Biography

After obtaining my PhD in Molecular Biology from Russian Academy of Science, I had a postdoctoral training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York under the supervision of Dr. David I. Goldman, a leading investigator in the area of methotrexate (MTX) resistance in leukemia. Following my interest in Nitric Oxide (NO) biology, I moved to UT-Health Science Center in Houston, to join the laboratory of Dr. Ferid Murad, a pioneer and leader in the NO field. Starting as Research Scientist, I progressed to the position of Assistant Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology of UT-HSC in Houston. Since 1999, my studies were primarily focused on the mechanisms that regulate sGC activity and function. I investigated the role of transcription in sGC regulation, structure-functional relationship and mechanisms of pharmacologic regulation of the sGC enzyme, identified new splice variant of sGC and established their role in oxidative stress and the development of sGC-related pathologies. Following the observation that some of the splice variants of sGC exhibit age-dependent expression, I became interested in the effect of ageing on sGC function. Recently, I joined a multidisciplinary project on the project studying the role of oral microbiome in regulation of NO/cGMP signaling pathway in human host. These studies yielded surprising and interesting results on mutual interdependence of the composition the tongue microbiome and resting systolic blood pressure in humans.

Education

Bachelor Degree: B. Sc., in Organic Chemistry
Master Degree: M.S. in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Doctoral Degree: Ph. D. in Molecular Biology