Kondrashov, Alexey Simonovich

Alexey Kondrashov was born on April 11, 1957 in Moscow. His father is a well-known Soviet and Russian biophysicist, a historian of Soviet and Russian science - Simon Alevich Shnol . In the 60s of the XX century, the family moved to the scientific city of Pushchino , where Alexei studied first at secondary school No. 1 (1966-1970), and then at Pushchino Experimental High School No. 2 (1970-1973). In 1971 he received the first prize at the School Biological Olympiad (MSU) among eighth-graders, and in 1973, the first prize of the same Olympiad, but among tenth-graders. He shared it with Eugene Kunin ^{[1] [2]} .

From 1973 to 1978 he studied at the Department of Genetics, full-time department of the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University . In 1984 he defended his thesis of a candidate of biological sciences.

In the scientific community, he is known as the author of the so-called Kondrashov hypothesis ^[3] or the determined mutation hypothesis ^[4] . She explains the benefits of sexual reproduction ^{[5] by the} possibility of eliminating harmful mutations by compensating for a healthy copy of the same gene from another parent. In addition, Alexei Simonovich is known for his work on the problems of molecular biology, in particular, the evolution of proteins, he studies spontaneous mutations in Drosophila populations, and makes popular scientific articles and lectures ^{[6] [7]} .

As one of the world's leading scientists, Alexey Kondrashov collaborates with Russian science. So, in 2010, together with Moscow State University , he received a megagrant for comparing genomes of related species and genotypes of related individuals ^[8] , which is carried out in the laboratory of evolutionary genomics of the faculty of bioengineering and bioinformatics of Moscow State University ^[9] . In December 2012, this work was extended for another two years ^[10] .

In January 2014, he, together with a number of co-authors - employees of Moscow State University and IPPI RAS , published studies in the journal PLOS Genetics ^[11] for the first time establishing a connection between point mutations that cause seasonal flu and major genetic changes (reassortments), The result of which was the majority of the largest influenza epidemics of the 20th century, including swine . The results can be used to predict the nature of future pandemics ^[12] .

In 2011, A. Kondrashov participated in a meeting of the President of the Russian Federation with scientists - recipients of special grants of the Government of the Russian Federation for state support of scientific research ^[13] .

A. S. Kondrashov is the author of about 120 works published in leading scientific journals of the world ^[14] . As of the end of 2015, its Hirsch index was 40 ^[15] , and in 2019 - 45 ^[16] .

• The attitude to Orthodoxy was formulated by Alexei Kondrashov in the following words: I have great respect for the image of Christ, but I do not accept the Russian Orthodox Church and its religion ^[6] .
• Answering questions from readers of the Orthodox Internet portal Orthodoxy and the World , Alexei Kondrashov said that the Russian Orthodox Church violates the rights of homosexuals by supporting bans on gay pride parades . At the same time, the scientist agrees that the church has the right to declare their views on homosexuality, but there is no right to limit the civil rights of homosexuals:

“The expression of the views of the Russian Orthodox Church does not violate the rights of homosexuals, but the prohibitions of gay parades supported by the Russian Orthodox Church that put Moscow outside modern Europe violate it” ^[17] .

• Enikeeva Alfiya “Everyone will leave, but the equipment will remain”: megagrants in Russian // Internet publication “Science and Technologies of Russia - STRF.ru”, 08/12/11
• Video of lectures by A.S. Kondrashova on evolutionary biology for students of the faculty of bioengineering and bioinformatics of Moscow State University. Microevolution. May 2015