The open lecture by Andrey Abramov

Research and Development Center of Biomedical Photonics often invites leading Russian and foreign scientists to flagship University to give lectures on related areas of science.

This time Andrey Abramov, a specialist in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, became a guest of Orel State University.

"I want to thank you for the invitation! It is very pleasant to come to you and see the equipped laboratories, and the most important – scientists’ desire to work. If there are these two key aspects, then progress is inevitable. Moreover, it will definitely grow exponentially" Andrey Abramov said.

 

 

At the start of the lecture Andrey Abramov told about the University where he works – the students got acquainted with the history of University College London (UCL) and its leading developments. In recent years, this University is one of the top 10 universities in the world. According to the QS World University Ranking UCL ranked seventh in 2017. Andrey Abramov works in the Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology.

"We do many things – from the study of convulsions and epilepsy to Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and many other neurodegenerative diseases", Andrey Abramov commented.

Parkinson's disease has been discovered for a long time – it is known for more than 200 years. Scientists have found that it is caused by the loss of dopamine secreting neurons in the black substance of the brain. However, the question of disease occurring is completely incomprehensible. In the 1980s the toxic form of the disease was determined. Scientists have found that if you feed the animals with pesticides, namely rotenone, they have almost a 100% chance of having Parkinson's disease.

 

 

Over the past 10-15 years, scientists have come to a relative understanding of the causes of Parkinson's disease – 5 guaranteed genes that cause this disease were found. Their presence often depends on the ethnic group or family history.

"One of the main problems associated with any neurodegenerative disease is that the patient coming to the doctor is sick for at least 5 years. Part of the brain just doesn't exist anymore, we can't treat it. This also applies to Alzheimer's disease, when the "hard drive" of our brain – the hippocampus – is damaged. Therefore, we need to learn how to identify these diseases in the early stages," – Andrey Abramov said.

Part of the lecture was devoted to the demonstration of various solutions that will allow to determine neurodegenerative diseases in the early stages. The creation of facilities and methods of analysis required a lot of scientific resources. However, at the moment, there is no technology that could provide mass screening of the population for these diseases.

 

However, the research continues - both the state and private investors are interested in curing people from neurodegenerative diseases. For example, Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google, is actively investing in finding the causes of Parkinson's disease.

"Personally, I think the prospects are not quite rosy, but "with gaps". If we talk about Parkinson's disease, the progress is obvious – over the past 15 years, a large number of genes have been identified, with the help of which we can redirect people with a high probability of getting sick into the risk zone. [ ... ] There are already a large number of certain directions of clinical trials. Moreover, drugs that minimize the risks of diseases are being prepared for production. In other words, there is high hope. But we can’t say yet that everything will work perfectly tomorrow," –Andrey Abramov sums up.

 

 

The lecture was attended by many students – as a part of the educational program master’s students get a course on modern achievements of Biophotonics. This lecture fits perfectly into this outline. It should be noted that a significant part of the students were from the Medical Institute. They were specially invited because the topic of the lecture is the frontier of physiology and medicine. Employees of Research and Development Center of Biomedical Photonics tried to get this message to the Medical Institute. So, despite the past exams and beginning of summer medical practice, more than 10 people attended the lecture.

Also, within the framework of this meeting, plans for joint work, writing mini-projects, and possible internships of the Center's employees in the laboratories of University College London were discussed.

It is expected that the next major lecture will be held in September – Kirill Larin from the University of Houston will visit Orel State University, he is a leading specialist in the field of biomedical engineering and Biophotonics.