Elena Loiko

I started my scientific career in 1991, by joining the Biophysics Department of the Belarusian State University (Minsk, Belarus). In 1994, I graduated from the university (diploma summa cum laude). For the following 10 years, I was involved with research of platelet aggregation and disaggregation mechanisms, signal transduction pathways, platelet structure, and function under physiological and pathological conditions. I received a Ph.D. degree in Biology (Thesis title: “Mechanisms of aggregation and antiaggregation action of hydrogen peroxide on platelets”) in 2004. After this, I was involved with the management of biological research and its applications at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. From August 2015 until May 2016, I worked as an Associate in Research at Duke University (Social Science Research Institute (SSRI)), performing research with large-scale datasets containing different phenotypic and genetic information (WHI, CARDIA, ARIC, FHS, and others). I have been performing biological analyses and complementing them with bioinformatic analyses using commercial tools such as IPA and MetaCore. By analyzing the results of statistical analyses, I examined signaling and metabolic pathways, biological functions, and potential action mechanisms of genetic markers (SNPs and genes) on investigated phenotypes (diseases and related conditions) in humans. Since November 2019, I have been working as a Research Associate in the SSRI at Duke University. I am performing research by examining connections between genetic factors and phenotypes of aging, health decline, and lifespan using longitudinal and cross-sectional data from large-scale studies.