Other life sciences. The most promising areas of scientific research Medical and biotechnologies

July 11, 2008

Life Sciences(life sciences) combine a variety of branches of biology, biotechnology and medicine. In recent years, this has been one of the priorities of world science and economics. The choice of life sciences as a priority area of development is explained by a number of reasons. These sciences are the basis for providing the primary needs of humanity.

First of all, this is healthcare. In order to take care of health, you need to understand what happens to a healthy person and what happens in pathology. The life sciences are becoming especially important as life expectancy increases: the need to provide older members of society with a healthy and active old age poses new challenges for biology and medicine. Secondly, the growing world population and rising prosperity require the development of new ways to increase agricultural productivity, new varieties of plants - not only more productive, but also with improved consumer properties. Thirdly, the increasing pressure placed by humanity on nature requires an increasingly in-depth study of ecology and the adoption of measures to reduce this load - for example, through methods for producing biofuels, biodegradable plastics, advanced agricultural practices, reducing environmental pollution and bioremediation – restoration of polluted or destroyed biocenoses.

The central link uniting the life sciences is biotechnology in the broadest sense of the term.

Priority of living systems

Creating a developed economy in a post-industrial society is impossible without updating the technological structure and forms of scientific activity that correspond to the outgoing economic system. Therefore, one of the key tasks of our state is the formation of an effective and competitive sector of science and innovation. The main instrument of the state in the field of development of science and technology is the federal target program “Research and development in priority areas for the development of the scientific and technical complex of Russia for 2007–2012.” Within the framework of this program, the state finances work that corresponds to selected scientific and scientific-technical state priorities, one of which is “Living Systems”.

STRF.ru help:
Work in the priority area “Living Systems” is also carried out within the framework of the Federal Target Program “Research and Development in Priority Areas of Development of the Scientific and Technological Complex of Russia for 2007-2012”. Within the framework of this direction in 2008, in particular, the following critical technologies were developed:
– biomedical and veterinary technologies for life support and protection of humans and animals;
– biocatalytic, biosynthetic and biosensor technologies;
– genomic and post-genomic technologies for creating medicines;
– cellular technologies;
– bioengineering technologies.

Concept "life sciences" came to replace the usual concept of “biological sciences” and gave a common name to all sciences about living things: zoology and genetics, botany and molecular biology, physiology and biochemistry, ecology and medicine. Everyone who works in these fields deals with living systems, that is, with living organisms, be it a person or a flower, a virus or a bacterium. We can say that living systems are everything that reproduces, breathes, feeds, and moves.

However, this is not just a matter of changing the name. The term “living systems” is more active, more structured. It reflects a systematic approach to this interdisciplinary field of science and knowledge, in which biologists, chemists, physicists, and mathematicians work. In addition, the term “Living Systems” is very technological. It involves not only the knowledge and discovery of the principles of organization of living things, but also the use of this knowledge in the form of new technologies. This approach invites different specialists to jointly move from a scientific idea to its practical implementation and use in the interests of people.

Personal identification and reliable diagnosis of diseases, growing human organs and creating crops with a high content of vitamins, fats and proteins, new vaccines and medicines - these and many other technologies rightfully belong to the widest space called “living systems”. Research and development carried out in this area will fill our industry with high-tech technologies, improve the health and increase the safety of Russian citizens. That is why living systems are one of the main government priorities in the field of science and technology, actively supported through federal targeted programs.

This collection will briefly introduce the reader to the concept of technological platforms and biotechnologies, as well as some developments of leading Russian scientific teams working in the priority direction “Living Systems”.

STRF.ru help:
Distribution of funding in the direction of “Living Systems” within the framework of the Federal Target Program in 2008 by region (million rubles):
FEFD – 9 contracts, budget 116.5
Volga Federal District - 17 contracts, budget 140.1
Northwestern Federal District - 32 contracts, budget 156.0
Siberian Federal District - 34 contracts, budget 237.4
Ural Federal District – 1 contract, budget 50
Central Federal District - 202 contracts, budget 2507.8
Southern Federal District - 4 contracts, budget 34.85

Knowledge as technology

In conversations about the development of fundamental and applied developments in the field of living systems, the concept of “technology” is increasingly encountered. In a modern, post-industrial economy, technology is understood as a set of documented knowledge for purposeful activities using technical means (for example, organizational technologies, consumer technologies, social technologies, political technologies). It should be noted that in a market economy, technology, as a type of knowledge, is a commodity. The body of knowledge denoted by this concept raises questions not only about what we do, but also how, and most importantly, why we do it.

When determining strategies for the development of the scientific and technical complex on a national scale, the concept of “technological platform” is used. There is no clear definition of this term yet. Nevertheless, it is already obvious that this concept includes a body of knowledge, methods, material and technical base and qualified personnel, which varies depending on external orders for scientific and technological work. The priority direction “Living Systems” can be considered as a combination of several technology platforms.

Secrets Revealed

From living systems we derive technologies that are the norm of life for nature. She uses them during the birth, development and death of any living organism. Moreover, at each level of the hierarchy of a living system - genetic, cellular, organismal - there is a different set of technological solutions.

Any living system begins with the main molecule of life, DNA, which stores and transmits hereditary information from generation to generation. DNA can be roughly divided into semantic sections - genes. They send commands to synthesize certain proteins that form the characteristics of the organism and ensure its life. Scientists estimate the number of genes in humans at 20–25 thousand. If faults occur in genes, called mutations, a person develops serious illnesses. The volume of text “recorded” in the genome is identical to the file of the daily newspaper Izvestia for 30 years.

DNA lives and works in the cell. A living cell is perfection itself. She knows how to transform useless substances into useful ones, synthesize internal medicines for the body, building material and much more. Every minute, millions of chemical reactions take place in a living cell under the most ordinary conditions - in an aquatic environment, without high pressure and temperatures.

One cell lives by itself only in unicellular organisms - bacteria, but most living systems are multicellular. The adult human body contains on average 10 14 cells. They are born, transform, do their work and die. But at the same time they live in harmony and cooperation, building collective systems of defense (immune system), adaptation (regulatory system) and others.

Step by step we reveal the secrets of living systems and, based on this knowledge, create biotechnology.

Biotechnology

Biotechnology can be defined as processes in which living systems or their components are used to produce substances or other living systems. Living beings are original “factories” that process raw materials (nutrients) into a wide variety of products necessary to support their life. And besides, these factories are capable of reproducing, that is, generating other very similar “factories.”

Today we already know a lot about how the “workers” of living factories are structured and function - the genome, cellular structures, proteins, the cells themselves and the body as a whole.

