Director General of the Ruđer Bošković Institute, Dr. Danica Ramljak held a working meeting today with Mr. Damir Zec and Mr. Daniel Šimić, representatives of IBM Croatia. At the meeting discussions focused on the possibilities for mutual cooperation in science, education and technology, with special emphasis on a possible partnership between the RBI and IBM in the establishment of a regional research center for biotechnology and nanotechnology, based on the IBM's center in Zürich (Switzerland) and Sofia (Bulgaria).

A symposium on "Ivan Supek - Scientist and Humanist" was held today at the Ruđer Bošković Institute marking the beginning of a series of events celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Institute. The Symposium was opened with remarks by the Director General of the RBI, Danica Ramljak, PhD, Aleksa Bjeliš, PhD, Rector of the University of Zagreb and Academician Milan Moguš, PhD, President of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU). More than seventy guests attended the symposium.

Dr. Danica Ramljak participated in a working meeting with Croatian President Dr. Ivo Josipović at his office on Pantovčak. President Josipović agreed to sponsorship of the 60th Anniversary of RBI and confirmed his attendance at the jubilee celebration.

Director General of the Ruđer Bošković Institute Danica Ramljak, PhD, was a member of Croatian delegation led by Croatia’s Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on a working visit to the Finnish Research Centre for Nanotechnology Micronova in Helsinki.

On April 14-15, 2010 the Department of Experimental Physics (DEP), RBI will organize its first Festival of Science by young researchers. The festival will showcase the recent research of doctoral students in the department.

RBI Scientists Brankica Mravinac, PhD, and Miroslav Plohl, PhD, from the Laboratory of Structure and Function of Heterochromatin, Department of Molecular Biology have published a research article entitled Parallelism in Evolution of Highly Repetitive DNAs in Sibling Species. The article was published in one of the most respected journals in the field of molecular biology Molecular Biology and Evolution (IF 7.280).

At a recent meeting marking the end of the second cycle of a project of cooperation between Norway and Southeast European partners, held in Sarajevo, publication of "Crossing Minds and Borders" was announced.

The new "Cyclone 18/19C" cyclotron at the Ruđer Bošković Institute was officially opened today. This cyclotron is one of the most modern in Europe and represents a joint science/industry venture involving the Ruđer Bošković Institute, Ruđer Innovations Ltd. and Medikol Ltd. The total project is valued at 7 million Euros. In addition to providing radiopharmaceuticals for medical diagnostics, the cyclotron will also be used for basic scientific research in the fields of physics, radiochemistry and biomedicine.

RBI scientist Dubravka Hršak, PhD, from the Institute for Marine and Environmental Research and engineer Maja Havriluk were awarded a US patent on February 9th 2010 for their discovery of a "Mixed bacterial culture for atrazine degradation". The patent describes a new mixed bacterial culture with specific properties that quickly and completely degrades atrazine and other s-triazite pesticides over a wide concentration range and at different temperatures.

At the recently held annual meeting of the Croatian Genetics Society, Snježana Jurić was awarded the prestigious "Željko Trgovčević" award for research excellence in the field of molecular biology and genetics. The award is granted annually to a young scientist by the Croatian Genetics Society and the RBI Institute for Molecular Biology.