Company Helps Mushroom Industry to Thrive in Ukraine

Growing mushrooms is a potentially attractive career for Ukraine's unemployed, but aspiring mushroom farmers in Ukraine lack the knowledge they need to get started. Now they are getting important technical advice through an organization that is the only one in the nation to produce mushrooms using ecologically conscious, low-cost means.

Immune Modulator Found to Have Potential for Hepatitis C Treatment

A research team of Verta Ltd., a biotechnological firm based in St. Petersburg, Russia, discovered that an immune modulator has potential in the treatment of chronic Hepatitis C. The researchers' work was sponsored by CRDF and SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in San Mateo, Calif.

Services Provided for International Meeting on Prevention of Nuclear Smuggling

With support from the U.S. Department of State's Preventing Nuclear Smuggling Program, CRDF provided travel support for a group of participants attending the 14th Nuclear Smuggling International Technical Working Group (ITWG) meeting held June 29-July 2, 2009 in Vienna, Austria.

Services Provided for UNODC Workshop in Kiev

With support from the U.S. Department of State’s Preventing Nuclear Smuggling Program, CRDF provided services for a workshop held by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Terrorism Prevention Branch, on March 11-13, 2008, in Kiev. The workshop focused on strengthening national legislation and international legal cooperation against nuclear terrorism.

Training Series Provides Biosafety Strategies for Scientists from Isolated Regions

CRDF sponsored 22 scientists and researchers who attended avian influenza and Newcastle disease training at the U.S. Drug Administration's South Eastern Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Georgia. 

Ukrainian Researchers Develop Refining Method

Scientists from the Physical Institute of Technology of Metals and Alloys, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Pratt & Whitney-Paton in Kyiv, Ukraine have jointly developed a new refining method to remove valuable items from contaminated waste heat resisting alloys. The research group-led by Institute Professor V. Sokolov-received a grant from CRDF's Science & Technology Entrepreneur (STEP) program.

Workshop Focuses on Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in Pakistan

On Jan. 26-30 in Istanbul, Turkey, CRDF, on behalf of U.S. Department of State's Biosecurity Engagement Program, organized a five-day training workshop for 40 Pakistani public health practitioners, researchers and administrators on the treatment of patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Pakistan.

ABSA Conference Support Provided

U.S. government agencies sponsored the participation of more than 100 international scientists in the 50th Annual American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) meeting held Oct. 7-10, 2007, in Nashville, Tennessee.  Delegates received travel support, translation services during the conference, and onsite conference assistance.

Animal Care and Use Training Completed in Russia

Many Russian institutes collaborating with the U.S. Department of State’s BioIndustry Initiative (BII) program have a limited awareness of the international principles of laboratory animal welfare. Through two BII-funded animal care and use training sessions, CRDF helped the staff of two institutes gain more knowledge in this field.

Armenian Scientists Provide Hope for Less Expensive X-Rays

Furthering a study begun by Armenian scientistsin the 1960's, a new generation of researchers is working to provide cheaper x-ray beams.

Biomedical Extension Training Program Held

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, CRDF contracted with the Rotary Club of Manila Foundation in October 2007 to conduct the first of several training sessions that teach participants how to care for and maintain hospital diagnostic equipment.

Biosafety Conference Support Provided

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, CRDF helped a group of seven Pakistani and one Indian scientists to participate in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) 10th International Symposium on Biosafety held in Atlanta, GA between Feb. 9-13.

Brucellosis Researchers Attend Conference and Visit USDA Site

An international group of scientists traveled to Chicago to attend the 2007 Brucellosis Research Conference (BRC) -- held Dec. 1-2 -- and the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD) -- held Dec. 2-4.

Building Better Construction Materials

Dr. Sergey Lazarev is a lead scientist at Palmira, Ltd., a Vladivostock, Russia company that patented a novel method of recycling plastic wastes into high-quality, low-cost tiles for construction. He knew the concept had merit: raw materials for other ceramic tiles were more costly than the plastics used in his own, and building companies in Russia and the U.S. both need durable, aesthetic materials.

Calculating Nuclear Reactions for the Greater Good

In collaboration with Charles Dunford of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Anatolij Zvenigorodskii and a team of former weapons scientists from the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics (VNIIEF) were able to obtain parameters for calculating cross-sections of nuclear reactions.

Company Founded by Armenian Grantee Named 2008 Global Security Challenge Finalist

An Armenian company founded by Dr. Samvel Gevorgian -- whose work has been funded by CRDF and the National Foundation of Science and Advanced Technologies (NFSAT) -- was named as a finalist in the 2008 Global Security Challenge competition.

Consortium Uses GIS Technology to Track Infectious Diseases in Kyrgyzstan

Public health scientists in Kyrgyzstan are increasingly using mapping tools like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to track infectious diseases such as anthrax and use the resulting data to develop ways to control outbreaks—and they're getting the help they need to use this technology through a consortium that CRDF helped to establish with support from the U.S. Department of State.  The Kyrgyzstan Consortium for GIS Excellence (KCGE) has resulted in the establishment of a GIS facility located at the Kyrgyz State University of Construction, Transportation and Architecture (KSUCTA) in Bishkek.

CRDF Assists U.S.-Russian Team Develop Portable Explosive Detection Device

Responding to global security threats and high demand for anti-terrorism devices, Andrey Kuznetsov and a team of Russian scientists from Khlopin Radium Institute (St. Petersburg) joined Science Applications International Corporation (San Diego, CA) to create a portable detection device.

CRDF Helps Coordinate the Fight against Avian Flu

Tracking bird migration patterns has become the key to predicting the next “strike zone” for the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu. CRDF is lending its expertise to this effort on Russia's front lines.

CRDF-funded Antiterrorism Research

Under the special antiterrorism competition, CRDF funded research grants to minimize the impact of terrorist acts on civilian populations. The majority of proposals to this competition included scientists with former Soviet WMD experience. The following are examples of the types of research awarded: