A map ofLithuania’s life-sciences landscape

Lithuania’s Biochemical and Genetic Genome: A Biotechnology Culture of Collaboration and the Future of Genome-editing Technologies in Vilnius

On occasions, however, Lithuania’s strong history in biotechnology and the life sciences has been overlooked. The work of Virginijus iknys, theLithuanian biochemist, was rejected by the journal Cell.

Researchers point to a culture of collaboration, rather than one of competition, in which scientists are keen to help each other. It has a small population of about 2.8 million, making it easier to do.

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory will partner with the Life Sciences center at Vilnius University in 2020 to develop genome-editing technologies. The partnership is one of seven created around the world since 2019 — the collaborations typically last between five and nine years.

iknys won a share of the $1-million Kalvi Prize for his work six years later, following his rejection, and is widely credited with co-inventing the gene.

The 2021 migration rate of the Lithuanian population and biotechnical research in the near-war-insurgery region: Bioinformatics, genetic engineering and molecular biology

Lithuania has seen an exodus of talent. In 1990, the population was 3.8 million, but it decreased to almost two million in 2019. It might be changing due to the return ofLithuanians from abroad and other nationals moving to the country. Since 2019, migration has exceeded emigration every year, with 87,367 people coming into the country in 2022, but only 15,270 leaving, according to the Lithuanian State Data Agency. The number ofLithuanians who return to their home country has increased steadily from 10,155 in the year 2017 to 23,712 in the year 2021. The country is near the war inUkraine which may have contributed to the dip in 2022.

According to InvestLithuania, that more than half of the 25–34 year olds have received tertiary education. This is among the highest of in EU countries and well above the EU average (41.2%). Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics are the subjects that 28% of the students who began a PhD in 2021 studied.

The winner of the Lithuanian Science Prize, a chemist and biotechnical adviser at Vilnius University, was recognized for his achievements in the production of recombinant proteins. Northway Biotech was found by him.

The US biotech firm Thermo Fisher Scientific acquires the Lithuanian genetic-engineering and molecular-biology company Fermentas for US$260 million. In 1995 Fermentas was established by academics at Vilnius University.

Giedrius Gasinas is the co- founder and chief scientific officer atCaszyme, a company located in Vilnius that specializes in genome-editing tools.

Biochemist Saulius Klimašauskas at Vilnius University wins Lithuania’s first European Research Council advanced grant — €2.5 million (US$2.7 million) — for his research proposal on epigenetic change.

Bioinformatics: A journey between Vilnius, Canada and Toronto, where Thoora met Tomonis, Ph.D.

The life-science sector grows by 22% and the country ranks third in the central and eastern European country region for attracting and retaining talent.

I was born nine years before Lithuania gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. I was part of the first generation that did not have compulsory Russian lessons at school. In 2004, whenLithuania joined the EU, I obtained a masters degree in computer science from the free University of Bozen–Bolzano in Italy and spent the year completing my PhD there, as well as working at the former online news-aggregation company. The news service used mathematics and algorithms to figure out the most important events in a given time period, and they turned out to be very relevant in bioinformatics.

One evening, I was out drinking beer with some other Lithuanians in Toronto, Canada, where Thoora was based. Petronis is a genetics researcher at the University of Toronto. I explained that I was into computer science, but not interested in going to work for an organization like Google. Instead, I wanted to do something that contributes to human health (my older brother and sister are both physicians). He said, try bioinformatics, it’s the future.

In the fall of 2011 I began my career as a health researcher, working as a Visiting Postdoc at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. For years, I traveled between Canada and Lithuania as a biological data-science consultant and as a PhD researcher at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the University of Vilnius. I was working all day and night.

I joined the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids,Michigan as a bioinformatics scientist in 2019. There is very limited work of a bioinformatician in academia. Universities have lots of people who do the experiments and typically hire only one bioinformatician. You need to run the server that makes the computations, manage the data and write the code in the lab. Each project takes a long time. It can take a year or two to arrive at a result that is publishable. It’s interesting in the beginning, but after a while, you feel lonely. It would be a lot quicker if I had people with me who could help to improve the processes.

Having a base in the United States made it possible for the institutes that I was working with to have a contract with Vugene. I certainly didn’t have to explain where Lithuania is — it was a gate opener.

By this time, the COVID-19 pandemic had hit and I had decided to return to Lithuania with my wife to build the company there. At first, I was doing everything alone.

It was always my dream to find a way to use something in medical practice. Vugene is concentrating on early diagnostics. The company works a lot in the neurodegeneration field, mostly sequencing epigenomic data sets. Currently, 30 projects are running in parallel.

The first hire was a big step. I am very lucky to have a group of people with me. Milda Milčiūtė, then a third-year genetics student at Vilnius, came first, in 2021. I became her supervisor for her dissertation and we worked together on her thesis on the expression of endogenous retroviruses in Parkinson’s disease. She worked part-time for a software company. She’s now doing her master’s while working here.

Working at a company while studying happens in Lithuania a lot. I’ve taken on four students — three undergraduates and one doing a PhD. This is in addition to two postdocs, and a chief executive and a designer.

Source: How bioinformatics led one scientist home to Lithuania

A career in marine biology: working at a large biotechnology facility in Vilnius, Lithuania, during the COVID-19 pandemic

Outside work, we have fast Internet, free education and good health care. Many people have a desire to do good things. The country is changing very quickly and for the better, so it feels great to be here.

Sailing has always been very important to me, and it’s very popular in Lithuania. It counteracts my work. In a race, I have to concentrate and stay alert for an extended period of time under extreme physical stress — it takes 100% of my mental capacity, there’s no time for anything else.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was an undergraduate molecular-biology student at Vilnius University in Lithuania, I loved laboratory work. When the labs were closed, I lost my motivation.

In 2021, during the fourth and final year of my degree, a recruiter contacted me about a part-time junior product-manager post at the Vilnius site of biotechnology firm Thermo Fisher Scientific. The company had built a new facility that was being used to produce large quantities of reagent for messenger RNA vaccines.

It was common for the science students to work while they were in school, and I was able to see what life-sciences was like working in a lab, as well as learn more about options after graduating with a degree.

I applied for a business-development manager role there and started work in March 2022, while doing my master’s degree, which I completed last year. My job is to build relationships and represent the company abroad.

Lithuania – a multi-epoch research laboratory for infectious diseases and agriculture, with applications in scientific research and data analysis

It is currently focused on three elements. It is research that finds new CRISPR–Cas nucleases for companies that seek specific characteristics. The company has a nuclease platform that it has already identified, and it offers licences for further development. The third is analysis, which is the work of the company called Caszyme.

There are a number of active collaborations in the field of infectious diseases and agriculture.

There are many aspects of the industry inLithuania that set it apart from other countries. First, we have great universities that prepare scientists very well for the future. Scientists leave with more than theoretical knowledge and experience in a lab.

Second is that the ecosystem is not a big one. It’s very easy to get to know most people and that’s an advantage because it makes collaborations easier.

My proudest achievement has to be my personal growth. I am able to see a difference between now and when I began my work career, as I have gained knowledge and experience. Last June, aged 25, I was promoted to head of business development.

Source: I fell out of love with the lab, and in love with business

Is there a job outside the lab for you? Ask people who don’t want to work in science – what kind of jobs are you interested in?

I work remotely in Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, and it’s known for its beautiful old town and art Deco architecture. We have three international airports and Vilnius is only an hour and a half by road, so it’s easy to get to the office when I need to. Some of my time is spent abroad — I’ve just come back from a technology summit in San Francisco, California, and now I’m in Rome.

I don’t want to work abroad permanently. Lithuania has wonderful countryside and is full of culture, too. Every year, in March we have an international film festival, which I have worked for as a volunteer in the past.

I would suggest that you check out a job outside of the lab to see if it’s the right job for you. If it doesn’t work out, try something different and talk to people who don’t fit the same mold. Inquire about the opportunities.

Many people who have PHDs or have worked as postdocs have decided that they don’t want to be scientists, and I talk to many of them at events. There is no shame in that. People who work in business development or operations and who have a scientific degree are essential, too.