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.

Distinguished Researcher in Natural Sciences, 2021 – Honorary Award from the Ministry of Education and Science, Kazakhstan. 

Undergraduate courses

• BIOL 241 Special Topics in Synthetic Biology
• BIOL 305 Introduction to Microbiology
• BIOL 305L Introduction to Microbiology Laboratory
• BIOL 450 Food Microbiology
• BIOL 450L Food Microbiology Laboratory
• BIOL 492 Directed Study in Biology

Graduate courses

• BIOL 560/860 Molecular Biology of Prokaryotic Cells
• BIOL 600 Graduate Seminar Series