From Tatarstan to Brixton (and back)Outside of Moscow, funding for research in the former Soviet Union has almost dried up. Collaborative grants can offer a vital lifeline to scientists struggling to maintain high-quality research programmes. |
Five hundred miles east of Moscow, deep in the heartlands of the Russian Federation, lies the Republic of Tatarstan. On the banks of the river Volga, the capital city of Kazan is home to Professor Airat Ziganshin and Professor Lilia Ziganshina, a husband-and-wife team of researchers funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Once a capital of the Golden Horde – the western Mongol empire that stretched from Hungary to Siberia – Kazan dates back to the 13th century. Today, its population of 1.1 million is made up almost equally of Tatars (a people most famous for its invading leader, Genghis Khan) and Russians. Established in 1804, Kazan State University is one of the oldest and most prestigious academic institutions in Russia, whose students included Vladimir Lenin (who was expelled from the University in 1887 for his extreme politics) and Leo Tolstoy.
"The university has always been strong in chemistry and in physiology," says Professor Ziganshin. "Our research in pharmacology takes from both these fields. We are looking at purinergic receptors – receptors on cells that respond to ATP and related molecules."
"There are two different classes of these receptors in the smooth muscle of blood vessels. One class makes the vessels contract and the other makes them dilate. They don’t appear to start or stop the response but they act as controllers. So we are looking for agonists and antagonists – compounds that activate the receptors or stop them working. Such compounds are likely to be very useful as drugs to treat blood pressure, as they could decrease high blood pressure or increase low blood pressure."
The link between Kazan and the UK began ten years ago. "I had just published a paper in a Russian journal of pharmacology," says Professor Ziganshin, "when I received a reprint request from Professor Geoffrey Burnstock at University College London – one of the top researchers in the field I work in. We began corresponding and then he helped to arrange a Trust fellowship so that I could come and work with him in London. After a year, Lilia came to join me, and we lived in Brixton and worked together in the lab. The research was very successful and we published several papers. We were very excited to publish a paper in the British Journal of Pharmacology – for us it is like publishing in Nature or Science."
After two years in London, they wanted to return to Kazan, and were awarded a Wellcome Trust grant to continue their research in Kazan and collaborate with Professor Burnstock (now at the Royal Free in London). "Without this grant it would be very difficult to get equipment or supplies, as there is almost no money for research in Kazan," says Professor Ziganshin. "What money there is goes to big institutions in Moscow."
Researchers in Kazan are not only hampered by a lack of money but by other commitments. Professor Ziganshin teaches 650 hours of lectures a year (UK lecturers teach up to about 140 hours a year, but most with active research projects teach many fewer hours) and, as well as her teaching and research, Professor Ziganshina works on public health policy. "Many drugs are prescribed not because they work but because they are cheap or the company making them has influence," she says. "So we are working on guidelines in pharmacology for doctors to use."
Despite Russia’s economic problems, they never had any doubts about returning. "Things are very hard in Russia at the moment," says Professor Ziganshina. It used to be that you would work and be able to save a little money; now, for teachers, lecturers and many others you earn just enough to live. They were great years in Brixton, but Kazan will always be our home and we always wanted to return."