Natalia E. Morozova
Natalia E. Morozova
Associate Professor of Graduate School of Biotechnology and Food Science
PhD in Biological Sciences

English proficiency:

Fluent

Research projects:

  • Study of molecular mechanisms of bacteria defense systems against viruses.
  • Development of diagnostic systems based on CRISPR-Cas technologies.
  • Study of mechanisms of repair and recombination; SMC proteins.

Research topics:

  • Interaction of RecA and RecN proteins in bacterial cells during the SOS response.
  • Development of a diagnostic system for detecting infectious diseases.
  • Molecular mechanism of the CfrBI restriction-modification system.
  • Strategies for using bacteriophages to create effective antibacterial drugs.
  • Study of SMC proteins.

Field of study:

Biology

Research interests:

Study of molecular mechanisms of functioning of various bacterial defense systems against viruses, such as restriction-modification systems, CRISPR-Cas, BREX, PARIS and others. Study of molecular mechanisms of development of bacteriophages and new viral enzymes. Development of approaches for simple editing of bacteriophage genomes to create effective antibacterial phage drugs of a new type. Study of molecular mechanisms of action of proteins involved in the SOS response of bacteria, including the SMC-like protein RecN.

Research highlights:

  1. Patent for invention No. 2 808 699 «Non-contact method for measuring temperature using fluorescent probes»
  2. Patent for utility model No. 225 970 «Device for visual assessment of the presence of pathogens in the field using CRISPR-Cas technologies»
  3. Patent for utility model No. 231 780 «Device for determining the presence of pathogens in the field using CRISPR-Cas technologies»

Specific requirement:

High motivation, desire to work in science, willingness to spend a large amount of time on scientific research, basic knowledge in the field of molecular biology and genetic engineering is desirable.

Main publications:

  1. Kirillov A, Morozova N, Kozlova S, Polinovskaya V, Smirnov S, Khodorkovskii M, Zeng L, Ispolatov Y, Severinov K. Cells with stochastically increased methyltransferase to restriction endonuclease ratio provide an entry for bacteriophage into protected cell population. Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Dec 8; 50(21): 12 355−68. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac1124. (Scopus, WOS, Q1)
  2. Mamontov V, Martynov A, Morozova N, Bukatin A, Staroverov DB, Lukyanov KA, Ispolatov Y, Semenova E, Severinov K. Persistence of plasmids targeted by CRISPR interference in bacterial populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Apr 12; 119(15): e2114905119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2 114 905 119. (Scopus, WOS, Q1)
  3. Kozlova S, Morozova N, Ispolatov Y, Severinov K. Dependence of post-segregational killing mediated by Type II restriction-modification systems on the lifetime of restriction endonuclease effective activity. mBio 0: e01408−24. doi.org/10.1128/mbio.1 408−24 (Scopus, WOS, Q1)
  4. Burman, N., Belukhina, S., Depardieu, F. et al. A virally- encoded tRNA neutralizes the PARIS antiviral defence system. Nature (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41586−024−7 874−3 (Scopus, WOS, Q1)
  5. Ishita Jain; Matvey Kolesnik; Konstantin Kuznedelov; Leonid Minakhin; Natalia Morozova; Anna Shiriaeva; Alexandr Kirillov; Sofia Medvedeva; Alexei Livenskyi; Laura Kazieva; Kira Makarova; Evgene Koonin; Sergei Borukhov; Konstantin Severinov; Ekaterina Semenova, tRNA anticodon cleavage by target-activated CRISPR-Cas13a effector.Sci. Adv. 10, eadl0164(2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0164 (Scopus, WOS, Q1)