The mission of Dobrobut is regaining the credibility of Ukrainian medicine. Credibility of the medicine starts from an educated doctor. Therefore, we make sure that our doctors have the most up-to-date knowledge, they are aware of the latest research and possess the best methods of diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
We have created Dobrobut Academy to improve the level of knowledge and qualifications of doctors.
Dobrobut Academy is a unique complex educational hub for Ukraine, where doctors, medical personnel and ordinary citizens can gain new medical knowledge and experience. We provide enormous educational opportunities, from obtaining modern medical knowledge to implementing new medical and scientific projects based on Dobrobut medical network.
Dobrobut Academy has three main fields:
Dobrobut Academy makes sure that Ukrainian young doctors receive high-quality and modern theoretical, clinical and practical knowledge and confidently start their medical careers.
Our internship provides conceptually new approaches to professional education. Interns become full-fledged participants of our large Dobrobut team from the very beginning. They gain practical experience studying at Dobrobut medical centers under the best specialists, the leaders of medical areas.
We want Ukrainian doctors to have the world-class classification.
The internship provides the training in 18 specialties. Dobrobut interns learn to work with medical information systems (MIS), build communication with patients, keep records, provide emergency assistance. Modern equipment, tools, comfortable working environment and personal protective equipment are at their disposal.Our training programs for interns are developed on the basis of European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) programs.
Therefore, Dobrobut Academy interns will be able to acquire:
We provide versatile multidisciplinary training. Our interns have the opportunity to work not only in their chosen specialty, but also to adopt the experience of specialists in related medical fields, gaining more knowledge and broadening their “medical horizons”.
The interns of all medical fields gain practical and theoretical knowledge in the following specialties:
Education and training center is an integral part of the Dobrobut Academy educational hub, which provides basic and advanced applicative knowledge to doctors and medical personnel. We teach providing first aid, to work with acute medical emergencies of adults and children on the basis of our education and training center.
Our partners are European Resuscitation Council and All-Ukrainian Council of Resuscitation.
Our highly qualified and experienced trainers, above all, teach overcoming fear and take control of emotions that interfere with providing qualified assistance. The distinguishing characteristic of our trainings is a practical play component, which allows working out the necessary algorithms of actions and skills in a few hours until they become automatic. The friendly and supportive atmosphere allows our interns to relax and focus on the training materials.
Upon completion of each of the trainings, each participant who has mastered the necessary knowledge and skills, as well as successfully passed the tests, will receive a certificate. The type of the certificate depends on the training an attendee has chosen.
We constantly organize professional development activities: trainings, master classes, thematic professional schools, online courses for Dobrobut doctors. Our doctors may participate in internal and international traineeships, conferences and other professional events.
In addition to the development in the field of the clinical practice, we take care of upgrading the soft skills of our specialists: communications with patients, service, managing functions, mentoring.
Leading medical schools around the world have traditionally been research centers. We want this tradition to take root in Ukraine as well.
Research activities are a key focus area for Dobrobut Academy Medical School. Research is an integral part of medical training. Dobrobut Academy Medical School is the first and only medical school in Ukraine that combines research, teaching and practice to give its medical interns (now) and medical students (planned in 2023) access to the best medical education that prepares them for actual clinical practice. Our teaching staff engage in world-level scientific research to provide our medical interns and students with the most modern medical education.
In this context, we are actively developing the Research Center of the Dobrobut Academy Medical School - a key element in the development of full-fledged university research. The Research Center includes laboratories of bioengineering, medical engineering and pain research, a behavioral tests module, molecular biology module, as well as core facilities, a vivarium, seminar rooms, and a recreation area.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in studying the mechanisms of regeneration of nerve tissue damage, in particular peripheral nerves and spinal cord. Injuries and degenerative damage to these nerve tissues are common as a result of traffic accidents, occupational injuries, military combat injuries, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Damage to the spinal cord leads to loss of functional activity of the body below the site of injury, which affects a person's ability to care for oneself, and significantly reduces the degree to which a person is able to perform work and day-to-day activities. Worldwide, the consequences of spinal cord injuries cause significant social and economic harm. The development of new treatments for central nervous system pathology requires prior testing of their effectiveness in both in vitro and in vivo experiments.
This is why one of the most urgent tasks for our labs is the research, development, and the formulation of optimal treatment methods for complex spinal cord injuries. The focus of our labs is on animal research, which allows us to study scenarios that best correspond to such injuries in humans.
For example, Dobrobut Academy Research Center labs are at the forefront of testing and developing an innovative method of treating spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries using tissue engineering. We offer an innovative biotechnological approach for 3D printing of implants of any shape with an internal structure of the necessary level of detail, with a spatial resolution of up to several micrometers.
This approach is based on the photopolymerization of synthetic polymers or modified proteins. Two-photon microscopy (2P-microscopy) or digital light processing (DLP) are proposed as engineering approaches for 3D printing of implants. In cases of spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries, implants are designed and manufactured for use as a supporting framework for the main structural components of the nervous and vascular systems.
