Director of the State Corporation for Advanced Programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko did not rule out that in the future, gene and cell technologies, medical effects on individual organs will be used
MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Roscosmos plans this year to study the question of how to change the human body at the level of genetic engineering and cellular technologies for flights to deep space. This was reported to TASS by the Executive Director of Roscosmos for Advanced programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko.
"In the future, for flights to deep space, it will be necessary to use gene and cell technologies, medical effects on individual organs. Roscosmos plans to open research works in 2021, where this issue will be considered, " said Bloshenko, adding that the state corporation is going to involve the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, medical institutions of the Ministry of Health, the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"We want to open the first work this year to understand in which direction we need to focus, then we will do intersectoral cooperation, communicate with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Science, so that they set this task in their tasks, grants, programs," Bloshenko explained. He stressed that Roscosmos is ready to take the results of the research for implementation. Now such studies are conducted by separate teams in some universities.
Bloshenko said that in deep space, the human body is affected by an aggressive environment, including radiation, which negatively affects the nervous system, brain and bone marrow. As a result of the work, it is planned to create medicines that will help the body cope with these factors. The development of such drugs, the specialist added, is a long process due to the high requirements for safety and preclinical testing.
"There are already developments on temporary changes in the properties of rodent organisms: they are injected with a drug, after which the body has "superpowers" for some time, " said the executive director of Roscosmos.
In May last year, Bloshenko said in an interview with TASS that the organisms of astronauts for future expeditions to deep space are planned to be supported by genetic engineering methods in order to better adapt humans to the aggressive factors of space.