Academician Vladimir Skulachev: "We forced the body not to age"
Stop old age
Indira Kodzasova, AIF No. 15-2013
In order to help a person cope with senile eye diseases, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Skulachev needed 10 years, tens of millions of dollars and young scientists, whom he returned from abroad. How did he manage all this?
VS: – Our ambitious project could not have started earlier than 10 years ago. Neither under the Soviet regime, nor in the first years of the new Russia, no one would have given money for it, because this idea – to stop old age – is insane.
Private money for Science"AiF": – And now it seems no less fantastic.
How is this possible?
VS: – The cell processes nutrients with the help of oxygen. This is an important and necessary process. But about 1% of oxygen goes to the formation of free radicals – a poison that damages the body. And the older we get, the more poison is produced. Our task is to remove this excess of radicals, to make sure that there are no more of them in the cells of a 70–year-old than in a 25-year-old. We, in fact, came up with an antidote (the so-called Skulachev ions. – Ed.) and forced the body not to age.
The first few years we worked only with private money, I managed to convince a rich man to take a risk. It was Oleg Deripaska. And he helped a lot until the crisis broke out. For 7 months we were sitting without money. On the 8th month, fortunately, "Rusnano" appeared in the person of Chubais, who was persuaded by the rector of Moscow State University V. Sadovnichy... And on July 16 last year, our drops from senile eye disease appeared in the 1st Moscow pharmacy. I repeat, we asked for nothing but money – no premises, no equipment, no people. More than $20 million has already been spent on the project "An attempt to stop Aging". Even in the USA they were interested – preclinical animal tests have already been completed there. And in the very near future we should start clinical trials already on Americans. But it will take years...
"AiF": – Are you sure that you will achieve the result?
VS: – Absolutely not sure. But if we don't get a result, then someone will follow us, correct our mistakes, find other ways and the work will not be lost. This is how science works all over the world.
"AiF": – Say – "will follow us." And who? Everyone's leaving...
VS: – Yes, but we did it very simply: we were given money, we rented apartments – and several strong scientists were happy to return! But our project is a unique case. Why do our scientists work worse now than in the USA? Russian science has one huge drawback: lack of money. The gypsy tried to teach the horse not to eat. I've almost got her used to it, but she's... dead. Do you want to change something in the Academy of Sciences? To begin with, try to feed her.
"AiF": – And "Skolkovo"?
VS: – Skolkovo is not a bad idea, but there is still a feeling that they, like the majority of the public, far from science, believe that Russian science is dead. The dead are not supported, they need to be buried and a monument erected. That's what they've come to – total distrust of everything Russian!
"AiF": – Eye drops appeared, and the next stage?
VS: – We will be crushed to a pulp, but in two years there should be a medicine that will act on all organs. Aging is a program of weakening the body in order to accelerate evolution. But man no longer needs evolution! When we want to take off, we build airplanes, not wait for our wings to grow.
"AiF": – Aren't you afraid of a society where everyone lives happily ever after thanks to your medicine? Pensions are not enough even now for very short-lived Russians...
VS: – It's not my problem. I have to give this opportunity to humanity, and it will decide for itself. I am a biologist, I solve my part, and let philosophers, economists sort out their part. You can also say: you invented antibiotics – and the scoundrels stopped dying from infection. Maybe Hitler would have died much earlier if there were no treatment methods. But it's not serious.
"AiF": – Do you know at least some other domestic development that can be called a breakthrough?
VS: – There is an excellent remedy for the effects of stroke, developed by Academician Myasoedov. But for some reason, the drug is not popular enough. I think the problem here is also that society is not at all ready for the fact that Russians can do something.
Cold, hunger and genes"AiF": – Are there any other ways to prolong life?
VS: – There are five other ways besides ours. The first, the most remote and seemingly implausible, is the gene, that is, it is necessary to change the natural genome – it is necessary to interfere with the embryo. The second way is a temporary restriction of nutrition. The method is effective not only for humans and other mammals, but also for fish, insects, worms.
"AiF": – Isn't that why monks and yogis live longer?
VS: – Not only for this reason! The third way explains their longevity. You should know that you need not only yourself, but someone else, and you should understand that even though you are old, but you are independent and no one will throw you in the trash, under your ass knee. A religious person has both of these circumstances – God needs him. And the Lord will never abandon him.
The fourth way is hard muscle work. And the last one has just been discovered. A remarkable study on worms, but there is reason to believe that the conclusions are also true for humans. It's cold stress. That is, walrus has a scientific perspective.
"AiF": – This morning I didn't want to do anything at all, let alone walrus, starve and work hard. What gives you the strength to live?
VS: – My super task. Fantastic things are being found out. It turned out that there is another program in the cell that scrolls very quickly, it turns on not at all in connection with aging, but with the biochemical self-destruction of the body. I think this is how he insures himself against the appearance of freaks in the offspring. For example, there was a severe crisis, after which the organism cannot guarantee the safety and protection of its genome and triggers the "killing" mechanism. As a result, we get sudden death. Sometimes inexplicable...
"AiF": – What are you most afraid of? The world is afraid of the Chinese...
VS: – The Chinese? No. I'm afraid of fools!
Reference:
Vladimir Skulachev was born in 1935 in Moscow. Graduated from Moscow State University.
Director of the Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology named after Belozersky.
Author of about 450 scientific papers. He has the highest citation rating among Russian biologists.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru09.04.2013