Many people seem to be considering visits to Tbilisi or at least raising questions about the Eliava Institute - hopefully this introduction to the human and physical topology there will be some help. Note that a number of changes are currently underway in Georgia affecting both the university system and the current Institutes of the Academy of Sciences, and the exact future status and internal structure of the Eliava in the future is also in the process of being determined as of this writing (Aug. 2005).
Institute Lab Council and lab groups : (A number are involved in various grants and proposals - see International Support)
1. Director: Teimuraz Chanishvili -- MD, PhD, DSc, Prof. –retiring this year. The management has largely been carried out since spring of 2004 by 3 vice-directors whom he appointed: Marina Tediashvili, Marina Goderdzishvili and Mzia Kutateladze.
2. Molecular Biology in Phage Characterization and Application: Rezo Adamia - PhD, DSc, [also Georgian ambassador to the United Nations] --- (Staph, Pseudomonas, Salmonella primarily) -- PhDs Nana Balarjishvili, Mzia Kutateladze and Leila Kvachadze are jointly running the lab.
3. Phage Selection and Taxonomy Liana Gachechiladze MD, PhD, DSc -- Pseudomonas, E. coli, Serratia. Enterobacter, Proteus
4. Biology and Morphology of Phages -- Zemphira Alavidze, PhD; PhDs Marina Goderdzishvili, Amiran Meipariani -- isolating and characterizing new therapeutic phages (including all components of Pyophage and Intestiphage); phage preparation and stabilization techniques
5. Microbiology (d'Herelle's original lab)-- Tato Gabisonia - DVM, PhD, DSc Prof. -- various animal pathogens, especially staph; new human clinical cocktails of several sorts. PhDs: Ira Chirakadze PhD, DSc
6. Biochemistry: Manana Loladze, PhD; PhD: Tina Birkadze, DSc; - Enzymes such as Hyaluronidase for phage and other medicinal purposes
7. Storage and Collection of Bacteria and Phages: Marina Darsavelidze, PhD, -
8. Virology -- Prof. Inga Georgadze, MD, PhD, DSc, -- influenza, adenovirus, interferon; clinical diagnostics; Nana Topuria, PhD, DSc
9. Ira Chirakadze PhD, DSc Group Chief -- ???
10. Immunology: Sergei Rigvava PhD, DSC, - particularly anthrax
11. The Anaerobic Phages group is currently largely inactive, due to lack of funds and young people with expertise in this area. PhD Guliko Tskhvediani - Botulinus, Clostridium, etc. Two new groups were recently elevated to independent laboratory status:
13. Microorganism and Bacteriophage Genetics: Nino Chanishvili, PhD - Lactobacillus; recently some pseudomonas phage sensitivity studies
14. Microbial Ecology. PhD Marina Tediashvili - environmental monitoring, plant pathogens, food safety
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A Physical Introduction to the Eliava Institute and its Groups
As one enters the spacious Eliava Institute compound, there is a small building on the right used as a clinic by the small company Diagnosis 90 to see patients and sell phage and other preparations. A larger building on the left has the Administrative Offices and two meeting rooms on the second floor. This is the domain of Academician Teimuraz Chanishvili - Director of the Institute since 1997. He has been at the Institute since 1949 and was Scientific Director from 1965 to 1997; before that, he had briefly directed the Production Facility. In the mid-1990's, there was a period of uncertainty in the Institute status after the USSR broke up and the Institute no longer was under the All-Union Ministry of Health. The Industrial Production part underwent privatization, with 8 small companies being formed and a general struggle for survival, individually and collectively. (It is unclear how the decisions were made as to where the line was drawn defining the Research parts of the Institute, which were unequivocally not to be privatized, or who got the various parts of the old Production portion.) In 1997, the Scientific part became the Institute of Bacteriophages , Microbiology and Virology of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.
Straight ahead is the H-shaped Main Building , with sweeping stairs leading up to the main entrance on the second floor. The ground gradually drops off toward the Mtkvari River , so that there are still two more floors above ground in the back section. The front section has a very long wing extending out to the right.
Second (main entrance) floor :
Left side: Front: computer room, set up with internet access and security gates - but the Academy-supplied computer was taken back into the Director's building as most labs acquired their own computers and access. General English lessons (supported by the PhageBiotics Foundation) are now held there.
Left, Back: Rezo Adamia's main suite of labs - with a strong security gate and 5 lab/office spaces, just being refurbished with help from current ISTC grant. Leads: Nana Balarjishvili, Mzia Kutateladze, Leila Kvachadze; Computer work: Nikoloz Nikolaishvili; Technicians: Rusiko Patazidze (background in physics and with Liana); ***; Eka Tevdoradze; Students: Tamuna Abuladze, who was one of our first students for 1 year and then spent 2 years in Maryland w. Sandro, plans to return soon as a PhD student, as a grant-supported participant with Mzia.
Right wing, second floor is a very large privatized space: "Biochimpharm", under Alexandr Golejashvili (Aleko), who also is at least formally a member of Liana Gachechiladze's lab at the Institute. Biochimpharm and Liana together are just finishing an ISTC grant to integrate research and production of new phage formulations against several gram-negative bacteria, which assisted in refurbishing the space as well as in supporting the science. Biochimpharm has licensure to make Pyophage, tablets against dysentary, etc. and is now marketing their version of Pyophage throughout Georgia . The area is in relatively good shape physically, with large old fermenters and stamping machines that could make 100,000 tablets per hour - far too much for Georgia , and they are looking into additional markets for their products.
