Born and educated in Ekaterinburg (Russia) I joined the University of Oxford (UK) in 2006 as a postdoc to study adaptation at the molecular level during species radiations on oceanic islands. I stayed in Oxford until 2013 gradually changing the focus of my research towards evolution of CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, and computational predictions of amino acid replacements that can change its kinetics. In 2013 I moved to the Spencer Whitney’s lab at the Australian National University with the aim to test in planta my computational predictions made in silico.

My research at the ANU is a part of the international collaborative project ‘Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency for sustainable increases in crop yield (RIPE)’ aimed to improve photosynthesis by changing the limitations experienced by various parts of C3 photosynthetic pathway.