Well, since you came to my homepage, I guess I have to tell you something about myself.

I could start my story from the current title, work position etc but that could be found on my LinkedIn profile and presents some interest only to my colleagues and potential employers. So let's start from the very beginning...

 
• June 24, 1977 I was born in Kishinev.
  It was then Soviet Union but when on 25 December 1991 USSR collapsed I suddenly began to live in the capital of an independent Moldova.
  If you need a reason to laugh - ask me about my homeland. I'll tell enough stories to lift your mood for a week. We are very entertaining country!
• Summer 1991 for my high-school biology class project I read some books about the human and dolphins brain and became hooked on neurobiology.
  Later it transformed to a more general interest in electrophysiology of ion channels - membrane molecules that pass ions in and out of the cell creating currents and, thus, make cells like neurons excitable. And not only neurons - but also muscle and cardiac cells. Actually, ion channels exist in many non-excitable cells such as blood, gastrointestinal and many others to regulate their intracellular environment.
  Funny but true: even after 14 years in science I've never worked with brain or brain cells. I wonder why? And will it ever happen?

• August 1994 - May 1996 I have been living in Moscow and studying in Moscow University, Faculty of Biology.
  One of the greatest cities on the planet. It may be (and most of the time is) crowdy, noisy, sometimes and someplace dirty and rude, but it is so beautiful! Every time I go there, I just wander streets, can walk from Tryokh Vokzalov Square to Gorky Park just for fun, for watching ever-changing face of the city and faces of Muscovitians (yes, I do like this peculiar breed of human race which is eagerly hated by so many Russians).
• 10 December 1994 for still unknown reasons I joined the Biophysics Department.
  Biophysics is a very interesting science because you can do almost anything in biology and this will be considered a biophysical research (as long as you don't forget to put several equations here and there).
  You don't believe that such science can exist? Just visit annual Biophysical Society Meeting!
• August 1996 I came to the US to study in Indiana University and in
• May 1999 ||| graduated with Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from IU! .
  My senior thesis under supervision of Dr. Joseph Farley was on expression of "delayed rectifier potassium channel Kv1.1" in Xenopus oocytes.
  I have lived in "The Crossroads of America", the heartland, the purest form of United States, where any person with foreign accent looked like an exotic bird. Nashville, Brown County, Indiana - wonderful place (and unbelieavably cheap, even comparing to neighboring Bloomington where IU is located).
• August 1999 - August 2004 I was doing graduate studies at SUNY Buffalo Biophysics program
  under guidance of Dr. Michael Morales researching a novel toxin for potassium channels Kv4 subfamily. The idea behind it was to develop a new drug for cardiac arrhythmia but I earned my Ph.D. just for describing selective changes in gating of Kv4 channels imposed by the Heteropodatoxin.
  City of Good Neighbors is an interesting place to be. But rather "to be" there just for a short time, I'd say. When you go out, you go out of the country - Canada is just across the river (due to my regular appearance, some of Canadian border guards knew my face and even denied to check documents when I was crossing the border - take it, DHS!). When guests, who don't want to leave US, are coming you take them to 1) Niagara Falls and soon are exhausted by this sightseeing and can be a guide there with closed eyes, 2) Letchworth Park, 3) Downtown Buffalo and are sorry for its awful shape. Nevertheless, these were five good years to live! Wonderful people, a lof of interesting life events and overall good experience.
  20 August 2000 - I met a girl named Alexandra (Sasha, in Russian). She is originally from Bendery: the city just 60 km (40 miles) on the east from my hometown. We had to cross the ocean to meet on a social event at UB. Isn't it called fate?
• September 2004 - February 2008 I was a postdoctoral fellow in Boston University School of Medicine.
  The official name of my lab was Ion Channel and Calcium Signaling Unit. Long name, isn't it? Almost doesn't fit a business card. I was doing research on store-operated channels under supervision of Dr. Victoria Bolotina.
• 15 July 2005 - Alexandra and me wed!!! . Here are photos from our first anniversary.
• April 2007 My long-time interest in creative writing and in creating fantasy worlds finally came to something material as I cofounded a company that can be classified as "independent game developer".
  It's not a big enterprise but if your hobby brings you money - why not?
• July 1, 2007 My wife got me the best birthday present ever: demanding, stubborn, fretful, noisy black furry monster named Teddy (because he's cute and looks like a big teddy bear).
  Isn't this chow-chow handsome? That's what most people on streets say when they see him dragging me every morning and evening.
• February 2008 - present I work in Synta Pharmaceuticals, trying to find store-operated channel's inhibitor to treat immune diseases.
  Finally, I work on practical application of fundamental research, trying to make a difference. But I don't save the world - just sit in the lab and do patch-clamp or calcium influx experiments.
• Hey, we are in Beantown (actually, we live in Malden - one of suburbs). Boston offers everything that we like... And if not Boston roads and traffic, and high rental prices...Oh well, there is no perfect place on Earth.

