I grew up in Atyrau, Kazakhstan, and later moved to Istanbul for my undergraduate studies in molecular biology and bioinformatics. During my time in Istanbul, I have fond memories of exploring the library at Barbaros Boulevard, where I was fortunate to discover The Serengeti Rules by Sean B. Carroll, a book recommended by my academic advisor. This book sparked my fascination with evolvability and adaptation, setting the stage for my future studies.

I went on to become a student in the MEME program (Erasmus Mundus Master’s in Evolution), conducting research at LMU Munich, the University of Montpellier, and Harvard University. At LMU, I worked on coral regeneration using single-cell transcriptomics. My first master’s thesis, completed in collaboration with the Lemaire and Robinson-Rechavi groups, focused on using machine learning to detect positive selection on developmental enhancers in ascidians. At Harvard, I explored the connections between behavioral variability and chromatin in fruit flies.

Since October 2022, I have been pursuing my PhD in the Pallares Lab, where I study how environmental stresses influence the evolution of complex traits in Drosophila melanogaster. My work integrates genomic and phenotypic data to deepen our understanding of robustness and evolvability.