Bersimbay Rakhmetkazhy Iskendirovich
Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Bersimbay Rakhmetkazhy Iskendirovich (March 8, 1947, Altai Republic, Russian Federation) – Doctor of Biological Sciences (1986), Professor (1989), Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1995), Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2003), Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Higher School of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2001), Academician of the International Academy of Sciences of Higher School (2001), Honored Worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2019), Honored Worker of Higher Education of Kazakhstan (2026).
In 1969, he graduated from Novosibirsk State University, and in 1972 completed his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He began his professional career as a junior research fellow at the Institute’s Laboratory of Molecular Genetics. In 1974, he defended his Candidate of Sciences dissertation, and in 1986, his Doctor of Sciences dissertation at Saint Petersburg State University.
From 1975 to 2004, Professor R.I. Bersimbay’s scientific and academic career was associated with the Faculty of Biology of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, where he successively advanced through all stages of his professional career, from senior lecturer to Head of Department and Dean of the Faculty. From 1977 to 1987, he served as Head of the Department of Darwinism and Genetics; from 1987 to 2002, as Head of the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology; and from 1988 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2004, as Dean of the Faculty of Biology.
Professor R.I. Bersimbay served as Director of the Institute of General Genetics and Cytology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan from 1995 to 2001; from 2004 to 2008, as Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Head of the Ministry’s Executive Office, and First Vice-Rector of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; and from 2008 to 2011, as Vice-Rector for Research at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. From 2011 to 2023, he served as Head of the Department of General Biology and Genomics at ENU, Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, and Director of the Institute of Cell Biology and Biotechnology. Since October 2023, he has been Professor of the Department of General Biology and Genomics and Director of the Institute of Cell Biology and Biotechnology at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.
As a British Council scholarship recipient, he completed a one-year research fellowship at the National Institute for Medical Research (now the Francis Crick Institute) in London, England, in 1983–1984. As a recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Humboldt Stiftung) fellowship, he undertook research fellowships at the Medical Research Center in Hannover and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1987–1988 and 1991–1992. At the invitation of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, he conducted research at Aston University (Birmingham, England) from May to October 1994. At the invitation of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), he conducted research as a Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation (NIBIO, Osaka, Japan) in 2011–2012.
His primary research interests focus on the mechanisms governing genome function and on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate gene expression under the influence of hormones. He was the first to substantiate the cascade principle of gene expression regulation induced by genetic inducers and obtained experimental evidence that contributed to the development of a concept describing the functioning of regulatory cascades at the level of cellular ensembles.
Under his supervision, innovative research was conducted at the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and at the Institute of General Genetics and Cytology. These studies focused on the organization of tissue-specific expression of genes controlling the synthesis of regulatory proteins involved in intracellular signaling, genetic instability and programmed cell death, the genetic regulation of heat-shock genes, and carcinogenesis.
An important area of Academician R.I. Bersimbay’s research is the study of the genetic consequences of radiation exposure from the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site on the offspring of exposed individuals. Based on an analysis of the genetic status of individuals and radiation-induced DNA damage across three generations of exposed families, the transgenerational effects of long-term radiation exposure on future generations of people living near the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site were assessed. At L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, under his supervision, research is being conducted on gene polymorphisms and the expression profiles of microRNAs and mitochondrial DNA as biomarkers for the early diagnosis of lung cancer.
Professor R.I. Bersimbay has made significant contributions to the training of highly qualified specialists. For more than a decade, from 1989 to 2002, he chaired the Dissertation Council for the defense of doctoral dissertations in the specialties of Genetics, Biochemistry, and Cytology, Histology and Cell Biology at the Faculty of Biology of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. Since 2010, he has served as Chair of the Dissertation Council for the defense of Ph.D. dissertations in Biology at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. Under his academic supervision, more than 20 Candidate of Sciences and Doctor of Sciences dissertations and more than 10 Ph.D. dissertations have been successfully defended. He is the author of more than 500 publications, including the English-language monographs Cellular Mechanisms in the Regulation of Gastric Secretory Cells and Modern Aspects of Radon-Induced Lung Cancer: From Environmental Exposure to Cellular Effects, as well as university textbooks, including Genetics, General and Molecular Genetics, Methods of Modern Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Molecular Biology in Kazakh, and Molecular Biology in Russian. For his high level of publication activity in international journals, he received a diploma and was nominated by Scopus as a “Top Researcher in Medical Sciences” (2018). According to Web of Science, his publications have received a total of 1,257 citations, and his Hirsch index (h-index) is 18. He has participated in four International Congresses of Genetics: Moscow (1978), Beijing (1998), Berlin (2008), and Singapore (2013). He served as a member of the Organizing Committees of the VIII International Conference on the Genetics of Mutagenesis (Shizuoka, Japan, 2002) and the IX International Conference on the Genetics of Mutagenesis (San Francisco, USA, 2005). From 1997 to 2005, he was a member of the International Expert Group responsible for the evaluation of scientific projects under the INTAS and INCO-COPERNICUS programs. He is a member of the editorial boards of the international journals microRNA and Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, as well as of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Biology and Medicine Series) and Bulletin of Baku State University (Biology Series). He is the Editor-in-Chief of Bulletin of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Biology Series). He has delivered plenary and symposium presentations at major international conferences in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, China, Egypt, Finland, the Netherlands, Hungary, South Korea, Singapore, Turkey, India, Romania, Poland, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and other CIS countries. He has also delivered lectures and scientific presentations at the universities of Munich, Hannover, Hamburg, Greifswald, Bologna, Kyoto, Cambridge, Liverpool, Aston, Vermont, Xinjiang, Hyderabad, Osaka, and Tokai.
He has received numerous awards and honorary titles, including the P. Kapitsa Prize of the Royal Society of Great Britain (1993); the “Құрмет” Order of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2012); the honorary title “Honored Worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (2019); the Grand Gold Medal of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2017); and the honorary title “Honored Worker of Higher Education of Kazakhstan” (2026). He was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation of Japan (2011), as well as Honorary Professor of S. Toraighyrov Pavlodar State University, Pavlodar State Pedagogical University, and Ch. Valikhanov Kokshetau State University. His other awards include the badges of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan “For Merits in the Development of Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (2003), “Honorary Worker of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (2007), “Best University Teacher–2014,” “Best Researcher of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (2022), and “Y. Altynsarin” (2021). He has also been awarded the medals of the Republic of Kazakhstan “10 Years of the Constitution of Kazakhstan,” “25 Years of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” and “10 Years of Astana.” He has twice been awarded the State Scientific Scholarship for scientists and specialists who have made outstanding contributions to the development of science and technology of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