Thanks to this knowledge, albeit still incomplete, researchers have learned to manipulate individual elements of living systems - genes (genomic technologies), cells (cellular technologies) - and create genetically modified living organisms with traits useful to us (genetic engineering). We know how to adapt natural “factories” to produce the product we need (industrial biotechnology). And moreover, genetically modify these factories so that they synthesize what we need.

This is how we create biotechnologies, which will be discussed further. But before we introduce you to examples of technologies that have already been put at the service of man, a few words need to be said about an elegant solution that today helps scientists penetrate the mysteries of life and understand the mechanisms of living systems. After all, the processes occurring in a cell are invisible, and scientific research requires technologies with which they can be seen and understood. By the way, this solution is biotechnology in itself.

Glowing squirrels

To find out how genes work, you need to see the result of their work, that is, the proteins that are synthesized at their command. How can we spot exactly the ones we are looking for? Scientists have found a method that makes proteins visible, glowing in ultraviolet light.

Such luminous proteins are found in nature, for example, in sea crustaceans and jellyfish. During the Second World War, the Japanese used powder from the “sea firefly”, a crustacean with a bivalve shell, as a local light source. When it was soaked in water, it glowed brightly. It was from this sea firefly and jellyfish that O. Shimomura (Japan) first isolated luminous proteins in the late 50s of the 20th century. This was the beginning of the history of the now famous GFP - green fluorescent protein. And in 2008, O. Shimomura, M. Chelfi and R. Tsien (USA) received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for fluorescent proteins. With the help of these proteins, a wide variety of living objects can be made to glow, from cellular structures to an entire animal. A fluorescent flashlight, which could be attached to the desired proteins using genetic manipulation, made it possible to see where and when this protein is synthesized and to which parts of the cell it is sent. It was a revolution in biology and medicine.

But red fluorescent proteins were first discovered in corals and other marine organisms by two Russian researchers - Mikhail Mats and Sergei Lukyanov. We now have fluorescent proteins in all the colors of the rainbow, and their applications are very wide: from the cutting edge of biology and medicine, including oncology, and the detection of poisonous and explosive substances, to glowing aquarium fish.

Under the leadership of Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences S. Lukyanov (Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences), the Russian biotechnological company Evrogen was created, which supplies scientists around the world with multi-colored fluorescent tags. Today, Evrogen is one of the leaders in the global market of fluorescent proteins for biological research.

Genetic identification

We are all very different. Appearance, character, abilities, susceptibility to medications, aversion to this or that food - all this is genetically determined. The uniqueness of each of us genome makes it a reliable tool for identifying identity. Essentially, our genes are the same fingerprints, only of a different nature. The DNA identification method was introduced into forensic practice by British researcher Alik Jeffreys in the 80s of the last century. Today this is already a common and familiar procedure all over the world.

It is also used in Russia. However, we purchase reagents for analysis abroad. At the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, under the leadership of Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolai Yankovsky, a set of reagents for human DNA identification is being created. The emergence of such a domestic tool is very timely, since on January 1, 2009, the Law “On Genomic Registration”, adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation on November 19, 2008, will come into force. The development of our scientists will not only allow us to refuse imports, but will also give criminologists a more advanced tool that, unlike Western analogues, works with heavily damaged DNA. And this is a common case in forensic medicine.

With the help of this tool, another important social task will be solved - the creation of a bank of genetic data of lawbreakers, which will increase the detection of crimes and reduce the investigation time. In the UK, the genetic database of people who are in one way or another connected with the criminal world already numbers several million people.

The DNA identification method is especially good for identifying people who died in wars, disasters and other circumstances. Today it is also used in Russia. The most famous case is the identification of the remains of the last royal family. The final stage of this great work - identification of the remains of the emperor's son and daughter - was carried out by Professor Evgeniy Rogaev, head of the genomics department of the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Finally, another area of application of the DNA identification method is establishing paternity. Research shows that several percent of legal fathers are not biological. For a long time, paternity was established by analyzing the blood of the child and the parent - the blood type and Rh factor were determined and the data were compared. However, this method was inherently unreliable, as researchers now understand, and produced many errors that resulted in personal tragedies. The use of DNA identification has increased the accuracy of the analysis to almost 100%. Today this technique for establishing paternity is available in Russia.

Genetic diagnostics

To do a complete analysis of the genome of one person currently costs a huge amount of money - two million dollars. True, in ten years, as technology improves, the price is predicted to drop to a thousand dollars. But it is possible not to describe all genes. Often it is enough to evaluate the work of only certain groups of genes that are critical for the occurrence of various ailments.

Genetic diagnostics require special devices, miniature, fast and accurate. These devices are called biochips. The world's first patent for biochips for determining the structure of DNA belongs to Russia - the team of Academician Andrei Mirzabekov from the Institute of Molecular Biology named after. V.A. Engelhardt RAS. Then, in the late 80s of the last century, Mirzabekov’s team developed micromatrix technology. They began to be called biochips later.

Biological microchips are a small plate of glass or plastic, on the surface of which there are many cells. Each of these wells contains a marker for one or another part of the genome that needs to be detected in the sample. If a patient’s blood sample is dropped onto the biochip, we can find out whether it contains what we are looking for - the corresponding well will glow due to a fluorescent label.

By examining a spent biochip, researchers can make a diagnosis of predisposition to certain diseases, as well as detect dangerous viruses in the patient’s blood, for example, tuberculosis or hepatitis C. After all, a virus is nothing more than a piece of foreign DNA in a protein shell. Thanks to the new technique, the duration of complex laboratory analyzes of biological materials has been reduced from several weeks to one day.

Today, biological microbiochips are being developed by dozens of companies in Europe and the USA. However, Russian biochips successfully withstand competition. One analysis using the Biochip-IMB test system costs only 500 rubles, while using a foreign analog costs $200–500.

And the Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has begun certifying biochips that detect types of hepatitis C virus in a patient. The market potential of the new technology is enormous. After all, with the help of traditional tests, in every third case it is not possible to find out what variety the found virus belongs to. Now this problem has been solved.

Using DNA diagnostics, you can not only identify diseases and predisposition to them, but also adjust your daily diet. For example, whether to include whole milk or not. The fact is that for many people, whole milk causes nausea, diarrhea and general malaise. This occurs due to a lack of an enzyme that breaks down milk sugar - lactose. Because of this, troubles arise in the body. And the presence of the enzyme is determined genetically. According to genetic studies, from a third to half of adults in our country (depending on the region) are not able to digest whole milk. However, the school diet still requires a glass of milk per day for each child. Using a DNA diagnostic test developed at the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, it is easy to determine who can be recommended whole milk and who cannot. This is the goal of the “Preserving the Health of Healthy People” project, implemented by the Russian Academy of Sciences together with the administration of the Tambov region.

