Russian science prodigies never fail to amaze – www.labfairy.com

Russia as the country may not be contributing much to the global progress in biomedicine, but without doubt it gives birth to many bright scientists.

One of such rare gems is Maria Litovchenko, a student at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, scientist at the FRC Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, research associate at the Biogerontology Research Foundation and the organizer of the First Open Institute for Regenerative Medicine for Young Scientists. All that before turning 20!

When she is not working at the lab or sleeping, she is either programming or initiating the outreach programs to promote women in science. She is an avid advocate of aging research.

This week she is presenting at TEDMED Russia with a talk "Power to the Patient: From Personalized Medicine to Personalized Science".

Kudos, Maria!


Maria's Science Blog

From her About page:

   Since very early age I wanted to understand the complexity behind the aging phenomenon. Now aging research is my life. Aging research is a complex multidisciplinary field and I am dedicated to increasing my knowledge of the systems biology of aging, age-related diseases and the underlying and associated processes.

     I hope that we finally reached a point in human evolution, where we can regulate our longevity and significantly increase the healthy lifespan.

     I started my journey in aging from research in pediatric progerias and laminopathies, but hope to get into the applied regenerative medicine sometime soon.

     I firmly believe that before anyone can start lobbying for research in aging, one has to go through a classical training in biomedical sciences and get at least one graduate degree. Developing a roadmap for extending healthy lifespan requires the detailed understanding of the current state of many areas of knowledge and training in just one field is rarely sufficient for making the informed decisions. I would like to see many scientists working towards a single goal – the Apollo program for healthy life extension so that people could stay healthy and productive significantly longer than today.
    
    I started my career in Federal Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology as a junior scientist at the Bioinformatics and Medical Technology laboratory.  Also I am one of the most active member of First Open Institute for Regenerative Medicine for Young Scientists.