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ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4878-0301

 

PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

Date of birth: 6 August 1985

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Nationality: Russian, Danish (dual citizen)

Residency: Denmark, USA

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E-mail: kiraas@kemi.dtu.dk

Web: http://ias982.wixsite.com/kiraastakhova/about1-c1tj6; http://www.kemi.dtu.dk/english/Research/Organic-Inorganic-Chemistry/Kemisk_Biologi/KiraAstakhova/Profile

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CURRENT POSITION

2017– pres.       Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark

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Present research: organic chemistry, fluorescence, nucleic acid chemistry and biology

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INNOVATION ACTIVITIES

2006 – pres.      Working on independent, highly interdisciplinary research projects which actively integrate life sciences, organic chemistry, technology and clinical work.

2008–pres.        Submitted 5 patent applications on highly interdisciplinary innovations; participated in technological development projects in Russia, Denmark and USA.

 

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MANAGERIAL AND LEADING EXPERIENCE IN-BRIEF

2008–pres.        Established and led research teams in industry and academia (up to 20 group members); organized scientific meetings, seminars and educational courses in Russia, Denmark and USA. Attracted and managed 9 research grants.

2004–pres.        Mentoring and supervising more than 100 young researchers in Denmark, Russia and USA.

 

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EDUCATION

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June 2019  Biology of cancer (J Hopkins Institute, studies on coursera)

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Sept–Nov 2017 Infectious diseases (5 ECTS, Stanford University, USA)

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March 2017 -    Data Structures (University of California San Diego, by Coursera)

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Feb 2017 -        Strategical management (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark)

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Jun–Jul 2015    Data Analysis and Statistical Inference course (Duke University, USA; studied on-line)

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Jan–May 2015  Project Management course (University of California Irvine, USA; studied on-line)

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2013–2014       Lecturer Training Programme (University of Southern Denmark (SDU))

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2006–2009       Ph. D. (bioorganic chemistry) – “Modified nucleosides containing perylene or (phenylethynyl)pyrenes in the 2'-position: synthesis and spectral properties within fluorescent oligonucleotide probes”. Defended 22.4.2009 at the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCH RAS), Moscow, Russia; supervisor: Prof. Vladimir Korshun

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2006–2008        Work on PhD project under The Sixth Framework Program Marie Curie Host Fellowship for Early Stage Research Training, Nucleic Acid Center, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

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2001–2006       M. Sc. Degree (Chemistry) – “Phenylethynylpyrene-2′-arabino-uridine carbamates as novel fluorescent labels for DNA”. Defended 2.02.2006 at IBCH RAS and Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; supervisor: Prof. Vladimir Korshun

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PREVIOUS POSITIONS AND INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY

2012–2017       Associate Professor, Nucleic Acid Center (NAC), Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

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2013–2014       Visiting Scholar: Division of Oncology, Ji lab; Shriram Imaging Center, School of Engineering and School of Medicine, Stanford University (SU), USA

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2012–2013        Visiting Professor: Luc Jaeger Lab, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

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2009–2012        Postdoctoral Fellow: Jesper Wengel group, NAC SDU, Denmark

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2008–2009        (Industrial and clinical work) Researcher: Oligonucleotide development group (April 2008 – September 2008), Serology diagnostics group of the Laboratory of Postgenomic Technologies (September 2008 – April 2009), Center for Molecular Diagnostics and Central Institute of Epidemiology, Moscow, Russia

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2003–2008        Research Fellow: Nucleic Acid Chemistry Lab, IBCH RAS, Moscow, Russia

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2001–2003        Research Fellow: Laboratory of Fine Organic Synthesis, N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

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SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

Currently I supervise 2 PhD students, 2 Postdoctoral fellows, 2 Msc students, 4 BSc students, and partially supervise 2 MD students at Stanford University, USA

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TEACHING ACTIVITIES

2010-2017        class teaching, 3rd semester Organic Chemistry course, SDU, Denmark; 1st semester Chemistry course, SDU, Denmark; Responsible Professor at the 3rd semester Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course, SDU, Denmark; 3rd semester Analytical Spectroscopy course, SDU, Denmark; establishing and teaching a new course at SDU entitled “Nucleic Acids in Medicinal Chemistry and Nanobiotechnology”.