Gene therapy

Genetic diagnostics builds the foundation for the medicine of the future. But medicine is not only a diagnosis, it is also a treatment. Can we correct defective genes in a living organism or replace them with complete ones in those severe cases when traditional treatment is powerless? This is precisely the task that gene therapy sets itself.

The essence of gene therapy is simple in words: it is necessary either to “repair” a broken gene in the cells of those tissues and organs where it does not work, or to deliver a full-fledged gene into the patient’s body, which we can synthesize in vitro. Today, several methods have been developed for introducing new genes into cells. This includes gene delivery using neutralized viruses, microinjection of genetic material into the cell nucleus, firing cells from a special gun with tiny gold particles that carry healthy genes on their surface, etc. So far, there has been very little success in the field of practical gene therapy. However, there are bright and witty discoveries made, including in Russian laboratories.

One of these ideas, intended for the treatment of cancer, can be called a “Trojan horse”. One of the genes of the herpes virus is introduced into cancer cells. Until a certain time, this “Trojan horse” does not reveal itself. But as soon as a medicine widely used to treat herpes (ganciclovir) is introduced into the patient’s body, the gene begins to work. As a result, an extremely toxic substance is formed in the cells, destroying the tumor from the inside. Another option for cancer gene therapy is the delivery of genes to cancer cells that will trigger the synthesis of so-called “suicide” proteins, leading to the “suicide” of cancer cells.

The technology for gene delivery into cancer cells is being developed by a large team of scientists from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after. M.M. Shemyakin and Yu.A. Ovchinnikov RAS, Russian Oncology Research Center RAMS, Institute of Molecular Genetics RAS, Institute of Gene Biology RAS. The work is led by Academician Evgeniy Sverdlov. The main focus of the project is on creating drugs against lung cancer (first place in mortality) and esophageal cancer (seventh place). However, the methods and designs being created will be useful in the fight against any type of cancer, of which there are more than a hundred. After the necessary clinical trials, if successful, the drugs will enter practice in 2012.

Diagnosis of cancer

A large number of scientific teams in Russia and around the world are working on the problem of cancer. This is understandable: every year, cancer reaps a slightly smaller deadly harvest than cardiovascular diseases. The task of scientists is to create technologies that make it possible to detect cancer at the earliest stages and destroy cancer cells in a targeted manner, without side effects for the body. Early and rapid diagnosis, when analysis takes only a few hours, is extremely important for traditional cancer therapy. Doctors know that it is easier to destroy the disease in the bud. Therefore, clinics around the world need diagnostic technologies that meet these requirements. And this is where biotechnology comes to the aid of researchers.

A new approach to early and rapid diagnosis of cancer was proposed for the first time in the world by Alexander Chetverin from the Institute of Protein of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The essence of the method is to identify in the blood those mRNA molecules that remove information from the corresponding parts of the genome and carry the command for the synthesis of cancer proteins. If such molecules are present in a patient's blood sample, then a diagnosis of cancer can be made. However, the problem is that there are very few of these molecules in the blood sample, while there are many others. How to find and discern those single specimens that we need? This problem was solved by a team of scientists under the leadership of A. Chetverin.

Researchers have learned to multiply sought-after but invisible cancer cell marker molecules using the so-called polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

As a result, entire molecular colonies grow from one invisible molecule, which can already be seen under a microscope. If a patient's blood sample (say, one milliliter) contains at least one cancer cell and one marker molecule, then the incipient disease can be detected.

The analysis can be done in just a few hours, and it costs several thousand rubles. But if you use it en masse, for example, during an annual preventive medical examination, then the price can drop to 300–500 rubles.

Cancer treatment

In the field of cancer treatment, there are also several new approaches that rely on biotechnology. One of them is the use of specific antibodies as anticancer agents.

Antibodies are protein molecules produced by cells of the immune system. In fact, this is a chemical weapon that our body uses in the fight against all kinds of viruses, as well as degenerated cells of our own body - cancer cells. If the immune system itself cannot cope with cancer, then it can be helped.

Scientists from the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology (Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences), under the leadership of Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Deev, are constructing a new generation of antibodies that recognize the target and destroy it. This approach is based on the principle of the so-called “magic bullet”, which always and accurately finds its victim. Antibodies are perfectly suited for this role. One part of their molecule serves as an “antenna” that points at the target – the surface of the cancer cell. And various damaging agents - toxins, organic molecules, radioactive isotopes - can be attached to the tail of the antibody. They have different effects, but they all ultimately kill the tumor.

Cancer cells can also be destroyed almost naturally. It is enough to trigger the mechanism of programmed cell death, a kind of suicide provided by nature. Scientists call it apoptosis. The suicide mechanism is triggered by intracellular enzymes that destroy proteins inside the cell and the DNA itself. Unfortunately, cancer cells are amazingly resilient because they are able to suppress their suicidal “moods.” The problem is that there are very few of these enzymes in cancer cells, so it is difficult to trigger apoptosis.

However, this problem can also be solved. To trigger the suicide mechanism, Siberian scientists propose opening the membranes of cellular structures, for example, mitochondria. Then the cell will inevitably die. The Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the State Scientific Center “Vector” (Koltsovo village), the Municipal Pulmonary Surgical Hospital (Novosibirsk), the Scientific and Production Foundation “Medical Technologies” (Kurgan), and the Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Immunology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Novosibirsk) are taking part in this large project. Together, the researchers selected substances that can open the membranes of cellular structures and developed a method for delivering these substances to the cancer cell.

Vaccines

Our knowledge of the immune system of animals can be used not only to treat cancer, but also any infectious diseases. We receive immunity against most diseases “by inheritance”; against others we acquire immunity by suffering from an illness caused by a new infection. But immunity can also be trained – for example, through vaccination.

The effectiveness of vaccination was first demonstrated more than 200 years ago by physician Edward Jenner, who proved that a person who had cowpox became immune to smallpox. Since then, many diseases have been brought under the control of doctors. Since the time of Pasteur, weakened or killed viruses have been used for vaccines. But this imposes limitations: there is no guarantee that the vaccine is completely free of active viral particles; working with many of them requires great care; the shelf life of the vaccine depends on storage conditions.

These difficulties can be overcome using genetic engineering methods. With their help, you can produce individual components of bacteria and viruses, and then inject them into patients - the protective effect will be no worse than when using conventional vaccines. The first vaccines obtained using genetic engineering were vaccines for animals - against foot-and-mouth disease, rabies, dysentery and other animal diseases. The first genetically engineered vaccine for humans was the hepatitis B vaccine.

Today, for most infections we can make vaccines - classical or genetically engineered. The main problem is connected with the plague of the twentieth century - AIDS. Vaccination is good for him. After all, it boosts the immune system and forces the body to produce more immune cells. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, lives and multiplies in these cells. In other words, we give it even more opportunities - new, healthy cells of the immune system to infect.

