Dr. Kamilya Kokabi received her BSc and MSc degrees from the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, where she specialized in stem cell research. Following graduation, she worked as a specialist at the Research and Production Center for Transfusiology in Astana, contributing to a project on the isolation of stem cells from cord blood.

She obtained her PhD at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel) under the supervision of Prof. Inna Khozin-Goldberg. Her doctoral dissertation was devoted to elucidating the role of autophagy in the oleaginous non-model microalga Lobosphaera incisa, advancing understanding of catabolic processes in microalgal lipid metabolism.

Dr. Kokabi pursued her first postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Prof. Zvulun Elazar at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she investigated the molecular connections between autophagy and neurodegeneration. In 2021, she joined the School of Medicine at Nazarbayev University as a postdoctoral scholar, where her research expanded to the study of autophagy.

In parallel with her research, Dr. Kokabi has been actively engaged in teaching and academic mentorship. She has contributed to multiple biomedical sciences courses, supervised undergraduate, MD, and Master’s students, and guided thesis projects on autophagy and cancer biology.

Since August 2025, Dr. Kokabi has been promoted to Assistant Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Nazarbayev University. Her current work focuses on the mechanistic roles of bulk and selective autophagy in health and disease, with an emphasis on cancer biology and metabolic regulation.

Autophagy in health and diseases 

1. Tamim-Yecheskel BC, Fraiberg M, Kokabi K, Freud S, Shatz O, Marvaldi L, Subic N, Brenner O, Tsoory M, Eilam-Altstadter R, Biton I, Savidor A, Dezorella N, Heimer G, Behrends C, Ben-Zeev B, Elazar Z. A tecpr2 knockout mouse exhibits age-dependent neuroaxonal dystrophy associated with autophagosome accumulation. Autophagy. 2021 Oct;17(10):3082-3095. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2020.1852724. Epub 2020 Dec 10. PMID: 33218264. 
2. Fraiberg M, Tamim-Yecheskel BC, Kokabi K, Subic N, Heimer G, Eck F, Nalbach K, Behrends C, Ben-Zeev B, Shatz O, Elazar Z. Lysosomal targeting of autophagosomes by the TECPR domain of TECPR2. Autophagy. 2021 Oct;17(10):3096-3108. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2020.1852727. Epub 2020 Nov 29. PMID: 33213269.
3. Kokabi K., Gorelova O., Ismagulova T., Itkin M., Malitsky S., Boussiba S., Khozin-Goldberg I. Metabolomic foundation for differential responses of lipid metabolism to nitrogen and phosphorus deprivation in an arachidonic acid producing green microalga. Plant Science DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2019.02.008 PMID: 31128719
4. Kokabi K, Gorelova O, Zorin B, Didi-Cohen S, Itkin M, Malitsky S, Solovchenko A, Boussiba S, Khozin-Goldberg I. Lipidome Remodeling and Autophagic Respose in the Arachidonic-Acid-Rich Microalga Lobosphaera incisa Under Nitrogen and Phosphorous Deprivation. Front Plant Sci. 2020 Nov 27;11:614846. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.614846. PMID: 33329680.