Chipping and science: how many billions are Russian scientists short of

Novye Izvestia spoke with those who know about these plans firsthand.

Yelena Ivanova, Natalia Seibil

At a time when the entire public is discussing that the chip will be embedded in the head, we live in a slightly different reality, says Denis Kuleshov, director of the Sensortech laboratory. Together with the Foundation for the Support of the Deaf-Blind "Connection", his laboratory is developing a neuroimplant that will help completely blind people. It will help connect the camera to the brain so that blind people can see the outlines and silhouettes of objects, in other words, the new technique will return part of the vision to the blind. There are not so few such people. Every month, letters come to the laboratory in which people ask to restore their eyesight. Now scientists and engineers are conducting experiments on animals, but in 3-4 years they expect to move on to human trials. The Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has been involved in research for 4 years already. The work is slow because there is very little money and research is expensive. Scientists and engineers work in two directions. Pavel Balaban, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Chief Researcher of the Institute, says:

- For those who have cut the optic nerve, the development of an electronic matrix has begun, that is, this is a film with metal conductive circles with diameters of less than a millimeter, which is placed on the visual area of the cerebral cortex, and signals are transmitted there that are directly related to the fact that a person sees. This is the responsibility of Sensortech.

If the patients have preserved the optic nerve, and its cells remain, specially created constructs are introduced there, which produce a light-sensitive protein in the cells of the eye, which normally do not react to light. This so-called optogenetic program is one of the most promising areas of human biology.

Technologies associated with various implantations, including those in the brain, have been used in medicine for a long time, says a senior researcher at the N.N. NN Burdenko, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, President of the Russian Association for Neuromodulation Emil Isagulyan.

- Almost every working day, we implant devices in the human brain that allow us to treat various diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, severe forms of muscular dystonia in cases where these diseases are not controlled by medication or medications that are used to treat the disease cause serious side effects effects that make their use impossible, says the neurosurgeon.

Nevertheless, not only the patients themselves, but also the doctors do not know about such progress, Emil Isagulyan admits. Many doctors do not know who an algologist is, although in the world the fight against chronic pain syndromes comes to the fore. What can we say that a person can be helped with the help of neurostimulants that block pain impulses and help control severe pain when analgesics or even heavy psychotropic drugs are powerless.

For doctors, new research and the creation of their own devices, rather than purchasing them in the West, is an opportunity to help sick people.

But besides the applied part, there is also a fundamental and IT application. Actually, this is how the program that everyone is talking about is being built. Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chief Researcher of the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Academy of Sciences Pavel Balaban is one of those who took part in its development. The program itself is the brainchild of Moscow University and the Great Academy of Sciences. It was thought for a long time, but in January 2019, the rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichy, and the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, turned to President Putin as chairman of the University's Board of Trustees.

- And he said: yes, prepare the papers. The papers in the same 2019 were almost ready, Golikova was then in charge of the Academy. In 2020, they were finalized according to the rules of the Ministry of Education. In March 2021, after 5-7 alterations in the form of the Ministry of Obra, they were handed over to the government and even included in the 2022 budget, '' says the scientist.

It seems that everything was signed by Prime Minister Mishustin, he also gave the Minister of Education Falkov to develop an implementation plan, and the amounts were agreed - 6 billion for 9 years. But now everything is frozen again.

The program included three sections, but the emphasis is on basic research, classical neurophysiology. We are talking about the study of cognitive processes, human consciousness, the most complex processes in the brain - memory and perception. Scientists are looking for answers to the questions of how the brain was formed and how it works.

The second section is devoted to clinical neurophysiology, where the main players are the Institute of Neurosurgery and the Institute of Neurology, since these are the leading research centers in this area.

The third part is IT-applied.