Research into finding vaccines against AIDS has a long history and is based on a discovery made back in the 70s of the last century by future academicians R.V. Petrov, V.A. Kabanov and R.M. Khaitov. Its essence is that polyelectrolytes (charged polymer molecules that are soluble in water) interact with cells of the immune system and induce the latter to intensively produce antibodies. And if, for example, one of the proteins that make up the virus shell is attached to a polyelectrolyte molecule, an immune response against this virus will be activated. This vaccine’s mechanism of action is fundamentally different from all vaccines that have previously been created in the world.

The first in the world and so far the only polyelectrolyte that is allowed to be introduced into the human body was polyoxidonium. Then the influenza virus proteins were “sewn” onto the polymer. The result was the “Grippol” vaccine, which has been protecting millions of people in Russia from viral infection for almost 10 years.

Today, the AIDS vaccine is being created using the same method. A protein characteristic of the AIDS virus was bound to a polyelectrolyte. The resulting vaccine was successfully tested on mice and rabbits. Based on the results of preclinical tests, the Institute of Immunology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was granted permission to conduct clinical trials with the participation of volunteers. If all stages of testing the drug are successful, it can be used not only for the prevention of HIV infection, but also for the treatment of AIDS.

Medicines donated by biotechnologies

Medicines still remain the main tool of medical practice. However, the capabilities of the chemical industry, which produces the lion's share of medicines, are limited. The chemical synthesis of many substances is complex and often impossible, such as the synthesis of the vast majority of proteins. And this is where biotechnology comes to the rescue.

The production of drugs using microorganisms has a long history. The first antibiotic, penicillin, was isolated from mold in 1928, and its industrial production began in 1940. Following penicillin, other antibiotics were discovered and their mass production began.

For a long time, many drugs based on human proteins could only be obtained in small quantities; their production was very expensive. Genetic engineering has given hope that the range of protein drugs and their number will increase sharply. And these expectations were justified. Several dozen drugs obtained by biotechnological means have already entered medical practice. According to experts, the annual volume of the global market for drugs based on proteins created by genetic engineering is increasing by 15% and by 2010 will amount to $18 billion.

The most striking example of the work of our biotechnologists in this area is genetically engineered human insulin, which is produced at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry named after. M.M.Shemyakin and Yu.A.Ovchinnikov RAS. Insulin, that is, a hormone with a protein structure, regulates the breakdown of sugar in our body. It can be extracted from animals. That's what they did before. But even insulin from the pancreas of pigs - the animals biochemically closest to us - is still slightly different from human insulin.

Its activity in the human body is lower than the activity of human insulin. In addition, our immune system does not tolerate foreign proteins and does its best to reject them. Therefore, the injected pork insulin may disappear before it has time to have a therapeutic effect. The problem was solved by genetic engineering technology, which is used today to produce human insulin, including in Russia.

In addition to genetically engineered human insulin at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry. M.M. Shemyakina and Yu.A. Ovchinnikova of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, together with the Hematological Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, created a technology for the production of proteins to combat massive blood loss. Human serum albumin and blood coagulation factor are excellent first aid and resuscitation tools in demand in disaster medicine.

Genetically modified plants

Our knowledge of genetics, expanding every day, has allowed us to create not only genetic tests for diagnosing diseases and glowing proteins, vaccines and drugs, but also new organisms. Today there is hardly a person who has not heard of genetically modified, or transgenic, organisms (GMOs). These are plants or animals in whose DNA genes have been introduced from outside, giving these organisms new properties that are useful, from a human point of view.

The GMO army is large. Among its ranks are beneficial microbes that work in biotechnological factories and produce many useful substances for us, crops with improved properties, and mammals that produce more meat and more milk.

One of the most widespread subdivisions of GMOs is, of course, plants. After all, from time immemorial they have served as food for humans and animal feed. From plants we obtain fibers for construction, substances for medicines and perfumes, raw materials for the chemical industry and energy, fire and heat.

We continue to improve the quality of plants and develop new varieties through selective breeding. But this painstaking and labor-intensive process takes a lot of time. Genetic engineering, which has allowed us to insert useful genes into the genome of plants, has raised breeding to a fundamentally new level.

The very first transgenic plant, created a quarter of a century ago, was tobacco, and today 160 transgenic crops are used on an industrial scale in the world. Among them are corn and soybeans, rice and rapeseed, cotton and flax, tomatoes and pumpkin, tobacco and beets, potatoes and cloves and others.

At the Bioengineering Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, headed by Academician K.G. Skryabin. together with Belarusian colleagues, they created the first domestic genetically modified crop - the Elizaveta potato variety, resistant to the Colorado potato beetle.

The first genetically modified crops, developed in the early 1980s, were resistant to herbicides and insects. Today, with the help of genetic engineering, we are obtaining varieties that contain more nutrients, are resistant to bacteria and viruses, and are resistant to drought and cold. In 1994, a variety of tomatoes that were not susceptible to rotting was created for the first time. This variety appeared on the genetically modified food markets within two years. Another transgenic product, Golden rice, has become widely known. In it, unlike regular rice, beta-carotene is formed - a precursor to vitamin A, which is absolutely necessary for the growth of the body. Golden rice partly solves the problem of adequate nutrition for residents of those countries where rice is still the main dish in the diet. And this is at least two billion people.

Nutrition and productivity are not the only goals pursued by genetic engineers. It is possible to create varieties of plants that will contain vaccines and medicines in their leaves and fruits. This is very valuable and convenient: vaccines made from transgenic plants cannot be contaminated with dangerous animal viruses, and the plants themselves are easy to grow in large quantities. And finally, “edible” vaccines can be created based on plants, when for vaccination it is enough to eat a certain amount of any transgenic fruit or vegetable, for example, potatoes or bananas. For example, carrots contain substances that are involved in the formation of the body’s immune response. Such plants are jointly created by scientists from two leading biological institutes of Siberia: the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the SB RAS.

It cannot be said that society is wary of genetically modified plants (GMPs). And in the scientific community itself, there is an ongoing discussion about the possible potential danger of GMR. Therefore, research is underway all over the world to assess the risks associated with the use of GMR - food, agrotechnical, and environmental. While the World Health Organization states the following: “The experience gained over 10 years of commercial use of GM crops, analysis of the results of special studies show: to date, there is not a single proven case of toxicity or adverse effects of registered GM crops as sources of food or feed in the world.” "

From 1996, when commercial cultivation of GMR began, to 2007, the total area sown with transgenic plants increased from 1.7 million to 114 million hectares, which is about 9% of all arable area in the world. Moreover, 99% of this area is occupied by five crops: soybeans, cotton, rice, corn and rapeseed. In the total volume of their production, genetically modified varieties account for over 25%. The absolute leader in the use of GMR is the United States, where already in 2002, 75% of cotton and soybeans were transgenic. In Argentina, the share of transgenic soybeans was 99%, in Canada 65% of rapeseed was produced this way, and in China - 51% of cotton. In 2007, 12 million farmers were engaged in the cultivation of hydrocarbons, of which 90% live in developing countries. In Russia, industrial cultivation of hydrocarbons is prohibited by law.

