Alexey Olovnikov

{{Short description|Russian biologist (1936–2022)}}

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| name = Alexey Olovnikov

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| birth_name = Alexey Matveyevich Olovnikov

| birth_date = 10 October 1936

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| death_date = 6 December 2022

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| occupation = Biologist

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Alexey Matveyevich Olovnikov ({{langx|ru|Алексей Матвеевич Оловников}}; 10 October 1936 – 6 December 2022) was a Russian biologist. Among other things, in 1971, he was the first to recognize the problem of telomere shortening, to predict the existence of telomerase, and to suggest the telomere hypothesis of aging and the relationship of telomeres to cancer.{{Broken anchor|date=2025-05-23|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Telomere#Telomeres and cancer|reason= The anchor (Telomeres and cancer) has been deleted.|diff_id=525424090}}{{cite journal|last=Olovnikov |first=A.M. |date=1971 |title=Принцип маргинотомии в матричном синтезе полинуклеотидов |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293811225 |language=ru |trans-title=Principle of marginotomy in template synthesis of polynucleotides |journal=Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR |volume=201 |issue=6 |pages=1496–9 |doi= |pmc= |pmid=5158754}}{{cite journal|last=Olovnikov |first=A.M. |date=1973-09-14 |title=A theory of marginotomy: The incomplete copying of template margin in enzymic synthesis of polynucleotides and biological significance of the phenomenon |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0022519373901987 |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=181–190 |doi=10.1016/0022-5193(73)90198-7 |pmid=4754905|bibcode=1973JThBi..41..181O |url-access=subscription }}{{cite web|url=http://ec2-174-129-244-7.compute-1.amazonaws.com/19747021.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708015558/http://ec2-174-129-244-7.compute-1.amazonaws.com/19747021.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-08 |title=Alexey Matveevich Olovnikov |publisher=Hindawi Publishing Corporation |accessdate=2009-10-06 }}{{cite news|url=http://gazeta.ru/science/2009/10/05_a_3269774.shtml |script-title=ru:Открытие потеряло русский след |trans-title=The discovery lost its Russian trace |last=Borisov |first=Alexander |date=5 October 2009 |publisher=Gazeta.ru |language=Russian |accessdate=2009-10-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007231207/http://www.gazeta.ru/science/2009/10/05_a_3269774.shtml |archivedate=October 7, 2009 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.rian.ru/science/20091005/187595219.html|script-title=ru:Скулачев: Нобелевский комитет "забыл" дать премию российскому биологу|trans-title=Skulachev: The Nobel Committee "forgot" to give the prize to the Russian biology|date=5 October 2009|publisher=RIA Novosti|language=Russian|accessdate=2009-10-06| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20091008101324/http://www.rian.ru/science/20091005/187595219.html| archivedate= 8 October 2009 | url-status= live}}{{cite book|last=Calder|first=Nigel|title=Magic universe: the Oxford guide to modern science|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/magicuniverseoxf0000cald/page/424 424]|isbn=978-0-19-850792-5|url=https://archive.org/details/magicuniverseoxf0000cald|url-access=registration|quote=Olovnikov.}}

Olovnikov's theories were initially met with skepticism, but gained recognition in the late 20th century after the discovery of telomerase by Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work

Despite this discovery, he was not awarded a share of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded for the discovery of the enzyme and its biological significance.{{Cite web|last=Danielsson|first=Ola|date=2009|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 is awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for the discovery of "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/popular-medicineprize2009.pdf|access-date=|website=Nobel Prize}} In 2009 he was awarded Demidov Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences.{{cite journal|last1=Yegorov |first1=Yegor E. |last2=Zelenin |first2=A.V. |date=13 February 2011 |title=Racing for cell immortality, telomeres, telomerase, and the measure of health |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225221156 |journal=Russian Journal of Developmental Biology |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=53–56 |doi=10.1134/S1062360411010061 |pmc= |pmid=21442903|s2cid=30043400 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Olovnikova |first1=Natalia I. |last2=Olovnikov |first2=Ivan A. |last3=Kalmykova |first3=Alla I. |date=November 2023 |title="If I Were in Nature's Place, I Would Do It Like This..." Life and Hypotheses of Alexey Olovnikov |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38105190/ |journal=Biochemistry. Biokhimiia |volume=88 |issue=11 |pages=1683–1691 |doi=10.1134/S0006297923110019 |issn=1608-3040 |pmid=38105190|doi-access=free }}

Alexey Olovnikov realized that explaining aging solely at the organismal level was inadequate, seeing telomere shortening as a "marker" rather than the root cause of aging.{{Cite journal |last=Kalmykova |first=Alla |date=January 2023 |title=Telomere Checkpoint in Development and Aging |journal=International Journal of Molecular Sciences |language=en |volume=24 |issue=21 |pages=15979 |doi=10.3390/ijms242115979 |doi-access=free |pmid=37958962 |pmc=10647821 |issn=1422-0067}}{{Cite web |title=Library Index |url=https://olovnikov.com/library/libraryindex.php |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=olovnikov.com}}

Olovnikov predicted the presence of a specialized DNA polymerase that lengthens telomeres in stem cells.{{Cite journal |last=Kalmykova |first=Alla |date=January 2023 |title=Telomere Checkpoint in Development and Aging |journal=International Journal of Molecular Sciences |language=en |volume=24 |issue=21 |pages=15979 |doi=10.3390/ijms242115979 |doi-access=free |pmid=37958962 |pmc=10647821 |issn=1422-0067}}