Dr. Ani Stepanyan is a senior researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. She received her PhD degree in Experimental Biology, from the Supreme Certifying Committee, Armenia, in 2016. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (USA) in 2021, and a visiting researcher at the Palacky University (Czech Republic) and the Rostock University Medical Center (Germany) in 2020, 2018, respectively. Her research efforts have been focused on identification of key genetic factors of important contributors to stroke, and environmental public health, particularly molecular mechanisms of heavy metal toxicity. Her research activity has been supported by several international (the European Federationof Immunological Societies Fellowship, the Fulbright Program Scholarship, etc.) and national grants.