Fundamentals of protein chemistry at the Institute of Biomedical Chemistry

Eighty years ago, the Institute of Biomedical Chemistry (IBMC) initially known as the Institute of Biological and Medical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was founded. During the first decades significant studies were performed; they not only contributed to a deeper understanding of biochemical processes in the living organisms, but also laid the foundation for further development of these fields. The main directions of IBMC were focused on studies of structures of enzymes (primarily various proteases), their substrates and inhibitors, the role of enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism in the development of pathologies, study of the mechanisms of hydrolytic and oxidative-hydrolytic transformation of organic compounds, studies of connective tissue proteins, including collagens, study of amino acid metabolism. It is difficult to find papers from that period in current online literature databases, so this review will help to understand the value of studies performed at IBMC during the first 40 years after its organization, as well as their impact on modern research.