 

Currently: Responsible Professor for biomolecular chemistry (DTU26422), DTU, organic and inorganic synthesis (DTU26002/26474).

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DANISH NATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

Scientific collaborations in Denmark: Prof. Dr. J. Kjems, Molecular imaging studies, DNA origami, iNANO Center, University of Aarhus; Prof. M.D. A. Voss, Clinical diagnostics, Odense University Hospital; Prof. Dr. F.C. Nielsen, Cancer research, University of Copenhagen; Dr. Victoria Birkedal, Fluorescence microscopy, University of Aarhus; Prof. Dr. Jacob Kongsted, Computational chemistry, University of Southern Denmark.

 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Major scientific collaborators: Prof. A. Cuenda, Bioimaging, National Biotechnology Center, Madrid, Spain; Prof. MD Hanlee Ji, Dr. Peter Griffin and Prof. MD Elizabeth Mellins, Immunology and Cancer research, Stanford School of Medicine and Genome Technology Center, Stanford University, USA; Dr. Kevin Morris, Gene therapy, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, CA, USA. International industrial collaborations: Lumiprobe (Russia, Germany, USA), Promega (USA), Synthesis and application of novel fluorescent dyes and probes for biorthogonal research and technology.

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Funding ID

On-going Grants

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Novel tools for highly efficient detection of nucleic acids - Going beyond amplification

 

Villum Foundation, Denmark

940.000 euro

Jan.16-Dec.20

Leadership, management,

supervision

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Transcriptional control, target modification, and excision of HIV in the brain

National Institutes of Health, USA

350.000 euro

Jun.15-Dec. 2016

Co-PI, leader of a work package, management, supervision

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Rational design of optical probes for sensing in cellular membranes

Danish Agency for Independent Research

900.000 euro

Jan.17-Dec.20

Co-PI, leader of a work package, management, supervision

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New therapeutic for autoimmune kidney disease: Multimodal nanoconjugate

DTU Proof of concept

70.000 euro

Jan.18-Dec.20

Leadership, management, supervision

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Amplification-free detection of EBOLA virus using novel fluorescent probes

Augustinus Foundation, Denmark

14.000 euro

Nov15-Dec. 2016

Leadership, management, supervision

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Prizes and Awards

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  1. Capes prize, 2019

  2. Jorcks Prize, 2018

  3. Carlsberg Elite PostDoc fellowship, 2013

  4. Talent prize received from Lundbeck Foundation, Denmark, 2012

  5. Elite Research Grant, The Danish Council for Independent Research, 2012

  6. Marie Curie Young Stage Training Fellowship, 2006

 

Organization of scientific meetings

2015-2017        Organizer of a monthly scientific seminar series at SDU (10-30 participants)

2009- 2018       Organizer of >20 Danish National and International Scientific Seminars in Russia, Denmark and USA, 15-50 participants

 

Work with innovation

I actively transfer my research findings into business. Herein, my key focus lies on the interface of organic chemistry, optical detection methods, biotechnology and biomedicine.

To date, I am a funder and co-funder of two companies, in Denmark (IBIOTECH ApS), and USA (KKM Therapeutics; established in Feb. 2018). I have a strong IP and more patent applications to be filed in the nearest future.

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Patents

-Rationally designed 2'-(O-1,2,3-triazoyl)-methoxy oligonucleotide probes for fluoresence-based bioanalysis, PCT/EP2015/064999 (2014)

-Novel artificial phospholipid-protein bioconjugates for biomolecular recognition, PCT/DK2015/050346 (2015)

-"Clickable" alkyne-LNA oligonucleotides, PCT/EP2014/052694 (2014)

- New Therapeutics for Autoimmune Kidney Disease: Synthetic antigens, P2395EP00 (2018)

- Ultra fast diagnostics of nucleic acids by FLEET microfluidic chip (to be filed in Sept 2019)

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