On November 2, the defense of the dissertation submitted by Ayten Aghayeva, a senior researcher of the international laboratory of Molecular biotechnology of IMBB for a Ph.D. degree in biology in the specialties 2415.01 - "Molecular biology" and 2422.01 - "Biotechnology (including bionanotechnologies)” was held at the scientific seminar under the one-time defense council ED 1.25. Dissertation work was performed at Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology. Academician Irada Huseynova and Professor Vidadi Yusibov, Head of the Institute's international laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology, and research director of the Indiana Biosciences Institute are the scientific supervisors of the dissertation work.

Ilham Shahmuradov, chairman of the one-time council -a correspondent member of ANAS, opened the meeting and said that 17 out of 18 members of the dissertation council were present. The scientific secretary of the Dissertation Council, Ph.D. in biology, associate professor Ulduza Gurbanova informed the members of the council about the applicant’s personnel file, and then the floor was given to A. Agayeva. The applicant gave detailed information about the topic's relevance, the goal of the dissertation work, the scientific novelty of the work, and the results obtained. Ayten Aghayeva said that the main purpose of the research work was the discovery and identification of bacterial strains that synthesize new antibacterial compounds from the oil-contaminated soil of Azerbaijan, as well as the study of some properties of these biomolecules. She noted that unconventional and understudied soils, such as oil-contaminated soils, can be a favorable source for bacteria that synthesize antimicrobial compounds. The results of scientific studies obtained in the presented work can be used for the successful discovery of new antimicrobial compounds and their dereplication in the future.

Official opponents - Professor Kurbon Aliyev, Correspondent Member of the NAS of Tajikistan, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor Viktoriya Tsygankova, and Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Adil Allahverdiyev read their opinions on the dissertation work, noting that the research work is complete and has scientific innovation. They concluded that the dissertation fully met the requirements of the Higher Attestation Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for doctoral dissertations and that the applicant deserves the Ph.D. degree in biology in the fields of "Molecular biology", "Biotechnology" (including bionanotechnologies).

Novruz Guliyev, the correspondent member of ANAS, doctors of sciences - Ahad Nabiyev, Ziyaddin Mammadov, Safter Suleymanov, Vafa Gasimova, and others, who participated in the discussions, highly appreciated the dissertation work and said that it was research that meets the challenges of the modern era, relevant, had scientific innovation and of scientific and practical importance.

Then, there was a wide exchange of ideas about the dissertation. Suggestions and recommendations were made. The applicant answered the questions of the council members and expressed her attitude toward the recommendations and comments of the opponents.

After hearing the applicant’s final words, a secret electronic vote was held. According to the results of the secret voting, it was decided to apply to the Supreme Attestation Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to award the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology to Ayten Aghayeva.

In the end, academician Akif Alizadeh, professor Ahad Nabiyev, professor Rovshan Khalilov, professor Adil Allahverdiyev, and others toured the classrooms of the institute and got acquainted with the teaching process. The general director of the institute, Academician Irada Huseynova, gave detailed information to the guests about the material and technical base of the institute and the research conducted in the laboratories.