Genetically modified animals

Genetic engineers use a similar strategy to develop new breeds of animals. In this case, the gene responsible for the manifestation of any valuable trait is introduced into the fertilized egg, from which a new organism further develops. For example, if an animal’s set of genes is supplemented with the gene of a growth-stimulating hormone, then such animals will grow faster with less food consumed. The result is more cheap meat.

An animal can be a source of not only meat and milk, but also medicinal substances contained in this milk. For example, the most valuable human proteins. We have already talked about some of them. Now this list can be supplemented by lactoferrin, a protein that protects newborn children from dangerous microorganisms until their own immunity is developed.

A woman's body produces this substance with the first portions of breast milk. Unfortunately, not all mothers have milk, so human lactoferrin must be added to formula feeding to maintain the health of newborns. If there is enough protective protein in the diet, then the mortality of artificial infants from various gastrointestinal infections can be reduced tenfold. This protein is in demand not only in the baby food industry, but also, for example, in the cosmetics industry.

The technology for the production of goat milk with human lactoferrin is being developed at the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Animal Husbandry. This year, the first two transgenic goats were born. Over several years of research, 25 million rubles were spent on the creation of each of them. We just have to wait until they grow up, multiply and begin to produce milk with valuable human protein.

Cell engineering

There is another exciting area of biotechnology: cell technology. Stem cells, which are fantastic in their abilities, live and work in the human body. They replace dead cells (say, an erythrocyte, a red blood cell, lives only 100 days), they heal our fractures and wounds, and restore damaged tissue.

The existence of stem cells was predicted by a Russian hematologist from St. Petersburg, Alexander Maksimov, back in 1909. Several decades later, his theoretical assumption was confirmed experimentally: stem cells were discovered and isolated. But the real boom began at the end of the twentieth century, when progress in the field of experimental technologies made it possible to discern the potential of these cells.

So far, advances in medicine associated with the use of stem cells have been more than modest. We know how to isolate these cells, store them, multiply them, and experiment with them. But we still don’t fully understand the mechanism of their magical transformations, when a faceless stem cell turns into a blood cell or muscle tissue. We have not yet fully understood the chemical language in which the stem cell receives the order to transform. This ignorance creates risks from the use of stem cells and hinders their active implementation in medical practice. However, there are advances in the treatment of non-healing fractures in older people, as well as in restorative treatment after heart attacks and heart surgery.

In Russia, a method has been developed for treating retinal burns using human brain stem cells. If these cells are introduced into the eye, they will actively move to the burn area, settle in the outer and inner layers of the damaged retina and stimulate the healing of the burn. The method was developed by a research group of scientists from the Moscow Research Institute of Eye Diseases named after. G. Helmholtz Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Institute of Developmental Biology named after. N.K.Koltsov RAS, Institute of Gene Biology RAS and Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

We are currently at the stage of accumulating knowledge about stem cells. The efforts of scientists are focused on research, on creating infrastructure, in particular, stem cell banks, the first of which in Russia was Gemabank. Growing organs, treating multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases are the future, although not so distant.

Bioinformatics

The amount of knowledge and information is growing like a snowball. Understanding the principles of functioning of living systems, we realize the incredible complexity of the structure of living matter, in which a variety of biochemical reactions are intricately intertwined with each other and form intricate networks. It is possible to unravel this “web” of life only by using modern mathematical methods to model processes in living systems.

That is why, at the intersection of biology and mathematics, a new direction was born - bioinformatics, without which the work of biotechnologists is no longer conceivable. Most bioinformatic methods, of course, work for medicine, namely, for the search for new medicinal compounds. They can be searched for based on knowledge of the structure of the molecule that is responsible for the development of a particular disease. If such a molecule is blocked with any substance selected with high precision, then the course of the disease can be stopped. Bioinformatics makes it possible to discover a blocking molecule suitable for clinical use. If we know the target, say, the structure of a “disease-causing” protein, then using computer programs we can simulate the chemical structure of the drug. This approach allows you to significantly save time and resources that go into sorting and testing tens of thousands of chemical compounds.

Among the leaders in the creation of drugs using bioinformatics in Russia is the Himrar company. In the search for potential anticancer drugs, she is involved, in particular, in screening many thousands of chemical compounds. The most powerful Russian scientific centers engaged in bioinformatics also include the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Beginning in the 60s of the twentieth century, a unique scientific school was formed in the Novosibirsk academic town, uniting biologists and mathematicians. The main area of work of Novosibirsk bioinformaticians is the analysis of protein interactions inside cells and the search for potential molecular targets for new drugs.

To understand the mechanism of development of a particular disease, it is important to know which of the thousands of genes working in a diseased cell are actually responsible for the disease. This not at all easy task is complicated by the fact that genes, as a rule, do not work alone, but only in combination with other genes. But how can we take into account the contribution of other genes to a specific disease? And here bioinformatics comes to the aid of doctors. Using mathematical algorithms, it is possible to construct a map on which the intersections of paths show the interactions of genes. Such maps reveal clusters of genes operating in a diseased cell at different stages of the disease. This information is extremely important, for example, for choosing a cancer treatment strategy depending on the stage of the disease.

Industrial biotechnology

Man has used biotechnology since time immemorial. People made cheese from milk, fermented cabbage for the winter, and prepared cheerful drinks from everything that was fermented. All these are classical microbiological processes in which the main driving force is a microorganism, the smallest living system.

Today, the range of problems solved by biotechnology has expanded incredibly. We have already talked about genetic diagnosis of diseases, new vaccines and medicines obtained using biotechnology, and genetically modified organisms. However, life also throws up other challenges. The giant chemical production facilities where we obtain the substances necessary to create a comfortable living environment (fibers, plastics, building materials and much more) today no longer seem as attractive as they did 60 years ago. They consume a lot of energy and resources (high pressures, temperatures, catalysts made of precious metals), they pollute the environment and occupy precious land. Can biotechnologists offer a replacement here?

