passion for science and innovation, as reflected in his book, when they saw the equipment used by the scientist to develop genetic engineering-based drug production technologies that laid the foundations of the Lithuanian biopharmaceutical industry.
The museum's halls display the equipment collected by Prof. V. A. Bumelis over the years. The collection consists of unique devices that opened new possibilities for the development of the production of recombinant human growth hormone, insulin, and other recombinant proteins. These devices were used in the major biopharmaceutical laboratories, forming the foundations of modern Lithuanian biotechnology.
Although some of the equipment on display is over fifty years old, it is in perfect working order. A look at fermenters, chromatographs or spectrophotometers is therefore like a trip back in time.
The instruments on display at the Biotechnology Museum reflect the technological advances in biotechnology over several decades. The exhibits clearly show the evolution of technology from older, analogue devices to newer, digital, or automated systems. The private museum, set up in the Bumelis family homestead, displays equipment manufactured in the USA, Sweden, Japan, France, Germany, and other countries, which has been used by Lithuanian biopharmaceutical science and industry to develop the highest quality biopharmaceutical products. The latest generation of modern biopharmaceutical equipment is available at the Northway Biotech and Celltechna facilities in Lithuania and the USA, headed by Prof. V. A. Bumelis.
For further information, please contact:
Vladas Bumelis, CEO and Chairman of the Board vladas.bumelis@northwaybiotech.com