Liana Basova received her PhD in Biology with a specialization in protein biophysics at the Institute of Protein Research of the Russian Academy of Science in 2004. She studied the conformational and functional changes of globular proteins such as water-soluble fragment of cytochrome b5, holo- and apo-myoglobins and cytochrome c in the presence of phospholipid model membranes.
She continued training as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh in 2005. She discovered that cytochrome c structural changes in the presence of cardiolipin membrane in the oxidative stress environment could convert its normal electron transfer function to peroxidase and trigger apoptosis.
At the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2007 she participated in a project involving cardiolipin oxidation and showed that in the form of hydroperoxide species cardiolipin could assist in apoptotic signaling.
She joined the Scripps Research Institute California in 2015 and was involved in the study of morphology and function of myoepithelial cells as well as inflammatory signaling in search for early disease markers in lacrimal glands during dry eye progression.
Currently she is working at the San Diego Biomedical Research Institute. She is an integral part of an investigation of the dopamine system as a reporter of HIV status and inflammation in methamphetamine abusers.
