Was born on April 14, 1958 in Sverdlovsk, Russia. In 1980 he graduated with honors from Ural State University (named after A.M. Gorky1), Biological Faculty.

In 1987 he defended a Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Ecology of Plants and Animals, Ural Affiliate of USSR Academy of Science.

Since 1980 he has been working at Sverdlovsk Teacher's Training Institute (now Ural State Teacher's Training University), Chair of Botany as an assistant teacher, a senior teacher and an assistant professor (1992 - now).

son - Andrey	wife - Oxana

Since 1973 Mr. Skulkin has been a member of Cereus cactus-club (Sverdlovsk). In 1985 - 87 he was a chairman of the club, a member of the Russian Amateur Cactus Society Council, curator of the Cactus Club Association of Ural and Siberia.

He facilitated establishing of a number of regional cactus clubs, contributed in the cactus show at the National Exhibition of Economy Achievements (Moscow) and national cactus conferences. He has delivered more than 100 lectures and presentations at numerous cactus clubs.

Since 1993 Mr. Skulkin has been supervising a greenhouse plant collection of the Ural University Botanic Garden. The collection currently has more than 600 species of succulents. He is the author of more than 40 scientific works in botany, including about 20 works on cactus morphology, biology and cultivation.

Walery Kalishev, Chelyabinsk, Russia, mailto: e-mail