- Besides developing new foundations for artificial intelligence, because what is now called artificial intelligence has nothing to do with the work of the brain, except for the principle of changing the efficiency of the synapse depending on the use, which they took, but this is the principle of the 80s. They do not use the rest of the principles discovered by neurophysiologists, and this was the idea - on the basis of modern knowledge, to try, together with mathematicians who participate in the program, to develop a new artificial intelligence, neuromorphic, explains Pavel Balaban.

At the junction of all three areas, the development of devices can be developed that can help the deaf, blind, paralyzed, with Parkinson's disease, using a brain-computer interface, or a brain-computer, when a paralyzed person can control devices or, for example, type on a screen with an effort of thought...

The 54 billion rubles promised for this program by the president is an order of magnitude less than the amount that would be required for brain research. The US Comparable Program is expected to provide funding of $ 4.5 billion. Scientists joke bitterly that we always have ridiculous budgets for science. Through the Russian Science Foundation, 24 billion rubles are allocated to finance all science. Compared to the Russian Science Foundation, 6 billion seems more than a decent amount.

"There is no mechanism for the implementation of this money. How can they be used? Through funds, through something else? Or it can be as usual - half will be taken for monitoring in order to monitor our projects, and the rest will be given to whoever they want. Spending billions on monitoring our projects is out of the question! Economically, this is absurd. Even if the money goes to the wrong place, it is more economically profitable to just give it to science than to give billions for monitoring. Better than nothing, but if we want a big shift for a big country, we need 60 billion a year. This is a minimum, a minimum", - says Pavel Balaban.

To open up new directions, it is necessary to update the equipment. Nothing can be done without new equipment. We have personnel and talented young people, says Corresponding Member Balaban, but in any direction millions of dollars are needed to purchase devices. We have two-photon microscopes, which are two or three in every supernumerary American university, in pieces all over Russia. If there was money, Russian scientists and markets could come out with their own products, and young people would not leave. What we don't have in our country is economic thought.

"There is a section of the program "Science". And the problem of brain research is additionally included, but it is not clear where to get funding. The Ministry of Education, apparently, does not want to give money to the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Health, and these are clearly academic fundamental programs. The Minister of Science wants to donate money to universities. The idea of universities is completely disastrous for Russia. There have never been world-class experimental laboratories there, except for the leading two universities. Trained and trained. Under the program 5-100 billions were given to universities for equipment and science. They came up with an indicator of efficiency - the number of publications, which really increased, but mainly due to "garbage" publications and enrollment in the staff of the Academy of Sciences. Money is spent, but not targeted at the development of science".

The genetics program is well supported in Russia and is funded separately. But geneticists don't study the brain. Meanwhile, in neurons, the genetic program works differently. Russian scientists have come close to neurogenetics and have learned to understand how it is possible to compensate for the pathological conditions of patients using the resources of the brain. But here, too, large financial investments are needed. Nothing new can be done without them.

"We cannot do anything new. We need a new program, serious funding. Not 10-20 million rubles, but 10-20 million dollars. And that kind of money is not allocated to us".

And what about the chipping, which the population is so afraid of? Denis Kuleshov is absolutely calm about the inviolability of the brain of each of us:

"People who have been paralyzed for years, endure pain, of course, know why such developments are needed. They know that electrodes in the brain can stimulate the centers responsible for these pains, relieving them. And ordinary people, of course, do not imagine the need for such research".

Now there is no research that would suggest that everyone should install a chip. This does not exist either in Russia or abroad. In the next 10-15 years, mass chipping will not threaten anyone.

Such systems require special certification, which takes many years in each country. Accidentally, no one can get anything for themselves. It is also impossible to use these technologies to the detriment. All countries are in control. This is a very serious intervention, which is carried out for very serious indications. Well, in the future, who knows? It seems to me that a person will learn to work better with the brain, understand the needs of the brain, and provide more opportunities for rehabilitation.

In many countries, scientists are joining forces to conduct complex research. This, in turn, gives hope that more and more companies will appear both in Russia and in the world that will be able to provide such complex operations. This means that more and more sick people will be able to provide the necessary assistance.