Welcome to 12th ICY

Dear participants of the 12th International Congress on Yeasts:

On behalf of the Organization Committee, I sincerely welcome you to the capital of Ukraine, the historic city of Kyiv! Kyiv, which adopted Christianity for all lands of Eastern Slavs more than 1000 years ago, has now become a booming fast developing city with a population of near 4 million.

In spite of the many problems encountered by the newly independent Ukraine during last two decades following the collapse of Soviet Union, the Ukrainian economy today is in good shape and unemployment is one of the lowest in Europe (around 5%). The general improvement of economic infrastructure has allowed the country to direct more material resources towards fundamental scientific research.

Yeast research has a long tradition in Ukraine. It started as a service to well-established in Ukraine yeast-based industries primarily focused on the production of wine, beer, vodka, industrial ethanol, bread and baker’s yeast. These studies were conducted on yeast biochemistry, physiology and systematics. More recently, molecular research of yeast cell biology (peroxisome biogenesis and degradation, sensing and signaling, stress response) and metabolic engineering (riboflavin synthesis, alcoholic fermentation of lignocellulosic sugars, production of heterologous proteins of biotechnological significance, biosensor development based on yeast cells and enzymes) have been started. Main centers of yeast research in Ukraine are Kyiv and Lviv.

Organizers hope for success of the 12th International Congress on Yeasts. More than 350 registered participants from 39 countries have registered to attend this important event, including Nobel laureate Aaron Ciechanover (Israel). Work of Congress includes 11 Plenary Lectures, 121 lectures at 21 parallel sessions, short talks and discussions at workshops and near 200 poster presentations. The Cultural Program of Congress includes Concert at Opening Ceremony, Kyiv city tour and Congress Dinner in one of the most popular Kyiv restaurants, “Zolotyi Bereh” (“Golden Coast”). I hope the time you spend in Kyiv will be rich in new knowledge in science and will leave you with a new impression of the modern Ukraine.

I wish all of you fruitful work combined with interesting tourist impressions. I also hope that the Congress will help to establish and develop further scientific collaboration with Ukrainian yeast researchers many of whom will participate in this event.

Welcome to Kyiv, Ukraine!

Andriy A. Sibirny,
Head of the Organizing Committee of
the 12th International Congress on Yeasts