Dr. Damira Kanayeva joined Nazarbayev University in 2011 and has since been actively involved in teaching, research, and service. At NU, she established a research direction in the field of biosensors and biodetection which has great potential in developing reliable, simple, and affordable tools for effective detection of biomolecules. As an advisor, she has guided undergraduate and graduate students pursuing their degrees in life sciences. Under her supervision, an undergraduate team of biology students received bronze (2014) and silver (2015) medals in a worldwide synthetic biology competition, iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine). Dr. Kanayeva has served as the PI of a state target program and internal and external grants. She is also a member of professional societies such as the American Society for Microbiology and honorary organizations like Phi Kappa Phi (USA). Her primary focus during her Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology at the University of Arkansas (USA) was biosensors. Dr. Kanayeva is an associate professor in the Department of Biology, School of Sciences and Humanities at Nazarbayev University.