Biotechnology, health and quality of life
According to the press service of the Society of Biotechnologists of Russia, an international scientific conference on Bioorganic Chemistry, Biotechnology and Bionanotechnology was held on September 28 - October 1, 2009, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the birth of Academician Yuri Anatolyevich Ovchinnikov.
Yu.A. Ovchinnikov – a legend of Russian scienceThe conference venue was the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after M.M. Shemyakin and Yu.A. Ovchinnikov of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBH RAS), which was founded in 1957 as the flagship of Russian science under the leadership of Yu.A. Ovchinnikov.
At the conference, many warm words were addressed to the legendary scientist who headed the IBH RAS from 1970 to 1988. Minister of Education and Science A. A. Fursenko, Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov, foreign colleagues of the scientist and many others conveyed their congratulations. "Yuri Anatolyevich was not only the director and builder of the Institute, he created the Department of Bioorganic Chemistry at Moscow State University and for many years was the vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Everyone appreciated his brilliant erudition, professional knowledge and amazing human qualities," said Academician A.I. Grigoriev. The current director of the IBH RAS V.T. Ivanov worked with Yu.A. Ovchinnikov for 30 years and made a speech, which was accompanied by unique photographs of the scientist. "Ovchinnikov was a great, enthusiastic, very active and deep scientist. Hundreds of his works in the field of peptidology have become classics. Largely due to his active activity, a wave of very serious state support for domestic biology has risen," Ivanov said. "If Ovchinnikov was in the room, it was immediately clear," recalled Nobel laureate John Walker, "he led the institute in a new, purposeful, brilliant manner. This imprint, which was imposed by Ovchinnikov, is still being traced here and the institute is working at the cutting edge of science. I was interested in many reports of the Conference, and I am glad that a kind of cross-section of modern bioorganic chemistry is given here."
Conference and Nobel LaureatesAn event of this level is being held in Russia for the first time in the last 15 years," said Raif Vasilov, President of the Ovchinnikov Society of Biotechnologists of Russia, "it is attended by leading scientists in biotechnology from all over the world, as well as three Nobel laureates at once, such a composition is an exceptional event for scientific conferences.
Kurt Wuterich (Switzerland), winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, spoke at the conference about the "growing protein universe". His specialization is the analysis of complex protein mixtures and molecules using NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy. Wuterich's research, in particular, can serve to diagnose the body in the future by one drop of blood through the determination of excess and missing proteins. Mr. Wuterich is confident that in 20-30 years scientists will be able to develop proteins with the desired properties, which will perform the functions assigned to them, not only in theory, but also in practice.
Aaron Tsehanover (Israel), winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004, made a presentation at the Conference on the topic "Why our proteins must die so that we live", and also gave a lecture to students of the V. A. Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research on the fundamental mechanisms of protein degradation is important for science in general, as well as for the creation of new drugs for cancer and other diseases and has already found practical application.
John Ernst Walker (Great Britain), winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1997, spoke about fundamental research on the biosynthesis cycle of the ATP molecule (adenosine triphosphate). Speaking about the future of science, Mr. Walker noted that "the creation of artificial life is absolutely possible, and even today there are no technologically insurmountable obstacles to the completion of such a project." But they consider another task to be the most important. "Solving the problem of aging is one of the most important issues for medicine, for improving the quality of life of people," the Nobel laureate said. "A healthy life, but up to a certain limit, is an ideal option," according to Walker.
Biotechnologies – health and quality of lifeThe conference program shows that scientists working in the field of biotechnology make the greatest contribution to the field of medicine.
Most of the fundamental works presented at the event are of great importance for the creation of new methods of disease diagnosis, treatment, therapy, the creation of original drugs, vaccines and more.
V.A. Tkachuk from Moscow State University spoke about new methods of gene therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, which remain the main cause of death in Russia. For example, therapeutic genes manage to suppress a number of pathological changes in blood vessels and normalize blood supply to tissues. K. Petrukhin from the USA made a report on the successes "in the battle against blindness": "from the discovery of genes to the creation of drugs." A. Tossi from Italy taught "design lessons" on spiral peptides that are promising for antimicrobial therapy.
A number of reports were devoted to anti-cancer research.
M.Sela from Israel spoke about the unique work on the creation of new vaccines against cancer and autoimmune diseases. O.V. Chertov from the National Cancer Institute of the USA works on the topic "analytical chemistry of protein", which is necessary for the accurate characterization of substances. S. Deev from the IBH RAS made a report on "magic bullets", which are equipped with "special agents" and are very promising for cancer treatment. Bullets mean genetically engineered, i.e. specially designed monoclonal antibodies that are precisely targeted at tumors and are equipped with special agents (toxins, enzymes, radioisotopes) that fight pathogenic antigens. The work of E. S. Severin (All-Russian Scientific Center for Molecular Diagnostics and Treatment) is devoted to this promising direction of the so-called immunotoxins.Zh.-Zh. Diaz from France considers the problem of tumor progression and viral infections from the perspective of proteomics. In his opinion, the key player here may be the ribosome, a structure in the cell that synthesizes protein.
Promising remedies for the treatment of aging, as well as for age-dependent pathologies, were found at the A.N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology of Moscow State University, which was presented at the Conference by V.P. Skulachev. Russian scientists, teaming up with colleagues from Sweden and the USA, implemented a project whose principles were laid down by Yu.B. Ovchinnikov in his megaproject "Rhodopsin". Based on the assumption that the aging program of the body is programmed and appeared in the process of biological evolution in order to accelerate it, scientists have synthesized antioxidants that can slow down the aging program. Experimental experiments with mushrooms, fruit flies, fish and mice and other animals have shown that the developed compound SkQ1 prolongs life and inhibits pathologies inherent in aging – cataracts, retinopathy, glaucoma, baldness, graying, osteoporosis, anemia and more. In particular, the compound restored vision in 67 of 89 animals (dogs, cats, horses), and significantly reduced cardiac arrhythmia caused by ischemia in rats.
A number of reports were devoted to the topic of Man: human evolution, what makes us human, why we age, how to prevent it and other issues. In particular, G.V. Shpakovsky from IBH RAS reported on gene families that are formed during the evolution of complex genomes. It turned out that the long path of the emergence and improvement of such gene families clearly correlates with the main stages of the biological evolution of higher primates, starting from the first stage – 20 million years ago.
Competition of young scientistsWithin the framework of the conference, a competition of young scientists for the best research work was held.
The competition was held by the IBH RAS and the OBR in order to encourage the creative activity of young scientists in conducting scientific research in the field of physico-chemical biology, biotechnology and bionanotechnology.
The competition was held in two age categories:
– schoolchildren, students, postgraduates, young scientists under the age of 27;
– doctors and candidates of sciences, young scientists aged from 27 to 35 years.
Conference diplomas and cash prizes were established as awards for the winners of the Competition:
• one first prize in each age category in the amount of 30,000 rubles each;
• two second prizes in each age category in the amount of 20,000 rubles each;
• three third prizes in each age category in the amount of 10,000 rubles each.
The winners of the first prizes were awarded commemorative medals named after Academician Yuri Anatolyevich Ovchinnikov.
The organizers of the Contest also established special prizes for the youngest participant, the youngest candidate of sciences and the youngest doctor of sciences, as well as for the best poster design.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru08.10.2009