I am a first year PhD student from Azerbaijan and I graduated from Baku State University with BSc in Biology in 2013. In 2014 I got a TEMPO European Scholarship to study at the University of Pavia, Italy. As a graduate student, I focused on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis and population genetics in the lab of Professor Antonio Torroni. After returning home, I decided to get my MS degree from The Department of Genetics at Baku State University. In 2018, I received a Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship to continue my education in the USA. I graduated from University at Albany, SUNY with MS degree in Forensic Biology. During my studies I worked with Dr Arati Iyengar on developing a STR allele frequency database using Globalfiler for Azerbaijani population. In 2020 with the support of Edmund S. Muskie Fellowship Program I joined Dr Ken Halvorsen’s lab. My goal was to develop and optimize DNA nano switches to detect Cov-SARS-2 virus. My ongoing doctoral research is focused on the role of Alternative Splicing (AS) in CAG-repat expanded Spinocerebellar Ataxias (SCAs). As known from other repeat expansion disorders, AS events can be used as non-invasive biomarkers to measure disease progression. My project is focused on generating a deep RNA-Seq data from multiple CAG repeat expansion SCAs and iPSC-derived cortical neurons for shared differential gene expression and AS.