Federal Scientific Research Institute of Viral Infections «Virom» of Rospotrebnadzor: achievements of the past, vectors of the future (on the 105th anniversary of the Institute).

The Federal Scientific Research Institute of Viral Infections «Virome» Rospotrebnadzor (hereinafter referred to as the Institute) celebrates its 105th anniversary in 2025. The Institute was founded on February 17, 1920, to organize measures to eliminate outbreaks of phenomena and epidemics during the Civil War. The activities of the Institute were aimed at strengthening measures to combat typhus and severe typhus, smallpox, cholera, diphtheria, measles, tularemia, opisthorchiasis, malaria, etc., as well as the production of diagnostic, therapeutic and prophylactic drugs. During the Great Patriotic War, a vaccine against typhoid fever was developed at the Institute. The Institute was one of the main bases of the USSR and RSFSR Ministry of Health for providing the front and rear with vaccines to combat infectious diseases with drugs: typhoid vaccine, tetanus and anti-gangrenous serums, anatoxins, wound and dysentery bacteriophages, etc., more than 37 items in total. In subsequent years, the Institute faced various urgent tasks of that time: development of new antimicrobial agents and preventive drugs. For over 30 years, the Institute was the country’s leading institution in the field of virology, whose functions included coordinating the research of epidemiological research institutes and working virology laboratories. In 2005, the Institute became part of the scientific organization of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Health (Rospotrebnadzor). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute was a branch of the largest virology center in the country — the Federal Budgetary Institution of Science State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector of Rospotrebnadzor. To assist practical healthcare, a PCR laboratory for the diagnosis of the new coronavirus infection was created on the basis of the Institute. In 2023, the Institute received the status of a federal scientific institution. The key objectives of the Institute are to conduct fundamental and applied scientific research in the field of virology, epidemiology, molecular biology, biotechnology, immunology, genetics, and cell engineering aimed at developing and improving treatment methods and measures to prevent infectious diseases of viral etiology. The ongoing large-scale upgrade of the material and technical base will give impetus to the development of the Institute’s research potential and ensure world-class research and development.