On March 11, a preliminary discussion of the PhD dissertation submitted by Lala Ahmad Akhundova, a researcher of the Population Genomics Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biology, was held at the institute. The dissertation, entitled “Molecular genetic study of hereditary predisposition to different forms of diabetes mellitus in Azerbaijan”, has been submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology in the specialty 2415.01 – Molecular Biology. The scientific supervisors of the dissertation are Academician Irada Huseynova and Nurmammad Mustafayev, PhD in Biology, Associate Professor. Official reviews of the work were provided by Valeh Mirzazade, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, and Leylaxanim Melikova, PhD in Biology.

Opening the meeting, Acting Director of the Institute, Academician Irada Huseynova, noted that since she is the scientific supervisor of the dissertation, the session would be chaired by Corresponding Member of ANAS Novruz Guliyev, whom she invited to conduct the discussion. The Scientific Secretary of the institute, Durna Aliyeva, PhD in Biology, Associate Professor, introduced the candidate’s biographical information to the participants of the meeting. Afterwards, the floor was given to Lala Akhundova.

The candidate presented the main provisions of the dissertation, providing detailed information about the relevance, objectives, and results of the research. Lala Akhundova noted that the main aim of the dissertation was a comprehensive investigation of hereditary predisposition to diabetes mellitus, particularly through the study of SNP polymorphisms of specific genes associated with type I and type II diabetes mellitus as well as with the general population. During the research, risk alleles, genotypes, genetic models, and possible genotype combinations were identified, their frequencies were calculated, and their association with the risk of diabetes development was evaluated at the population level using various approaches, including odds ratios, relative risk, p-values of association, and other statistical indicators.

A broad discussion of the dissertation followed. The candidate answered the questions raised and expressed her views on the comments and suggestions presented. At the end of the meeting, a decision was made to recommend the dissertation for the next stage of the defense process.