Yulia Gerasimova

Biography

EDUCATION 2009 PhD, Bioorganic Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia. Advisor: Tatyana S. Godovikova. Dissertation: “Interaction of Native and Chemically Modified Human Serum Albumin with Oligo- and Polyribonucleotides”. 1998 BS, Chemistry, Novosibirsk State University, Russia. Advisors: Tatyana S. Godovikova, Vladimir N. Silnikov Honors Thesis: “Synthesis of Imidazole Derivatives of oligonucleotides that mimic the action of RNase A”. POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING 2010-2015 Chemistry Department, University of Central Florida, Orlando FL, USA. Application of DNA nanotechnology and smart sensors for disease diagnosis and molecular computing. AWARDS 2014 American Fellowship from American Association of University Women AAUW ($34,000 annual stipend). 2008 Young Scientists Fellowship from Russian Foundation for Basic Research ($2,000). The grant supported my 2-months training in Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. 2007 Travel Grant from Russian Foundation of Basic Research ($1500) to participate in 15th Conversation, Albany, NY, USA 2001 Young Scientists’ Support Grant from Russian Foundation for Basic Research ($1000). The grant supported my PhD research for a year. 2001 Travel Grant from the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) ($800) to participate in FEBS Young Scientists Forum “Structure-Function, Trafficking and Signalling”, Oieras, Portugal. 1997 Undergraduate scholarship from SibEnzyme Ltd. for the best performance in Biochemistry class 1996 Undergraduate Voevodsky Prize and Scholarship from the Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the best performance in Physical Chemistry class .

Research Interest

Dr. Gerasimova’s research focuses on deoxyribozymes (Dz) – DNA molecules with catalytic properties. Her lab is interested in isolating new catalytic DNA molecules, and applying both new and existing Dz for “green” chemistry and bioanalysis, including pathogen detection. For example, they use Dz with a peroxidase activity for sensing nucleic acids of pathogenic viruses and bacteria. In this approach, a targeted nucleic acid fragment is recognized by two sensor strands, which together fold into a G-quadruplex (G4) structure. The G4-hemin complex catalyzes oxidation of an organic indicator by H2O2 (see figure). These sensors rely on color change as a readout, and, therefore, do not require sophisticated instrumentation and are suitable for “on-site” implementation.