Yes they can. For example, genetically modified microorganisms that work as effective catalysts for industrial chemical processes. Such biocatalysts were created at the All-Russian Research Institute of Genetics and Selection of Microorganisms, for example, for the dangerous and dirty stage of producing the toxic substance acryalamid. It is used to make a polymer polyacrylamide, used in water treatment, in the production of diapers, and for the production of coated paper, and for many other purposes. The biocatalyst allows a chemical reaction to produce a monomer at room temperature, without the use of aggressive reagents and high pressure.

The biocatalyst was brought to industrial use in Russia through the efforts of the scientific team of ZAO Bioamid (Saratov) under the leadership of Sergei Voronin. The same team developed the biotechnology for producing aspartic acid and created the import-substituting cardiac drug Asparkam L. The drug has already entered the market in Russia and Belarus. The Russian drug is not only cheaper than imported analogues, but, according to doctors, it is also more effective. The fact is that Asparkam L contains only one optical isomer of the acid, the one that has therapeutic effects. And the Western analogue, panangin, is based on a mixture of two optical isomers, L and D, the second of which simply serves as ballast. The discovery of the Bioamida team is that they were able to separate these two difficult-to-separate isomers and put the process on an industrial basis.

It is possible that in the future giant chemical plants will disappear altogether, and instead of them there will be small, safe workshops that do not harm the environment, where microorganisms will work, producing all the necessary intermediate products for various industries. In addition, small green factories, be they microorganisms or plants, allow us to obtain useful substances that cannot be produced in a chemical reactor. For example, spider silk protein. The frame threads of the trapping nets that the spider weaves for its victims are several times more tensile than steel. It would seem that you plant spiders in workshops and pull protein threads from them. But spiders do not live in the same jar - they will eat each other.

A beautiful solution was found by a team of scientists led by Doctor of Biological Sciences Vladimir Bogush (State Research Institute of Genetics and Selection of Microorganisms) and Doctor of Biological Sciences Eleonora Piruzyan (Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences). First, the genes responsible for the synthesis of spider silk protein were isolated from the spider genome. These genes were then inserted into yeast and tobacco cells. Both of them began to produce the protein we need. As a result, the basis has been created for the production technology of a unique and almost natural structural material, lightweight and extremely durable, from which ropes, body armor and much more can be made.

There are other problems too. For example, a huge amount of waste. Biotechnology allows us to turn waste into income. By-products from agriculture, forestry and food processing can be converted into methane, a biogas suitable for heating and energy. Or you can use methanol and ethanol, the main components of biofuels.

Industrial applications of biotechnology are actively involved in the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. It includes several laboratories engaged in a variety of projects - from the creation of industrial biosensors to the production of enzymes for fine organic synthesis, from industrial waste recycling technologies to the development of methods for producing biofuels.

Science, business, government

The successes achieved are the result of the combined efforts of biologists, chemists, doctors and other specialists working in the space of living systems. The relationship between different disciplines turned out to be fruitful. Of course, biotechnology is not a panacea for solving global problems, but a tool that promises great prospects if used correctly.

Today, the total volume of the biotechnology market in the world is 8 trillion. dollars. Biotechnologies also lead in terms of funding for research and development: in the United States alone, government agencies and private companies spend more than $30 billion annually on these purposes.

Investments in science and technology will ultimately yield economic benefits. But biotechnology alone will not solve complex health or food problems. A favorable healthcare infrastructure and industrial structure must be created to guarantee access to new diagnostic techniques, vaccines and medicines, and plants with improved properties. An effective communication system between science and business is also extremely important here. Finally, an absolutely necessary condition for building an effective innovative sector of the economy is the interaction of scientific and commercial structures with the state.

Help STRF.ru
In 2008, 939 applications were submitted for the development of topics in the direction of “Living Systems” (for comparison: the total for the program is 3180),
– 396 applications were submitted for the competition (total 1597),
– 179 competitions were held (731 in total)
– organizations from 23 departments (36 in total) took part in the competitions, 17 of them won
– 179 contracts were concluded (731 in total)
– 120 contracts continue to this day (630 in total)
– 346 organizations (total 842) sent applications for the development of topics on living systems
– 254 organizations (total 806) submitted applications for the competition as lead applications
– 190 organizations submitted applications for the competition as co-executors (636 in total)
– average competition for lots in the direction is 2,212 (average for the program – 2,185)
– the contract budget for 2008 amounted to 1041.2 million rubles. (21.74% of the entire program budget)
Dynamics of growth and distribution of funding in the area of living systems within the framework of the Federal Target Scientific and Technical Program of 2002–2006 and the Federal Target Program of 2007–2012:
2005 – 303 contracts, 1168.7 million rubles. (100%)
2006 – 289 contracts, 1227.0 million rubles. (105%)
2007 – 284 contracts, 2657.9 million rubles. (227%)
2008 - 299 contracts, 3242.6 million rubles. (277%)

Sciences do not arise on their own, not because someone invents them simply “out of interest.” Any science appears as a result of the need for humanity to solve certain problems that arose in the process of its development. Biology is no exception; it also arose in connection with the solution of very important problems for people. One of them has always been a deeper understanding of the processes in living nature associated with the production of food products, i.e. knowledge of the characteristics of the life of plants and animals, their changes under the influence of humans, ways to obtain a reliable and increasingly rich harvest. Solving this problem is one of the fundamental reasons for the development of biology.

Another, no less important “spring” is the study of human biological characteristics. Man is a product of the development of living nature. All processes of our life are similar to those that occur in nature. And therefore, only a deep understanding of biological processes serves as the scientific foundation of medicine. The emergence of consciousness, which means a giant step forward in the self-knowledge of matter, also cannot be understood without deep research into living nature in at least two directions - the emergence and development of the brain as an organ of thinking (the riddle of thinking still remains unresolved) and the emergence of sociality, the public image life.

Increasing food production and the development of medicine are important, but not the only problems that have determined the development of biology as a science for thousands of years. Wildlife is the source of many materials and products necessary for humanity. You need to know their properties in order to use them correctly, know where to look for them in nature, and how to obtain them. In many ways, the initial source of such knowledge is biology. But this does not exhaust the importance of biological sciences.

In the 20th century The Earth's population has increased so much that the development of human society has become a determining factor in the development of the Earth's biosphere. By now it has become clear that living nature is not only a source of food and many necessary products and materials, but also a necessary condition for the existence of humanity itself. Our ties with her turned out to be much closer and more vital than they thought at the beginning of the 20th century.