If after the first part you still are interested in what do I like, here is the list (synopsis, according to one of my friends: "I like to read, to read and then read some more").

• I'm an Orthodox Christian. In the US, it is known as Russian, Greek or Eastern Orthodox, but it is the same original Christianity of apostolic tradition. Even though I respect all bona fide religions and can tolerate many different views of my friends, sometimes even extreme ones, but faith is very important to me and Orthodoxy is "the right glorification" of Christ. My parish is Epiphany Church in Roslindale.
• By some reasons people tend to think that biology "proves the absence" or "reject the existence" of God. I don't think so. I support an evolution theory the same time as I read Holy Scripture. Scientists know that "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" as was beautifully stated by devout Russian Orthodox biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky.
• Being on intersection of science and religion, I like to read and write about bioethics and science-religion relationship.

• I'm a biologist and I know that this is the best science! Life is the greatest wonder of this world, and studying it brings a lot of pleasure (despite the fact that science=frustration).
• Science magazines such as Nature, Science, Science Daily, The Scientist and others are my favorites. Basically, half of my RSS reader are scientific or pharmaceutical news articles
  Though an excitement of early years when I was reading everything that could be remotely interesting has passed, I still try to keep up with current literature on a very broad range of topics. That's why RSS feeds make so much sense for me, heh.

• When I have nothing to do I read. Either in Russian or in English. If you can define a person by books which he is reading, I'm a very vague person since my reading list in both languages is very eclectic.
  • Perennial favorites: encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri Why? I have no idea.
  • There's a place in my reading list for authors from Russia and Serbia, Italy and Germany, Iceland and Japan, Greece and Turkey and so on... I have lived in Indiana - the state of Kurt Vonnegut - one of my favorite American writers. Also in the list are Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Bradbury and Twain.
  • Silver Age of Russian literature - 1900-1920. The constellation of wonderful poets and writers appeared in that time. Some were killed by Bolsheviks, some went to emigration, some starved to death...
  • There are many others books and authors that I like to read. Basically you can give me almost any book (with an exception of romance novels, I'd say) and I would read even if I lose interest by fifteenth page (what happens, for example, with Grisham books). Actually, my ideal house is the house with a big library room and small bedroom. But don't think that my lovely wife would agree on that. :-)
  • I'm a news junkie consuming news
    - in English The New York Times and TIME,
    - in Russian Expert, Gazeta.Ru, Vedomosti

• If there is an interesting fine arts exhibition somewhere nearby and I have time, I'd go there. My "preferences" are van Gogh, Goya, Dore, Durer, El Greco, Modigliani, Vrubel, Ge, Repin, Kuindzhi, Korin, a lot of Russian artists practically unknown to the West, and many others (though, frankly, I'm still not that impressed by everyone's favorite impressionists or surrealists, and don't let me started on "contemporary art").
• I'm very interested in architecture and urban development - that's another reason why I like to live in Boston which is historic (a rarity on this continent) and vibrant in the same time.

• Music playing in my CD-player, computer or MP3-player depends on my mood and weather outside.
• classical music from all over the world, although I'm not an expert in that
• I'm still stuck in 60s and 70s, I guess since I like Beatles, Janis Joplin, Van der Graaf Generator, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, etc. from "classical rock".
• Vladimir Vysotsky. (If you don't know Russian try to click here and you will listen to random song (RealAudio format) from site dedicated to him)
  - and Bulat Okudzhava (translations of his songs are here)
  are two most influential poet-singers of Russia in second half of 20th century.
• - Russian rock: Aquarium, DDT, Kino Aleksander Bashlachev, Alisa, ChaiF, Nautilus Pompilius, Yanka, Zimov'e Zverey, Adrian and Alexandr and others.


• I must admit that web-surfing is my favorite sport, as you can see from my del.icio.us collection of bookmarks. Not a big sports fan and even agter 12 years in the US still prefer watching soccer and ice-hockey to baseball and football. Though being a Bostonian nowadays I'm still glad when Red Sox and Pats win. But I don't play any of sports. Too lazy.
• I rarely play any computer games either besides those that I develop myself. But if I play - it's mostly strategy and RPG.

• I like to travel (even though in last couple years I became more of couch potato). My favorite cities (besides Boston) in Western Hemisphere are San Francisco and Portland, OR in the US, Montreal and Vancouver in Canada. The most favorite place - Jordanville, NY. The least favorite places where I've been are NYC and Detroit.

• What else left? Relaxing on the couch with my wonderful and beautiful Sasha next to me! Writing short stories (originally, in Russian, then some of them I translate in English - genre: mystical realism). Blogging (in Russian), having guests in our house (you are always welcome!) and going to their houses (hey, you can always invite us!). Cooking food when my wife allows me to do it (nobody was poisoned yet, even after my genuine experiments) and going out to it. Not drinking any alcohol (yes, some of my American friends couldn't believe their luck - they've met a Russian who doesn't drink alcohol! I just don't like the taste). Talking...and then more talking.
  And so on, and so on...

If you want to know more you can always write me.