On February 16, 2024, the preliminary discussion of the dissertation submitted by Elshan Mammadov, PhD student of IMBB was held to receive a PhD degree in Biology in the specialty of molecular biology 2415.01 on the topic "Study of polymorphism in the population of Azerbaijan with STR markers". The dissertation work was performed in the Population Genomics Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Molecular Genetics Laboratory of the Department of Forensic Biology of the Public Legal Entity "Association of Forensic-Medical Expertise and Pathological Anatomy" of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan. E. Mammadov presented the main provisions of the dissertation and gave detailed information about the relevance, purpose, content and results of the work. For the first time, 15 autosomal STR markers of 765 people of the Azerbaijani population covering all regions were comprehensively studied and population-genetic and forensic parameters were determined, it was recommended to use these parameters, which have high enough indicators, for practical purposes. The blood group polymorphism indicators were studied in the population sample, and the results of examinations carried out by serological methods were verified by conducting genetic studies revealing that genetic methods are more accurate and reliable as a whole.

Extensive discussions were held around the dissertation. The PhD student answered the questions of the opponents and members of the Scientific Council and expressed his attitude to the suggestions. At the end of the meeting, a decision was made to let the dissertation work to the next stage of defense.