Alla Aleksandovna Kushch

KushAA

Alla Aleksandovna Kushch, born in1939, Russian; in 1962, she graduated from the Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences of the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov with distinction; in 1962–1965, she pursued postgraduate studies at the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. In 1966, she defended a candidate’s dissertation and was awarded the degree of the Candidate of Biological Sciences. In 1986, after defense of a doctoral dissertation, A.A. Kushch was awarded the degree of the Doctor of Biological Sciences. In 1991, she was awarded with the academic title of Professor in the field of Molecular Biology.

Upon completion of the post-graduate program, A.A. Kushch was employed at the Institute of Molecular Biology of RAS, where she worked till 1981. In 1981, she was assigned to the position of the Senior Researcher of the D.I. Ivanovsky Research Institute of Virology of RAMS; from 1986 to present time, she has been the Chief of the Cell Engineering Laboratory of the same Institute.

Main research interests: virology, molecular and cellular biology, biotechnology, immunology.

Currently, she is engaged in scientific studies of:

- analysis of antigenic and immunogenic properties of viral proteins;

- intracellular localization and conformation of antigenic determinants;

- generation of monoclonal antibodies and their use for study of the epitope structure of viral proteins and for development of diagnostic test systems;

- creation of anti-virus vaccines of a new generation on the base of recombinant proteins and DNA constructs;

- development of algorithms of laboratory diagnostics of viral infections for patients of various risk groups.

Membership in professional societies: a member of the Russian Society of Epidemiologists, Microbiologists and Virologists; a member of the European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV). Publications:

- Articles in the refereed journals — >200;

- Participation in Russian and international conferences and congresses - >90;

- Number of books: 4;

- Number of inventor’s certificates – 9;

- Number of patents – 6.

Personnel training: under supervision of A.A. Kushch, 29 candidate’s dissertations and 2 doctoral dissertations have been defended.