New DDLS Fellow: Milka Doktorova
Get to know our latest SciLifeLab & Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) Fellow, Milka Doktorova (Stockholm University), in our last Q&A-style article before the holidays. Milka will be joining the Cell and molecular biology research area.
Milka received her B.A. degree in computer science and mathematics from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA in 2010. She then did her Master’s in computer science in Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH working in the area of computational topology. Following that, Milka joined the Tri-Institutional PhD program in Computational Biology and Medicine in Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medical College and Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, defending her PhD thesis in 2018.
How do you think your expertise can contribute to the program?
My research is very interdisciplinary and relies on the integration of computational simulations with different types of experimental data. My expertise is in the biophysics of lipid membranes, and I hope that my group contributes to the DDLS program by expanding the reach of lipidomics-based analysis of model and living systems.
Shortly describe your research in an easy to understand way.
Biological membranes are composed of hundreds of different types of lipids that are often asymmetrically distributed between the two membrane leaflets. I study how this complex composition and asymmetry affect bilayer properties such as leaflet fluidity, elasticity, tension, and interactions with proteins. My overarching goal is to understand how cells take advantage of these properties to regulate biological functions by dynamically tuning the lipid composition and organization of their membranes. For that, I combine experimental biophysical methods in model and living systems with molecular dynamics simulations which offer unparalleled resolution into the underlying molecular mechanisms.
How do you think the program and interactions with the other DDLS-Fellows will benefit you?
I expect the resources provided by the program and the interactions with other like-minded fellows to help me not only realize the ideas I already have but also identify new creative angles and expand them further.
Name one thing that people generally do not know about you.
I used to do ballroom dancing in high school and have a soft spot for waltz in particular.
Where do you see yourself in five years regarding the DDLS aspect?
In a lab full of people with both experimental and computational backgrounds, excited about lipid membranes and working together to solve cool problems.
In one word, describe how you feel about becoming a DDLS-Fellow.
Empowered!