It is expected that this innovative biotechnological approach, which includes the formation of spatially oriented fragmented matrices and their implantation in the locus of peripheral nerves or spinal cord together with neural stem cells, will ensure the creation of functionally complete implants. They will help to significantly improve both afferent and efferent communication through the site of damage and regeneration of local networks in the posterior and anterior horns of the spinal cord.
The effectiveness of this approach will be tested by studying the functional activity of the paretic limbs, especially in the late period of the recovery process.
This approach (combined with optogenetic, viral, genetic and immunocytochemical studies) will provide a unique opportunity for accurate electrophysiological control of newly formed nerve tissue. This research meets the criteria of preclinical studies, and their positive results can be continued in clinical studies, especially in relation to the rehabilitation after peripheral nerve injury. In the near future, this innovative method of treating spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries using tissue engineering is expected to be introduced into experimental protocols of public and private clinics in Ukraine that perform surgical treatment of spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries.
These activities are supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (grant project No. 2021.01/0328), and are developed in collaboration with: (links)
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, or KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Romodanov Institute of Neurosurgery of NAMSU (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Kyiv Academic University of NASU (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology of NASU (Kyiv, Ukraine)
FIGURE: 1. Scaffold for implantation in spinal cord injuries.
FIGURE: 2. Scaffold for implantation in peripheral nerve injuries.
Microscopy of intact biological tissue
Over the last decade, a highly relevant issue is the visualization of unstained, living cells of intact tissue of various types. This is especially important when conducting electrophysiological studies ex vivo and in vivo. Increasingly, biomedical research uses lateral infrared LED oblique illumination. However, commercially available high-quality equipment of this type does not exist.
The use of shortwave and longwave LEDs as sources of oblique illumination is a good combination of approaches. It is possible to combine high-resolution images of surface neural structures such as axons and dendrites (blue LED) with the image of cell somas in the depth of the tissue (infrared LED, 850-1000 nm).
Our Labs focus on developing a new type of condenser-free compact microscopes with modules of control of LED illumination with variable intensity - to obtain images of intact biological structures with high resolution at depths up to 100-150 μm inside the preparations.
In this work we collaborate with: (links)
Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (Porto, Portugal)
Kyiv Academic University of NASU (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology of NASU (Kyiv, Ukraine)
FIGURE: Scheme of adaptation of a standard microscope for the study of lamina X cells of rat spinal cord using infrared oblique illumination.
A new type of condenser-free compact microscope requires significant changes to adapt the electrophysiological, fluorescent optical, optogenetic, and suppliment equipment used for ex vivo and in vivo studies.
FIGURE: Images of the spinal cord and dorsal roots that are stimulated and from which registration is performed using glass pipettes. Images were obtained using oblique illumination on a standard Olympus BX50WI microscope.
FIGURE: Experimental setup that combines short-wave and long-wave LEDs as sources of oblique illumination, as well as electrophysiological and optogenetic equipment.
Persistent or chronic pain caused by inflammation, infection, tissue damage or nerve damage is one of the major health problems worldwide.
Chronic pain affects about 10% of the population of countries in Europe and North America and causes a loss of more than $ 100 billion annually.
In this project, we propose a new hypothesis that in chronic inflammatory pain, activated PKCα leads to an increase in the number of Ca2 + -permeable AMPA receptors in the dorsal horn neurons of the spinal cord, which is critical for the induction and maintenance of chronic inflammatory pain. Based on the above molecular mechanism, we propose to develop a new therapeutic approach to the treatment of chronic pain.
This approach is based on local specific blocking of PKCα activity in lumbar spinal cord neurons using AS ODN. This allows to correct changes in the of AMPA receptors trafficking caused by peripheral inflammation of the hind limbs and thus block or reduce chronic inflammatory pain. Most likely, due to local and specific genetic blockade, this therapeutic approach will not be accompanied by side effects.
The project is being developed in collaboration with: (links)
FIGURE: We have proposed a scheme of descending regulation of nociceptive inputs to the lamina X.
This laboratory studies the behavioral responses of animals. This allows us to study the relationship between changes in molecular mechanisms at the cellular level and certain abnormalities of sensory sensitivity in animals.
The Lab engages in:
The Lab is equipped with the following:
Various types of research is needed to create therapeutically suitable implants (in terms of materials, architecture, tropism, biocompatibility, degradation, possibility of their molecular cell functionalization, etc.). Among them are immunocytochemical (fluorescence microscope), molecular genetic (RT-PCR, Western blot), in vitro (study of the interaction of matrix materials with different cell types, selection and functionalization of cells before implant placement, etc.), in vivo descending pathways testing using viruses and dextrans.
Equipment:
Iryna Navolneva, Dobrobut Communication Manager
Contacts: navolnieva.i@dobrobut.ua
