R.T. Omarov was born on May 24, 1967, in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. He graduated from K. Satpayev Secondary School No. 56 in 1984 and entered KazNU named after S.M. Kirov, where he studied at the Faculty of Biology from 1984 to 1987. During this time, he served in the Soviet Army as a private from 1985 to 1987. After completing his military service, he returned to KazNU and continued his studies at the department of Physiology and Biochemistry of Plants until 1991. After graduating from college, R.T. Omarov began his career as a graduate student at the Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry at KazNU.
In 1993, he completed an internship at the A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in 1995 defended his dissertation under the supervision of Professor N.P. Lvov. His research focused on the functional and structural properties of a protein with a molybdenum cofactor in pea seeds and resulted in the award of a Candidate of Biological Sciences degree.
Since 1996, R.T. Omarov has been conducting scientific research at the Institute of Experimental Botany in Prague. In 1999, he worked at the Laboratory of Hormonal Metabolism at Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan), where he focused on molecular cloning. In 2001, he conducted research at Auburn University, Alabama (USA). From 1995 to 2000, he worked as a researcher at the Bio stress Laboratory at the University of Ben-Gurion (Israel). His main area of research focused on studying plant metabolism under abiotic stress conditions. In particular, he showed the key role of monoenzymes in plant resistance to adverse environmental factors for the first time.
Researcher (2000-2004) and Leading (2004-2009) Member of the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Texas (USA). During this time, the scientist's focus was on studying the molecular mechanisms of virus-plant interaction. They studied the functional role of viral protein in suppressing RNA interference, isolated and characterized antiviral RNA containing plant nucleases for the first time and investigated the mechanisms of viral protein translation and localization. These studies are currently the basis for further research in this field. Citations in the textbook "Plant Virology" edited by Roger Hull, published in 2007. R.T. Omarov, a scientist from Texas A&M University, was awarded the medal "For Outstanding Scientific Achievements".
His research focuses on the molecular basis of virus-plant interaction. Methods of genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry are extensively used in his lab. His research interests include the study of structural features of viruses at the molecular level, as well as the protective role of RNA interference and the suppression of viral proteins. One of his notable findings is the multifunctionality of the P19 viral suppressor in activating molecular signaling systems in resistant plants. Additionally, he has demonstrated the functional role of molybdenum aldehyde oxidase enzyme in generating reactive oxygen species during viral infection. Another major area of his research is the molecular mechanisms of plant resistance to pathogens and stress factors.Enzymes play an important role in the generation and utilization of reactive oxygen species, which are involved in the modulation of plant resistance to viruses and abiotic stress factors. R.T. Omarov is a renowned scientist who has studied these enzymes in detail for many years.
R.T. Omarov has reviewed for several leading international journals, including Plant Physiology, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, and Physiology Plantarum. Under his guidance, six doctoral dissertations have been defended, and he is the author of over a hundred scientific publications.
In 2015-2017, he served as a member of the National Scientific Council for Life Sciences.
R.T. Omarov is the Head of the Department of Biology, Biotechnology, and Microbiology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at L.N. Gumilev Eurasian National University from 2009 to 2012. Since 2012, he has been the Head of the Biotechnology and Microbiology Department at ENU. Omarov has received several awards for his contributions to science, including the "For Achievements in the Development of Science in Kazakhstan" medal in 2011 and the "25 Years of Independence of Kazakhstan" award.
Nurbek NURZHAN
