Russian genomes
The first DNA database of all peoples of the Russian Federation will appear in Russia
Irina Ivoylova, Rossiyskaya Gazeta
The unique project "Russian Genomes" has already been launched at St. Petersburg State University and is designed for three years. This was told by the Rector of St. Petersburg State University Nikolay Kropachev.
Photo: Alexander Korolkov
– We are talking about a project that is very important not only for medicine and healthcare, but also for ethnopolitology, genetics, history, because we are talking about creating a complete database of information about all ethnic groups inhabiting Russia, – said Nikolai Kropachev. – Our country is not yet represented in major global projects to create genetic databases. The project of our university will be the first.
As it became known, the biobank with blood samples and the DNA database of representatives of the main ethnic groups living in Russia will be constantly replenished with new samples. Researchers now face the task of collecting the blood of more than 500 people, and 160 so-called triads (DNA of two parents and one child). To date, the project requires 250 million rubles, then about 16 million rubles a year to maintain the data bank.
– We do not ask for this money from the budget, the university has funds, there is a human resource – our scientists dealing with this topic have a number of publications in such reputable scientific publications as Science, participate in international projects and have earned recognition all over the world for their work, – said Kropachev.
According to him, part of the experimental work, including the decoding of genomes, will be carried out in China, where the university has partners. The project involves scientists from other universities and research organizations in Russia. The scientific director of the project will be an American scientist Stefan O'Brien, who has been successfully working at St. Petersburg State University for several years. He is a student of Theodosius Dobrzhansky, a famous geneticist who worked at St. Petersburg University in the 20s of the last century, but in 1927 emigrated to the West and became a professor at Columbia, Rockefeller and California Universities. Stefan O'Brien is one of his last students.
What specific benefits will the genome data bank bring? "Historians and ethnographers will better understand the movement of different ethnic groups, pharmacists and doctors will find out more precisely the predisposition of certain people to various medicines," is how the Rector of St. Petersburg State University explains the practical application of the project results. The University has already purchased the first equipment for "Russian Genomes" and this year will begin to form a national collection of genomic data of the Russian Federation.
Another promising study in genetics is the development of new genetic tests that allow a person to diagnose a particular disease even before the appearance of its symptoms. It is very important to know, for example, sports geneticists. Doctors are well aware of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, from which every twentieth patient dies. Moreover, the terrible disease is especially cruel to young athletes under 35 years of age. Today, 54 genes are already known that are associated with cardiomyopathy. At St. Petersburg University, work is underway to study nine of them.
Scientists-geneticists of St. Petersburg State University Andrey and Oleg Glotov, who are engaged in these studies, are confident that genetic testing will give a person the opportunity to choose, including the future profession. After all, if you know that you have a predisposition to cardiomyopathy or to another disease that can lead to premature death, you are unlikely to go into athletes, climbers or stuntmen.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru03.02.2015