The Evolution of an Evolutionist

By Brittani Sonnenberg

Alexey Kondrashov grew up hearing science discussed across the dinner table. Both of his parents are biochemists, and his father, at 78, still teaches. "He promised to quit when he saw the first grandchild of a former student," Kondrashov said. "But that happened this year, and he's still going."

Kondrashov, who grew up in Central Russia, studied genetics as an undergraduate at a time when the department was less than ten years old. "For entirely irrational reasons the Bolsheviks thought genetics should be eradicated," Kondrashov said. "When I began university, genetics was in the process of recovery."

As a student Kondrashov attended over 35 hours of classroom instruction a week, something that he believes separates him from college students today. While he is impressed by the caliber of students at Michigan, he believes that high tuition and an emphasis on good grades are poisonous for higher education. "This makes the students consumers, and the consumer is always right," he said.

Unlike his mother, who has been studying mitochondria since the 1960s, and continues to be passionate about her work, Kondrashov's intellect demands new subjects and horizons. He has "changed skins" several times as a scientist, from a population geneticist to working with bioinformatics, although his thinking, he said, remains fundamentally evolutionist. He finds himself at a crossroads now, unsure of whether to remain devoted to bioinformatics or to again reinvent himself, perhaps moving into the study of phenotypes.

Over the past ten years, Kondrashov said, he has watched evolutionary bioinformatics transition from a fledgling field to a crowded subject area. He marveled at the speed of change in scientific inquiry: "[Not long ago] people were studying molecular biology and the genetic code, and now we study which protein kicks the butt of another protein and regulatory cascades … this is incredibly interesting."

As an evolutionary biology instructor, Kondrashov is a firm believer in challenging his students, although he never demands that they subscribe to the theory of evolution. "I always start my evolutionary classes by saying I don't give a damn what you believe, if you believe the earth is flat and Professor Kondrashov will burn in hell, that's okay, as long as you pass your exams," he said.

Despite the conservative Christian controversy surrounding evolution, the real mystery of life, according to Kondrashov, is not how apes evolved into humans, but how one cell can develop into a baby with eyes and emotions in 40 weeks. "We can't even ask proper questions about the evolution of this process, let alone answer them," he said.

Kondrashov would love to make a contribution to theoretical evolutionary biology. His proudest accomplishment so far has been a paper on Compensated Pathogenic Deviation, which is now in several textbooks. Intellectually, he said, he is very competitive, but he detests competition among scientists. "If five different groups are pursuing the problem, why should I be in the race?" he said. He adores the LSI for its emphasis on cooperation among faculty members and for how friendly everybody is.

Kondrashov has five children ("I can't remember a time I didn't have kids"), two of whom have become scientists. He is an avid gardener, although the deer population in Michigan has severely delimited his options: "Here all you can plant is spruce trees—that's the only thing the deer won't eat." Despite his eighteen years in the United States, he remains mystified about the heart of American culture, he said, no matter how many newspapers he reads.