In a splendid example of interdisciplinary collaboration, biotech specialists from the Vektor Virology and Biotechnology Scientific Center and physicists from the Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics (part of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) are jointly developing in Siberia’s Novosibirsk a nanobiochip that they claim will help provide immunity to “a hundred diseases,” Russian news agency Interfax-Siberia reports citing a statement by Alexander Sergeyev, the CEO of the Vektor Center.

“We interact, among other things, in an ultramodern immunophysical method, which is unparalleled elsewhere in the world. In the method, nanowire-held biochips are used, into which antibodies against more than a hundred infectious diseases are planted,” Mr. Sergeyev explained.

According to Alexander Aseyev, the CEO of the Rzhanov Institute and chairman of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “we talk about nanobiosensors.”

The Vektor Center has one of the world’s largest collections of viruses, including those of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Marburg hemorrhagic fever, SARS, smallpox and many others. The Russian Government has decreed to establish on the premises of the Center a National Laboratory working with the most dangerous, highly pathogenic influenza viruses. The Vektor Center also plays a role as a coordinator interacting with the World Health Organization (WHO) in developing an HIV vaccine.

The Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics is an R&D center with a broad focus on a range of the fields of modern physics, including semiconductors, condensed-matter physics, semiconductor-based micro-, opto-, nano- and acoustic electronics, IT, and quantum electronics.