The next scientific seminar was held at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of MSE AR. In addition to the staff of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies, the seminar was also attended by Professor Aziz Eftekhari from Ege University, PhD Gulnar Abdullayeva, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, Gulmira Alibeyova, a PhD student at Gazi University in Turkiye, and Aytaj Murshudova, a PhD student at the University of Montpellier in France.

Speaking on the topic “Mitochondrial Quality Control via mtUPR in Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases,” Edgar Shahbazov is a graduate of the international dual degree program in Biotechnology jointly implemented by Baku State University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) within the framework of the “State Program on Enhancing the International Competitiveness of the Higher Education System in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2019–2023.” He conducted his research on the topic of his master’s thesis at the Bioadaptation Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan under the supervision of Academician Irada Huseynova. During the defense of his master’s thesis, the young researcher, who was the only one to score 100 points this year, applied to leading universities around the world for doctoral studies and was admitted to the PhD program in Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the prestigious University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

At the seminar, Edgar Shahbazov emphasized that maintaining mitochondrial balance is of particular importance during aging and, especially, in neurodegenerative diseases. In neurodegenerative pathologies, protein-induced mitochondrial stress triggers other destructive mechanisms; therefore, the body restores normal function at the genetic level (through epigenetic regulation) via a stress response mechanism known as mtUPR. The speaker emphasized that mtUPR is currently being extensively studied as a mechanism that holds great promise in various scientific research centers around the world.

The presentation was met with great interest by the seminar participants, and an extensive discussion took place around the topic. E. Shahbazov answered the questions in detail and expressed his gratitude to the participants.