Imagine a world where old age becomes just a disease. Even at the age of 60-70, a person’s heart, liver and kidneys remain absolutely young. President of Russia Vladimir Putin To convert this dream into reality, it has started a mega project worth 26 billion dollars, which is surprising the scientists and common people all over the world. Under this project, work is being done on many fronts simultaneously. Gene therapy, technology to grow human organs inside mini pigs, making organs through 3-D printing and an anti-aging vaccine that directly prevents the aging of our cells…
Putin’s ‘anti-aging’ mission: where $26 billion is being spent
The ‘Wall Street Journal’ has revealed in its report that Russia launched the ‘National Longevity Project’ in the year 2024-25, on which it plans to spend about $26 billion by 2030. This project has a direct connection with the Russian government and army. In fact, Russia’s population is aging rapidly and the population is declining. In such a situation, Putin wants that people not only live a long life, but also remain fit enough to work and work till old age. That is why full strength is being put simultaneously on modern technologies like gene editing, bioprinting and xenotransplantation (i.e. growing human organs in animals).
How will an anti-aging vaccine work?
According to the report of ‘The Moscow Times’, Russian scientists have developed an anti-aging vaccine that directly attacks the process of cellular aging. As we age, some cells in the body start accumulating ‘senescent cells’ i.e. old and damaged cells, which give rise to inflammation and diseases.
This Russian vaccine trains our immune system to recognize and destroy these old cells, just as the Corona vaccine taught us to recognize the virus. The testing of this vaccine is still in the initial stage, but scientists claim that it will not only reduce the speed of wrinkles and graying of hair, but can also slow down the aging of the internal organs of the body.
But how will human organs grow inside a pig?
This is the most surprising and controversial part of the entire project. The Russian government has played a big bet on ‘mini pigs’ i.e. small breed pigs. In this:
- First, in pig embryos, through gene editing techniques like CRISPR, the gene that is responsible for forming a particular organ, such as kidney or pancreas, is inactivated.
- After this, human stem cells are injected into the same embryo. Now, since the pig’s own genes cannot produce that organ, the fetus growing in the pig’s womb develops the same kidney or pancreas with the help of human cells.
- When that pig is born, there is an organ in its body that is completely made of human cells. To avoid the reaction, it is genetically modified to protect it from immune rejection.
- Later this organ can be removed and transplanted to a needy patient.
- Russia is preparing a special ‘clean room’ lab for this technology, where hundreds of such genetically modified pigs will be reared.
Apart from this, Russia is also emphasizing on 3-D bioprinting. In this, efforts are being made to print skin, bone and later even complex organs like liver with the help of printer using ‘bio-ink’ made from the patient’s own cells. The first focus is on preparing immediate skin for soldiers burnt in war or accident, but the ultimate aim is to prepare complete organs.
Will it really be possible to stop aging?
Experts are of the opinion that right now all this is limited to ‘slowing down aging’ and ‘avoiding organ failure’. Anti-aging vaccine is currently successful on rats. It may take at least 8-10 years to conduct large-scale trials on humans. The technology of growing human organs in pigs has also achieved limited success in Japan and America, but even there, preserving the organs for a long time and the risk of virus infection is a big challenge.
The ‘Wall Street Journal’ itself has written in its report that this entire project of Russia is very ambitious, but it has no less obstacles like political restrictions, lack of budget and ethical questions at the international level. Experts believe that even if everything goes according to plan, old age will not be completely eliminated, rather we will only be able to remain young and healthy for a longer period of time. That last stage of age will probably remain forever, because every cell of the body has its own biological clock, which is not possible to rewind completely.
The dream is big but the road is long
Russia’s anti-aging project is a dream that every person sees, but to make it a reality, science still has to climb many steps. Gene therapy, anti-aging vaccines and human organs grown in pigs can together make the last decades of our lives largely disease-free, but science is currently unable to completely stop aging. Nevertheless, the changes we will see in the next ten years may not have been seen before in the history of medicine.