For example, air seemed to be the same inexhaustible and constant resource of nature as, say, sunlight. Actually this is not true. The qualitative composition of the atmosphere to which we are accustomed, with its 20.95% oxygen and 0.03% carbon dioxide, is a derivative of the activity of living beings: respiration and photosynthesis of plants, oxidation of dead organic matter. Oxygen in the air arises only as a result of the life of plants. The main oxygen factories on Earth are tropical forests and ocean algae. But today, as observations show, the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is constantly increasing as a result of the release of huge amounts of carbon during the combustion of oil, gas, coal, wood, as well as other anthropogenic processes. From 1958 to 1980, the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere increased by 4%. By the end of the century, its content may increase by more than 10%. In the 70s XX century the amount of oxygen entering the atmosphere as a result of plant activity was estimated in t/year, and the annual consumption by humanity was estimated in t/year. This means that we already live off the oxygen reserves accumulated in the past, over millions of years of evolution of living beings on the planet.

The water we drink, or more precisely, the purity of this water, its quality is also determined primarily by living nature. Our treatment plants only complete the huge process that is happening in nature, invisible to us: water in the soil or reservoir repeatedly passes through the bodies of myriads of invertebrates, is filtered by them and, freed from organic and inorganic impurities, becomes the same as we know it in rivers, lakes and springs.

Thus, the qualitative composition of both air and water on Earth depends on the vital activity of living organisms. It should be added that soil fertility - the basis of the harvest - is the result of the vital activity of living organisms living in the soil: a huge number of bacteria, invertebrates, algae.

Humanity cannot exist without living nature. Hence the vital need for us to keep it in “working condition”.

Unfortunately, this is not so easy to do. As a result of human exploration of the entire surface of the planet, the development of agriculture, industry, deforestation, pollution of continents and oceans, an increasing number of species of plants, fungi, and animals are disappearing from the face of the Earth. A vanished species cannot be restored. It is the product of millions of years of evolution and has a unique gene pool - a unique code of hereditary information that determines the unique properties of each species. According to some estimates, in the early 80s. In the world, on average, one species of animal was destroyed every day; by the year 2000, this rate may increase to one species per hour. In our country, one species of vertebrate disappears on average every 3.5 years. How can we change this trend and return to the evolutionarily justified path of constantly increasing the total “sum of life” rather than decreasing it? This problem concerns all of humanity, but it is impossible to solve it without the work of biologists.

Figuratively speaking, modern biology is a huge, multi-story building containing thousands of “rooms” - directions, disciplines, entire independent sciences. Just listing them can take dozens of pages.

In the building of biology there are, as it were, four main “floors”, corresponding to the fundamental levels of organization of living matter. The first “floor” is molecular genetic. The object of studying living things here are units of hereditary information (genes), their changes - mutations, and the very process of transmitting hereditary information. The second “floor” is ontogenetic, or the level of individual development. Events on this “floor” are still the least studied in biology. Here a mysterious process occurs that determines the appearance in the right place, at the right time, of what should appear during the normal development of each individual - a leg or an eye in an animal, a leaf or bark in a plant. The next “floor” is the population-species level. The elementary units at this level are populations, i.e., relatively small, long-existing groups of individuals of the same species, within which the exchange of hereditary information occurs. The elementary phenomena here are irreversible changes in the genotypic composition of populations and ultimately the emergence of different adaptations and new species. On the last, fourth “floor”, processes take place in ecological systems of various scales - complex communities of many species, up to biosphere processes as a whole. The elementary structures of these communities are biogeocenoses, and the elementary phenomena are the transition of biogeocenosis from one state of dynamic equilibrium to another, which ultimately leads to a change in the entire biosphere as a whole. Each level has its own laws, but the events that occur at each of them are closely related to events at other levels.

In recent decades, molecular biology has moved forward somewhat (in terms of the number of scientists employed in this field, and the funds allocated in different countries for the development of this particular area of research). Remarkable results have been obtained, ranging from purely theoretical (deciphering the genetic code and synthesis of the first artificial genes) to practical (for example, the development of genetic engineering). Population biology is now beginning to develop rapidly, which will make it possible to successfully solve many modern problems associated with increasing the production of food products necessary for a growing human population, preserving rapidly disappearing species of living organisms, a number of problems associated with the grandiose task of transition to managing the evolutionary development of an ever larger and larger population. more types. The intensive development of the biosphere “floor” of research is not far off.

One should not think that biologists in classical fields - zoology, botany, morphology, physiology, systematics and others - have already done everything. There is still a lot of work to be done here. Did you know that less than half of the organisms inhabiting our planet have been scientifically described (accurate descriptions are provided and a scientific name is given) - only about 4.5 million species, and according to some estimates, no more than a third or even a quarter of them? Even in our country, located mainly in a temperate climatic zone, not distinguished by the diversity of organic forms, scientists annually discover dozens of new species (mainly invertebrates).

Isn’t it fascinating the research of paleontologists who, using scattered remains of fossil organisms, recreate the appearance of long-extinct animals, reconstruct the nature of past eras, and find out the ways of development of the organic world?

And here the most interesting finds await researchers. How sensational, for example, was the discovery of the oldest pre-nuclear fossils in rocks more than 3 billion years old! This means that life existed on Earth even then. The work of geneticists, zoologists, botanists, biochemists, physiologists, etc. is no less fascinating and full of discoveries.

There are more and more of us people on Earth, and we want to live better and better. Therefore, the development of society requires more and more raw materials and a variety of products. This gives rise to the enormous task of intensifying the entire national economy, including those branches that are related to biology, primarily agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing. But not only these industries. In our country, for example, the microbiological industry has been created and is successfully developing - a huge branch of the national economy that provides food and feed products (for livestock and poultry, farmed fish, etc.), the latest medicines and medications, and even helps to extract various minerals. Another biological branch of the national economy has started and is already bearing its first fruits - biotechnology, based on the use of processes and structures discovered by physical-chemical (molecular) biology to create substances and products necessary for humanity. The development of the most important areas of biological sciences, the expansion of their practical connection with medicine and agriculture is discussed in the “Main Directions of Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1986-1990 and for the period until 2000”, adopted by the XXVII Congress of the CPSU.

Intensification also means austerity of natural resources and their conservation in the interests of a developing society. A remarkable property of living natural resources is their renewability, their ability to be restored as a result of the reproduction of living organisms. Therefore, by intensifying the use of living natural resources, it is possible and necessary to ensure that they serve us for an indefinitely long time. This can be done by organizing real economic, economical use and maintenance of the living forces of nature. Many scientists are working on solving these problems. The party and government pay great attention to all these issues. The CPSU Program (new edition) states: “The Party considers it necessary to strengthen control over environmental management and to expand environmental education of the population more widely.”

When the idea of creating this book arose, one of the main tasks set for the team of authors was to talk about the important and interesting features of modern biology, about what has already been achieved in its various fields and what unresolved problems biologists face. We wanted, without repeating the textbook, but relying on the knowledge provided by the school curriculum in biology, to show what biologists are working on in laboratories and expeditions. The dictionary also contains many essays about outstanding biologists of our country and other countries. It is thanks to the work of our predecessors in science that we have the knowledge we have today.

