Dr. Leila Aminova specializes in the genetics—molecular biology, enzymology, and protein engineering of genes—important in carbohydrate synthesis and modification. Prior to joining the Midwest Bioprocessing Center, Dr. Aminova worked at zuChem since 2010 developing methods for the large-scale production of activated sugars and oligosaccharides. Dr. Aminova received her MSc in Genetics from Kazan State University (Russia) and her PhD in Microbiology from the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushchino, Russia, 1998) on the Biochemistry and Physiology of Mutants of Methylotrophic Yeasts. Her postdoctoral work in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was related to the effect of bacterial toxins on the cell cycle and cellular pathway on different cell lines. From 2001-2004, Dr. Aminova worked at the Harvard Medical School in the Department of Neuroscience of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In 2004, she returned to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the study of bacterial toxins on cell differentiation and cellular pathways.