Third floor, front section , reached by a broad sweeping staircase:
Left lies the large library, the stacks of which house an amazing, extensive collection of early phage and microbiology work. However, the ceiling in the reading room is badly damaged and falling and they have few resources for repairs or current journals and books. At the 2001 T4 meeting, State Dept. representatives David Allen and Elizabeth Scharl suggested the possibility of getting a small grant for library infrastructure facilities through the ISTC - a proposal is needed here. The center front of building contains a large lecture hall which has undergone repair and is now regularly used.
Right: The first rooms on both sides of the hall, Nino Chanishvili's space, were renovated with a mix of funds, to be shared between her group and the new CRDF-funded "Regional Experimental Center of Applied Microbiology and Bacteriophage Research" (RECAMBR), to be open for users from throughout the region; this is discussed in detail elsewhere. A spiral staircase leads to offices and a commons room in the attic space above.
The next 3 second-floor rooms belong to the Adamia group, renovated with money built into their ISTC grant. The last 5 rooms before a set of double doors belong to the phage ecology lab under Marina Tediashvili; their renovation was completed largely using funds from her CRDF/3M potato pathogen grant.
The space beyond the double doors, which also has its own stairway access, is being developed into a badly-needed joint therapeutic phage research-scale production facility. The heads of the 4 labs carrying out such production and several others from the Institute formed a nonprofit foundation to raise money for this purpose and were helped by the PhageBiotics Foundation, since the Institute has not been able to provide any funding for it since first committing the space several years ago. The plan is for that part of the attic area above to again become an animal quarters for product testing.
Cellar floor, right front wing : The proximal portion houses the electron microscope center and a very large ultracentrifuge and storage room. It has no windows but has direct same-level outside access.
The outer, privatized part – current status?? still owned by Lela??
Back wing of the building: extends primarily to the left .
second floor right end: Ketevan (Leana) Gachechiladze - Lab of phage taxonomy and selection -- 4 small rooms are currently in use. [She also has a pair of relatively unused rooms on the right along the corridor between the two buildings.] Narrow stairs lead up to the old low attic rooms of Nino Chanishvili and Marina Tediashvili.
Going left along this wing: Lab of Biology and Morphology of phages -- Zemphira Alavidze, Amiran Meipariani and Marina Goderdzishvili: Biology and Morphology of phages - have quite a large set of labs and have made phage preparations for hospitals, military, phage bioderm - pyophage, intestiphage, staph, individual phages - renting some of their space/rights from the Institute for that part. (They have discussed this arrangement with the Vice-Director of the National Academy and have set this up similarly to commercial ventures tied to another Institute of the Academy, with things properly set up to pay taxes on any actual profits they generate.) When the power has been down, Biopharm has let them use some of their excess capacity and electricity free of charge to continue to make their preparations for the hospitals and for sale in Diagnosis 90. They make only about 30 liters/month currently.
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Immunology – Sergei Rigvava, Dr Dr. – they also have rooms up a narrow stair in their attic where they will be doing anthrax grand work and a separate small private building to use for veterinary developments of various sorts
End of hall, behind dividing doors: phages of anaerobic bacteria – Ira Antadze – (Brucellosis work is in a separate small building, off near the Virology building.)
First floor, back wing -
Left end: Laboratory of Microbiology (Eliava's original lab) - Dr. Dr. Tato Gabisonia (also on the faculty of the vet school) - plus Dr. Dr. Ira Chirakadze and Lamara Chanishvili (who did excellent Shigella T-even pseudolysogeny work - both of these women have been at the Institute 50 years, and learned from people who worked closely with Eliava and d'Herelle!). This very large lab studies both veterinary and human therapeutic applications – its large group includes vet students and has just supported the completion of 4 PhDs, and has a wide range of collaborations inside and outside the Institute. They have BTEP and ISTC grants involving Constantin Severinov as US partner. Their lab is also now preparing 4 Institute-approved new human phage preps sold through Diagnosis 90.
Right end: Laboratory of Biochemistry - Manana Loladze, PhD, who has focused mainly on hyaluronidase and its applications for 20 years and is just finishing her Dr.Sci; she now is also working more closely with Tato's group, bringing her cell-surface and hyaluronidase expertise to bear in both infection-process and therapeutic cocktail work. Dr. Dr. Tina Birkadze.
There is also a ground floor, left at back under Tato, with outside entrances to each suite-
Left end: Storage and Collection of Bacteria and Phages - Marina Darsavelidze -- a small lab focusing on gram-negative bacteria from throughout Georgia and also making some new commercial phage cocktails. The rest of that floor is private, with various owners.
In separate buildings:
Virology -- Inga Georgadze, daughter of a former long-time Institute director. They are looking for financial support to be able to resume human and animal virus work, with its high cost, She rents and has renovated much of the space in this original Institute building far to the right in the grounds, across from the old animal barns, to use for the diagnostic work of her company "Diagnos 90", discussed under companies.
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