Institute for Biotechnology (BAY-BIO)
The history of the Bay Zoltán Institute in Szeged
From all the Institutes of the Foundation, the Institute for Biotechnology in Szeged, was the first to be founded on the 24th of September, 1993. The choice of the location was not at all a coincidence; Szeged has upheld a great and long reputation and tradition in the field of biology, since the university moved from Kolozsvár to Szeged. A world renowned scientific breakthrough in the field of biology was achieved by Albert Szent-Györgyi, who performed his experiments on vitamin C in Szeged, for which he recieved a Nobel prize (the Institute bears his name, Bay Zoltán, who had also upheld a position as a professor at the University of Szeged). Besides the Univeristy, the Biological Research Center (BRC) of the Hungarian Academy of Science in Szeged is also an internationally recognized institute. These two cradles of scientific achievment allow a good background for an institute for applied biotechnology. Over the past decade, several scientific achievments and patents prove its justification.
The experts of our staff of the Institute come from partly the universities (JATE, SZOTE), or from BRC, last but not least from abroad. The number of scientists in our Institute has not changed through the years, only the composition, which was due to the urge to adapt to the ever changing market, thus leading to profil changes and expansions. New departments where founded (Department of Bioremediation, Biomedical Department). The number of researchers with a PhD increased.
In the past five years eight members of the staff recieved a PhD. In an average 10-12 PhD students work at our Institute.
Through the course of the past five years six of our collegues held lectures at the University of Szeged. The undergraduate students also participate in the research projects, supervised by the project leaders, which is also of an educational nature.
Dr. Kálmán Miklós is the director of the Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research, Institute for Biotechnology.
He was born in 1952, and is married. He recieved his degree in chemistry at the József Attila University in 1977. In 1995 he became a candidate of science, and until 1982 he upheld a position first as with a scholarship, then as an assistant lecturer. For 18 years he was a staff member of BRC Institute of Genetics, later as a senior scientist. He chose to lead Bay Zoltán Institute for Biotechnology in 1995.
His main research field of interest is the characterisation of the glutamic acid permease of the Escherichia coli. His results have been published in 42 international articles and in one book chapter. His cumulative impact factor is 98.5. His excellence in the field of applied biotechnology is justified by his 13 national and 14 international patents. Between 1987 and 1990 he refined his knowledge in the United States of America, as a visiting scinetist in NIH, Bethesda Maryland.
Bay Zoltán