A few words about how to read this book. In the text you will often find words in italics. This means that there is a special article about this concept in the dictionary. The alphabetical index located at the end of the book will help you navigate the contents of the dictionary. Be sure to take a look at the list of recommended reading materials.

We hope that the “Encyclopedic Dictionary of a Young Biologist” will help you learn a lot of new and fascinating things about living nature, find answers to your questions, and awaken and develop interest in the wonderful science of living things - biology.

Physicists have known about quantum effects for more than a hundred years, for example, the ability of quanta to disappear in one place and appear in another, or to be in two places at the same time. However, the amazing properties of quantum mechanics apply not only to physics, but also to biology.

The best example of quantum biology is photosynthesis: plants and some bacteria use energy from sunlight to build the molecules they need. It turns out that photosynthesis actually relies on a surprising phenomenon - small masses of energy "explore" all possible ways to use themselves, and then "select" the most efficient one. Perhaps bird navigation, DNA mutations, and even our sense of smell rely in one way or another on quantum effects. Although this area of science is still highly speculative and controversial, scientists believe that once gleaned from quantum biology, ideas could lead to the creation of new drugs and biomimetic systems (biomimetrics is another new scientific field where biological systems and structures are used to create new materials and devices ).

3. Exometeorology

Jupiter

Along with exoceanographers and exogeologists, exometeorologists are interested in studying the natural processes occurring on other planets. Now that powerful telescopes have made it possible to study the internal processes of nearby planets and moons, exometeorologists can monitor their atmospheric and weather conditions. and Saturn, with its incredible scale, are prime candidates for research, as is Mars, with its regular dust storms.

Exometeorologists even study planets outside our solar system. And what’s interesting is that they may eventually find signs of extraterrestrial life on exoplanets by detecting organic traces or elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - a sign of industrial civilization.

4. Nutrigenomics

Nutrigenomics is the study of the complex relationships between food and genome expression. Scientists working in this field are seeking to understand the role of genetic variations and dietary responses in how nutrients affect the genome.

Food truly has a huge impact on your health - and it literally starts at the molecular level. Nutrigenomics works in both directions: it studies how exactly our genome influences gastronomic preferences, and vice versa. The main goal of the discipline is to create personalized nutrition - this is to ensure that our food is ideally suited to our unique set of genes.

5. Cliodynamics

Cliodynamics is a discipline that combines historical macrosociology, economic history (cliometrics), mathematical modeling of long-term social processes, as well as systematization and analysis of historical data.

The name comes from the name of the Greek muse of history and poetry, Clio. Simply put, cliodynamics is an attempt to predict and describe the broad social connections of history - both to study the past and as a potential way to predict the future, for example, to forecast social unrest.

6. Synthetic biology

Synthetic biology is the design and construction of new biological parts, devices and systems. It also involves upgrading existing biological systems for an endless number of useful applications.

Craig Venter, one of the leading experts in this field, announced in 2008 that he had reconstructed the entire genome of a bacterium by gluing together its chemical components. Two years later, his team created “synthetic life”—DNA molecules digitally coded, then 3D printed and inserted into living bacteria.

In the future, biologists intend to analyze different types of genomes to create useful organisms for introduction into the body and biorobots that can produce chemicals - biofuels - from scratch. There are also ideas to create pollution-fighting artificial bacteria or vaccines to treat serious diseases. The potential of this scientific discipline is simply enormous.

7. Recombinant memetics

This field of science is in its infancy, but it is already clear that it is only a matter of time - sooner or later scientists will gain a better understanding of the entire human noosphere (the totality of all information known to people) and how the dissemination of information affects almost all aspects of human life.

Like recombinant DNA, where different genetic sequences come together to create something new, recombinant memetics studies how ideas passed from person to person can be adjusted and combined with other memes and memeplexes - established complexes of interconnected memes. This may be useful for “social therapeutic” purposes, for example, combating the spread of radical and extremist ideologies.

8. Computational sociology

Like cliodynamics, computational sociology studies social phenomena and trends. Central to this discipline is the use of computers and related information processing technologies. Of course, this discipline only developed with the advent of computers and the widespread use of the Internet.

Particular attention in this discipline is paid to the huge flows of information from our daily lives, for example, emails, phone calls, social media posts, credit card purchases, search engine queries, and so on. Examples of work could be a study of the structure of social networks and how information is distributed through them, or how intimate relationships arise on the Internet.

9. Cognitive economics

Generally, economics is not associated with traditional scientific disciplines, but this may change due to the close interaction of all scientific fields. This discipline is often confused with behavioral economics (the study of our behavior in the context of economic decisions). Cognitive economics is the science of how we think. Lee Caldwell, author of a blog about this discipline, writes about it:

“Cognitive (or financial) economics... looks at what is actually going on in a person's mind when he makes a choice. What is the internal structure of decision-making, what influences it, what information does the mind perceive at this moment and how is it processed, what internal forms of preference does a person have and, ultimately, how are all these processes reflected in behavior?

In other words, scientists begin their research at a lower, simplified level, and form micromodels of decision-making principles to develop a model of large-scale economic behavior. Often this scientific discipline interacts with related fields, such as computational economics or cognitive science.

10. Plastic electronics

Electronics typically involve inert and inorganic conductors and semiconductors such as copper and silicon. But a new branch of electronics uses conducting polymers and conducting small molecules that are based on carbon. Organic electronics involves the design, synthesis and processing of functional organic and inorganic materials along with the development of advanced micro- and nanotechnologies.

In truth, this is not such a new branch of science; the first developments were made back in the 1970s. However, it was only recently possible to bring all the accumulated data together, in particular, due to the nanotechnology revolution. Thanks to organic electronics, we may soon have organic solar cells, self-organizing monolayers in electronic devices and organic prosthetics, which in the future will be able to replace damaged limbs for humans: in the future, so-called cyborgs may well consist of more organic matter than synthetic ones parts.

11. Computational biology

If you equally like mathematics and biology, then this discipline is just for you. Computational biology seeks to understand biological processes through the language of mathematics. This is equally used for other quantitative systems, such as physics and computer science. Scientists from the University of Ottawa explain how this became possible:

“With the development of biological instrumentation and easy access to computing power, biology as such has to operate with more and more data, and the speed of knowledge gained is only growing. Thus, making sense of data now requires a computational approach. At the same time, from the point of view of physicists and mathematicians, biology has matured to a level where theoretical models of biological mechanisms can be tested experimentally. This led to the development of computational biology.”

Scientists working in this field analyze and measure everything from molecules to ecosystems.

How does “brainmail” work - transmitting messages from brain to brain via the Internet