“Experts are not used to special attention” – this phrase was mentioned twice on different topics during our conversation with Diana Harutyunyan (PhD in Biology, expert in the Department of Molecular Genetics Examination, Scientific Practical Center of Forensic Medicine adjacent to the Ministry of Health) and both times they were uttered with pleasant astonishment. The first time she uttered these words was in response to a journalist’s interest in an expert and her work in general, and the second time the phrase reflected a feeling she had had recently, when she was awarded President Prize together with two of her colleagues. Diana, together with the Director of Scientific Practical Center of Forensic Medicine, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor at the Chair of Forensic Medicine at Yerevan State Medical University Mher Bisharyan together with the Head of the Department of Molecular Genetics Examination Marine Baghdasaryan received President Prize in the category of Medical Sciences back in 2018, for the scientific study ”Populational Maxillofacial and Genomic Study for the Purpose of Person Identification and Expertise in the Territory the Republic of Armenia”.
–It was Mher Bisharyan who initiated our scientific work, both in terms of expert data we had collected and the concept. It had never occurred to us that our work would some day receive such a feedback. Yet, our supervisor was quite confident, since he had a clear vision of the merits our study had. By the way, there is a reference to our work in more than one hundred leading scientific articles. What concerns maxillofacial features of the population, the data Mher Bisharyan received are widely used on daily basis for human’s identification by forensic experts both in Armenia and abroad…
It was unexpected in the sense that this is a field where there are always people who are either pleased or dissatisfied with our work, and there are even some who do not agree with our conclusions.
-I would say that there are more people who disagree with the “product” we, the journalists provide.
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-I do not think so. But I can tell that genetic identification is much reliable. The examination is based on uniqueness of the individual DNA characteristics, well except one-egg twins, since they carry the same inherited information, that is to say the same DNA characteristics. The nature has not yet learned to differentiate that.
The Department of Molecular Genetics Examination was founded exactly 20 years ago, and in 2019 it was replenished with new high-tech equipment (the scientists’ eyes were literally shining with pride while she mentioned about this). Given the decisions made by bodies carrying out preliminary investigation and investigation, the department, based on the biological traces found on the scene, carries out genetic examination and then forensic human identification. “The data we receive are highly reliable outside Armenia as well”, the scientist mentioned.
The President Prize has been Diana Harutyunyan’s first and the only professional prize so far.
-To be honest, at first, I did not know the prize was accompanied by monetary award. It was a pleasant surprise. Mher Bisharyan invested his share of the prize into the replenishment of our laboratory and upgrading entire equipment. We suggested investing our share too, but there was no way he would agree… So, given that this was the first time that my profession had brought me monetary award, I decided to invest the money into my family’s future progress, especially taking into consideration that my sons had mostly seen their mother constantly studying, staying late at work, and reading at nights… My elder son Vahe is 21, he studied winemaking and came back to Armenia and currently works here. Davit shall turn 16 soon, he goes to PhysMath school, he is a musician, he hasn’t chosen profession yet.
Department of Molecular Genetics Examination, in parallel to practical work, also carries out scientific projects. We continue our initiative on collecting accurate data on identification, as it is important to possess not only the human’s ethnic origin, but also the geographical location of the person’s birth country to Armenia.
-It is the uniqueness of Armenian gene, that as a rule, we have been forced to migrate, while we have not accepted migration flows, and this is the reason that we are genetically homogeneous. Although this fact is not an obstacle in terms of genetic identification.
-Does the international scientific community accept the viewpoint that for the past eight thousand years we have been existing here with this exact homogeneous gene set?
-They do not mention whether we have been here for eight thousand years or not, since every human has an individual genetic characteristic which varies from other humans, despite their ethnicity. In particular, major scientists do not localize data. However, our work is based on the study of frequency of individual gene occurrence in Armenian population and the comparison of obtained data with other populations, with the aim to determine our national genetic uniqueness.
Ruzan Khachatryan
The President Prize to the Republic of Armenia is initiated and funded by the Boghossian Foundation (Belgium-Switzerland). The Award Ceremony is organized by “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund. The prizes are conferred by the RA President and the representatives of the Boghossian Foundation annually.
“Aravot” daily
05.03.2020
