On 19 October, a conference “Current Problems in Radiation Biology. Molecular genetic research in radiobiology. On the 70th anniversary of DNA structure discovery” started at the JINR International Conference Centre. It focuses on the discussion of experimental data on formation mechanisms of genetic and epigenetic changes in cellular structures under ionizing radiation and the consequences of such changes. The event brought together leading experts in radiobiology and medical physics from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, and Uzbekistan, as well as research centres of the Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia and Russian universities. The Scientific Council on Radiobiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the RAS Radiobiological Society, and the Laboratory of Radiation Biology at JINR organized the conference.

Grigory Trubnikov, JINR Director and RAS Academician, delivered his welcoming speech, “The most precious resource for a person is time. Therefore, we really appreciate your coming here. Today’s conference is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the DNA structure discovery. The names of many outstanding scientists involved in the discoveries in genetics come to my mind, including not only those, who received the Nobel Prize, but also Timofeev-Ressovsky, Gazenko, Bach, Sissakian. I congratulate you on the anniversary. Today, we have a very good reason to meet and discuss the most actual problems of radiation and molecular biology, medical physics, genetic research – those fields in which you are all great scientists.”