Visit of the Director of International Research and Innovative Programmes of the Cedars – Sinai Medical Centre

Dr. Sandor Vari, M.D., Director of International Research and Innovation in Medicine Program (Cedars – Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA) and President of the Regional Cooperation in the Fields of Health, Science and Technology Association (RECOOP HST Association) visited Ivan Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University 27-28 July 2021.

TNMU became a member of RECOOP HST Association in 2019. Regional Cooperation for Health, Science and Technology (RECOOP) is an International Research Association pursues the prevention and treatment of major public health problems (women and reproductive health, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases). The member organizations include Universities and Research Institutions from Central and Eastern Europe, namely Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, School of Medicine, University of Split  (Croatia), Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Czech Republic), Medical Faculties of University of Debrecen, University of Pécs, and University of Szeged, Department of Pharmacodynamics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Semmelweis University, Institute of Food Quality, Safety and Nutrition, Faculty of Food Science, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Science (Hungary), Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland), Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Romania), Slovak Medical University, Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovak Republic) and Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, Institute of Cell Biology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University (Ukraine) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (USA). You may find additional information about Cedars Sinai, ranked No. 6 on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll in 2021-22 Honor Roll in the U.S. News & World Report’s the Best Hospital ranking https://health.usnews.com/health-care/best-hospitals/articles/best-hospitals-honor-roll-and-overview

During the visit Dr. Sandor Vari, M.D. met the team of TNMU researchers are implementing RECOOP Research Grants to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and lifestyle of people and students in Ternopil region. The RECOOP HST Association is providing financial support for the RECOOP Grants at TNMU so far 75,000 US dollars.

Today researchers of TNMU implement several RECOOP Grants, six of granted for principal investigator (PI) from TMNU:

1. RECOOP # 021 Senior Scientists Grant 2020 – 2021 Gender difference in chronic stress during COVID-19 lockdown of students (Ternopil – Osijek – Wroclaw).
2. RECOOP # 022 Senior Scientists Grant 2020 – 2021 Chronic stress study of SARS-CoV-2 infected seropositive patients and health care workers (Ternopil – Osijek).
3. RECOOP # 023 Senior Scientists Grant 2020 – 2021 Impacts of COVID 19 infection on patient with high blood pressure using angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) (Ternopil – Osijek).
4. RECOOP # 024 Fusion Grant 2020 – 2021 Vascular Dysfunction in post infected COVID-19 patients (Ternopil – Lviv – Pasteur Paris – Szeged).
5. RECOOP Grant # 25 Senior Scientists Grant 2020 – 2021 Investigate the cross- reactive immunity between HCoVs and the SARS-CoV-2 viruses (Ternopil – Lviv – Pasteur Paris).
6. RECOOP Grant# 028 Fusion Grant 2020 – 2021: RECOOP FG # 028 COVID-19 disease and comorbidities during pregnancy (Ternopil – Szeged – Pecs).

In three more grants researchers from TMNU are Co-Principal Investigators:

1. RECOOP Grant # 020 Senior Scientists Granet 2020 – 2022 Investigation and validation of COVID Saliva ELISA immune assay (Lviv – Ternopil).
2. RECOOP Grant # 26 Fusion Grant 2020 – 2021 Changes in blood coagulation hemostasis and coagulation factors’ glycoprotein after COVID – 19 infection (Kyiv – Debrecen – Ternopil).
3. RECOOP Grant # 027 Young Scientist Research Grant 2020 -2021. Fluorescein quantum dots optical sensor for detection of saliva cortisol in acute and chronic stress related to COVID – 19 diseases (Wroclaw-Ternopil).

During the meetings the investigators and the President of RECOOP HST Association discussed the ongoing projects, reviewed the results, and outlined the structure of data analysis of the research outcomes.