I grew up in Kazakhstan and later moved to the beautiful city of Istanbul for my undergraduate training in molecular biology and bioinformatics. Later, I defended two master’s projects while being a student of the double-degree program in evolution (MEME).  Within the framework of this program, I completed 3 semesters of research at LMU Munich, the University of Montpellier, and Harvard. At LMU, I worked with Sergio Vargas, studying the regeneration of corals using single-cell transcriptomics. After that, I defended my first thesis project in a collaboration between Lemaire and Robinson-Rechavi groups. During that project, I used a machine learning algorithm (gkm-SVM) to analyze signatures of positive selection on developmental enhancers in ascidians. At Harvard, I worked in Ben de Bivort‘s lab and investigated connections between fruit fly behavioral variability and chromatin variability. Since October 2022, I’m a PhD student in the Pallares Lab.