Does the secret to living longer lay deep in the far-reaching areas of Siberia? A Russian scientist seems to think so – and he’s not afraid to find out.

Anatoli Brouchkov, the head of the Geocryology department at Moscow State University, has admitted to injecting himself with a 3.5-million-year-old bacteria to see if it has any effect on him.

Brouchkov told The Siberian Times that since injecting himself with the Bacillus F bacteria, his health and energy have prospered.

“I started to work longer, I’ve never had a flu for the last two years. After successful experiments on mice and fruit flies, I thought it would be interesting to try the inactivated bacterial culture,” he said.

As the permafrost thaws, the bacteria “get into the environment, into the water,” Brouchkov told The Siberian Times.

“The local population, the Yakut people … are getting these cells with water, and even seem to live longer than some other nations. So there was no danger for me,” he said.

Found in 2009, in the permafrost of the Sakha Republic of Siberia, the bacteria reportedly has allowed older female mice to reproduce and has stimulated the growth of crops in Siberia.