Winter, Victor G.

Born November 7, 1939 in the village. Dukhovnitskoye Saratov region.

In 1961 he graduated from the Semipalatinsk Veterinary Institute and until 1963 worked as a veterinarian in the Altai Territory.

In 1963 he entered the postgraduate school of Kazan State University (KSU) with a degree in microbiology.

After graduating from graduate school (1966) and defending his Ph.D. thesis (1967), he was left as a junior researcher in problem laboratory No. 7.

From 1969 to 1975 he worked as the head of the research department of KSU.

In 1972 he passed a scientific internship at the University of Oxford in England.

From 1975 to 1987 he was the head of the laboratory number 7, from 1987 to 1996 - the laboratory of nucleic acid biochemistry (BNK).

With the revival of the Department of Biochemistry at Kazan University in 1985, he acted as deputy head of the department. In 1994, Victor G. became the head of the department of biochemistry and was in this position until the last years of his life (2005)

The arrival of Viktor Winter to graduate school coincided with the creation of a problem laboratory No. 7 at Kazan University under the direction of Margarita Ilyinichna, Professor Belyaev, to study the nucleic acids of tumor cells and nucleases as anti-tumor drugs. Later, in this laboratory, graduate student V.G. Winter was the first to reveal the phenomenon of nucleic acid secretion by viable tumor cells. These sensational data presented by his supervisor prof. M.I. Belyaeva in 1966 at the IX International Congress in Tokyo [1], devoted to tumor growth, caused a lively discussion among scientists. Article graduate student Winter V.G. RNA release from tumor cells was presented by Academician V.S. Chapot in the journal "Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine" and published in 1968. In the same year, VG Winter defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic: "On the participation of RNA in the intercellular relationships during tumor growth." But for a number of years in scientific circles, the possibility of RNA secretion from living cells was disputed by opponents. However, the discovery has stood the test of time and today the biological activity of extracellular nucleic acids is a generally accepted fact.

During the scientific internship in the UK, VG Winter has mastered modern methods for analyzing nucleic acids and nucleases, and interesting data have been obtained on the characterization of enzymes participating in the DNA metabolism of phage T5. Upon his return to Kazan, VG Vinter continues research on nuclear DNases and the role of RNA in regulating DNase activity in various functional states of the body. In particular, he was the first to discover the presence of the DNase activity of nonhistone chromatin proteins of normal and tumor cells. During the period of work in the problem laboratory of VG Winter, a great deal of material was obtained that was issued in the form of the doctoral dissertation "The DNAse of chromatin of normal and tumor cells and the role of RNA in the regulation of its activity." She was brilliantly defended in 1979 in the dissertation council at Leningrad State University. The main results of the doctoral dissertation formed the basis for a new direction of research on the biological role of nuclear DNases and features of nucleic acid metabolism in normal and tumor cells, which was realized in the State task entrusted to Kazan University by the State Committee on Science and Technology for 1980-1985.

Scientific activity of V.G. Winter successfully combined with pedagogical work. Since 1969, he has lectured in general microbiology and virology. Conducted special courses on a completely new discipline in those years, "Molecular Biology", conducted practical classes in electron microscopy, developed methodological manuals on the study of nucleic acids.

In 1997, he published a textbook “Methods of genetic engineering” with the stamp of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for higher education for students in the specialties of biochemistry, genetics and microbiology [2]. Victor Georgievich Winter made a great contribution to the revival of the Department of Biochemistry in 1985. Relying on his organizational talent, with the support of the leadership of Kazan University, he restored the abandoned room in the old eastern wing of the university. Incredible efforts were made by him to bring the room into working condition, to ensure the instrumentation base, to attract decent teaching staff. The head of the Department of Biochemistry, revived in 1985, was appointed Academician I.A. Tarchevsky , Deputy Head of the Department - VG Winter. From 1994 until the last days of his life, VG Winter was the head of the department of biochemistry . He was always convinced of the need for early involvement of students in serious scientific work and paid great attention to the integration of academic institutions with the Higher School. It was on his initiative in 1997 that two branches of the Department of Biochemistry were established at the Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry and the Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry. A.E.Arbuzova KSC RAS. The creation of branches of the department ensured a high level of training for graduates, which ensured their guaranteed employment in their specialty. A deep understanding of the global expansion of synthetic products, drugs, biologically active substances in the XXI century in all spheres of life allowed VG Winter to anticipate an increase in the social order for highly qualified specialists competent in the design and study of the molecular mechanisms of drug action. In this regard, in 1998, they were offered a program of new specialization at the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, and training at the Department of Biochemistry began to be conducted in two specializations: Molecular Biology and Molecular Pharmacology.

V.G. Winter has always worked closely with other university research schools. In the last years of his life, together with the Department of Optics and Spectroscopy (head of the department is Professor Salakhov M.Kh. (inaccessible link) ), he substantiated the importance of opening a new scientific direction of the department for developing nanotechnology of analytical devices of a new generation - chemo and biosensors. Victor Georgievich graduate students - now PhDs - are teachers of the department, creating a base at the department for training bionanotechnology specialists.

Victor Georgievich’s extremely important achievement is the creation of the Dissertation Council on Biochemistry 03.00.04 and Microbiology 03.00.07 at Kazan University (Order of the Higher Attestation Commission of May 17, 1991), which in 2001 received the status of the Dissertation Council for the defense of doctoral dissertations. From the moment of the creation of the Council and until the end of his life, VG Winter was the permanent chairman of the Dissertation Council, unique in its scientific orientation in the Volga region. VG Winter was a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Society of Cytologists and Immunologists, the Scientific Council on Chemistry and Technology of Renewable Plant Raw Materials. In 2005, VG Winter was awarded the title of Honored Worker of the Higher School of the Republic of Tatarstan

1. Belyaeva MI, Wylegzanin NI, Vinter VG, .Balaban NP On the secretion of nucleic acids by cancer cells // Proceedings of the IX International Cancer Congress, Tokio, 1966
2. Kuznetsova HH, Winter V.G. Methods of genetic engineering: textbook M .: Bioinformservis, 1997. 180 p.

• FORMATION AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BIOCHEMICAL SCHOOL OF KAZAN UNIVERSITY
• D.G. Ishmukhametova - IN THE MEMORY OF VIKTOR GEORGIEVICH VINTER // Academic notes of Kazan University. Series of Natural Sciences, 2006. Volume 148. Book 3.