Vera Yosifovna Bilay was a most prominent mycologist, whose scientific achievements in the fields of systematics, fungal toxins, physiology of biologically active metabolites, and ecology of microfungi are known among biologists far beyond the bounds of Ukraine. She was an honoured scientific worker, laureate of National Prizes of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR, a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and a Professor.
She was born in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, Ukraine on 12 July 1908 in the family of an office worker. From 1925 to 1929 she studied at Krivi Rih Agricultural Institute. After graduating from the Institute, she worked for some time as an agronomist on farmlands of Artemovsk [now Donetsk] oblast. From 1930 to 1933 she was a postgraduate student. From 1933 to 1935, she worked as a junior member of the teaching staff at the Agro-Engineering Institute of Sugar Beet. From 1935 to the end of the life she worked at the Institute of Microbiology & Epidemiology Ukrainian Academy of Sciences [1944 onwards the Institute of Microbiology, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, now the Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology & Virology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine]. V.Y. Bilay start her scientific career in the Laboratory of Mycology under the direction of the talented mycologist Nikolay Makarovich Pidoplichko. He was her immediate predecessor and during subsequent years they enjoyed a close collaboration. From 1958 for 21 years, Vera Yosifovna led the Department of Fungal Physiology and, from 1979 to 1987, the Department of Physiology & Systematics of Microfungi within the Institute. From 1988 onwards she was an adviser to the Insitute's Director.
Her scientific interests were many-sided. She established and developed several important lines of research in experimental mycology, particularly with the genus Fusarium Link: Fr., species of which cause significant damage in agriculture, are agents of human and animal diseases, and cause biodeterioration of many natural and artificial materials. Two generations of mycologists and plant pathologists of the former Soviet Union and other countries of the world (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, India, Poland and others) were taught using her works. She authored 15 monographs, 285 papers, 15 certificates of recognition and 14 popular scientific books. In 1961, for significant services in the field of mycology and in training of scientists she was elected corresponding member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. In 1968, she was awarded the status of Honorary Worker of Science of the Ukrainian SSR.
Her monographs occupy an important place in her scientific achievements. Poisonous Fungi on Cereal Grain (1953) was an early systematic treatment of the genus Fusarium. The book Toxin-generating Microfungi, and Human and Animal Diseases Caused by Them (1970), co-authored by N.M. Pidoplichko presented a first study of biological and physiological characteristics of toxin-generating fungi. A theory was expounded to explain physiological regulation of directional biosynthesis of separate components of toxins of different fungi, and it was demonstrated that mycotoxins have specific spectra of antibiotic activity. Later a microbiological technique to detect mycotoxins in grain and fodder was developed at the Department of Physiology & Systematics of Microfungi under her direction. That work was awarded the silver medal of the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (EANE) of the USSR (1987).
Research into antibiotic properties of microfungi also occupied a substantial place in her scientific activity. The monograph Microscopic Fungi - Producers of Antibiotics (1961) was the first publication to summarize study of fungal antibiotics. She was also the co-author of the monograph Ferment Glucoso-oxidase and its Use (1964), in which the results of research on the physiological basis for metabolism regulation were presented. As a result of this work, it became possible to optimise activity of exogenous ferments by changing the ratio of components in nutritive media.
In 1965, V.Y. Bilay published the monograph Biologically Active Substances of Microfungi and their Use. It was the first work in the former Soviet Union to summarize the results of research into fungal ferments at different levels (cellular, subcellular, molecular) and data on properties and physiological activity of metabolites synthesized by certain fungal species. Later, study of fermentative properties of mesophilic and thermophilic microfungi encouraged new directions in theoretical and applied fermentative transformation of plant substrata into protein and other bioactive substances. This research was summarized in the monograph Cellulose Transformation by Microfungi (V.Y. Bilay, T.I. Bilay & O.G. Musych, 1982). The ecology, systematics, physiological properties of microfungi causing damage to different industrial materials, goods and buildings were set out in the monograph Microbial Corrosion and its Agents (co-authored by K.I. Andriyuk, E.Z. Koval' & I.P. Kozlova, 1980) and Fungi Growing on Hydrocarbons of Mineral Oil (V.Y. Bilay & E.Z. Koval', 1980).
V.Y. Bilay was also very active in fungal systematics. Fungi of the genus Fusarium were the subject of her long-term research. In the monograph Fusarium (1955, 1977), on the basis of vast experimental material, a new system was proposed for the genus. This new system allowed a more precise definition of species limits, significantly facilitating their identification. The establishment of a rational basis for the systematics of the genus, together with well-defined criteria for species, and recognition of specialized subspecific forms based on a study of variability in natural populations were all of great importance for plant pathology. Concluding her work on fungal systematics were the monographs "Aspergillus" (V.Y. Bilay & E.Z. Koval', 1988) and Guide to the Identification of Toxin-generating Microfungi (V.Y. Bilay & Z.A. Kurbatska, 1990).
From 1970 to 1975, V.Y. Bilay held the Chair of Microbiology at the Shevchenko Kiev State University and gave courses on general microbiology and a special course of mycology. At that time she also edited Fundamentals of General Mycology, republished for three times (1974, 1980, 1989). Under her direction and with her participation such fundamental works as Methods of Experimental Mycology (1972, 1982) and Micro-organisms - Agents of Plant Diseases (1988) were published. Her most important scientific works were awarded National Prizes. For creation of the microcid antibiotic and its and application in medical practice V.Y. Bilay and her team received the National Prize of the USSR for Science & Technology (1952). For her work leading to application in medicine and the food industry of the ferments glucoso-oxidase and catalase, she was awarded the National Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1978). For her work on corrosion by fungi, she received the Prize of the USSR Council of Ministers (1983). For research on toxin generating fungi, summarized in her monograph with N.M. Pidoplichko, she won the Zabolotny Prize of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1970).
V.Y. Bilay also bore a colossal administrative load managing or representing other scientists. She represented the USSR on the International Commission on Fungi of the Genus Fusarium, a group attached to United Nations. She was a member of the Board of the All-Union Association "Znaniya" [Knowledge], a member of the Board and of Presidium of the Ukrainian Branch of the Association "Znaniya" [Knowledge], a member of the Scientific Council on Ferments of the State Science & Technology Committee of the USSR, a member of the Praesidium of the Ukrainian Botanical Society, a member of the Council of the Ukrainian Microbiological Society, a member of the State Committee (Biological Section) for Awards of National Prizes of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1957 and1958, she was a member of the Ukrainian delegation for two sections of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Biographies & obituaries. Anon. Микология и Фитопатология [Mycology & Plant Pathology] 29 (2): 77-78, 1995. Lists. Publications. Taxa. Kirk & Ansell form of name: Bilaĭ.
