me in a few words

Hello everybody!
Бәріңе сәлем!
Grüezi Mitenand!
Всем привет!

I'm Daulet. I was born and raised in Kazakhstan, and now I live in Switzerland with my lovely wife, Yerkezhan. I'm a PhD student of the Quantitative Biology program at the Institute of Microbiology, CHUV (Lausanne University Hospital), where I am studying gut microbiome in the Metagenomics lab.I have a diverse background with education in Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, and Communication, and experience in Python, R, and multi-omics data analysis.I love medicine and science, and want to use my knowledge in helping people be healthy. I believe that biomedical data holds the answers to complex questions in medicine, and am dedicated to exploring data-driven approaches in clinical and translational research. My long-term goal is to become a research-driven physician, who integrates clinical practice and research.Beyond that, I have extensive experience in event production, scientific communication and visual content production through my work at leadership and SMM roles.Let's connect and explore the intersection of medicine and data to drive innovation in healthcare.

lifelong learning

• 2012 - 2016
• 2016-2020
• 2020 - present

lifelong learning

• 2012 - 2016
• 2016 - 2020
• 2020 - present

BSc in Biology with minor degrees in Chemistry and Communication
August 2012 - June 2016
Astana, Kazakhstan

Full Scholarship

lifelong learning

• 2012 - 2016
• 2016 - 2020
• 2020 - present

Doctor of Medicine
August 2016 - June 2020
Astana, Kazakhstan

Partner of the University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineA 4-year graduate entry program
Equivalent to a Master's level within the three-level model of Bologna ProcessFull Scholarship

Presbyterian Hospital
University of Pittsburgh Medical CenterActing Internship in Trauma Service
February 3, 2020 - February 28, 2020
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

National Research Oncology CenterActing Internship in General Surgery
January 6, 2020 - January 31, 2020
Astana, Kazakhstan

Clinical Clerkships
July 2018 - April 2020
Astana, Kazakhstan

General Surgery, Inpatient Medicine, Ambulatory Internal Medicine, Pediatric Inpatient and Ambulatory Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Anesthesiology, Infectious Diseases, Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery (Elective), Intensive Care.

lifelong learning

• 2012 - 2016
• 2016 - 2020
• 2020 - present

PhD in Quantitative Biology
May 2024 - present
Lausanne, Switzerland

Working in the Metagenomics Lab of Prof. Claire Bertelli Lombardo, I am studying the Gut-Brain Axis and relationship between stress, diet and gut microbiota.

Specialization in Data Science: Foundations using RStatistical InferenceAdvanced Learning AlgorithmsSupervised Machine Learning: Regression and ClassificationData Wrangling, Analysis and AB TestingSQL for Data Science

Science in the Spotlight

Molecular mechanisms of depression onset in HIV-positive
Visiting Research Intern
PI: Dr. Maria Zimmermann

Heidelberg, Germany

November 8, 2021 - March 31, 2022

We investigated the development of morphine addiction and depression in wild type and HIV-1 mice models treated with morphine by analyzing and integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics data obtained from cortex, hippocampus, and midbrain. Analysis revealed genes and metabolites with noticeable behavior, and several molecular pathways affected by HIV-1 and morphine. It was conducted in Python and R, and using databases like STRING and KEGG.I was responsible for the analysis and integration of the metabolomics and transcriptomics data, presenting results on internal meetings and final meeting with collaborators.

HBV Prevention and Treatment in Countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus
Researcher
PI: Prof. Syed Ali

Astana, Kazakhstan

June 2020 - September 2020

The research significance lies in the fact HBV is still an underreported significant problem in the countries of Central Asia and Caucasus. Our goal was to assess HBV epidemiology in 9 countries. Specifically, we investigated HBV prevalence, preventive measures, diagnostic and therapeutic protocols. This project identified the regions with challenging epidemiological situation, and contrast to this showed that various preventive and diagnostic measures were effective in other regions.I conceptualized the research idea, performed the literature review and prepared an original draft of the publication. Project resulted in a first-author publication.

• Link

Daulet Amerzhanov, Indira Suleimenova, Salima Davlidova, Zhamilya Nugmanova, Syed Ali

HBV Prevention and Treatment in Countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus

Type: Journal Article
Publication: Viruses
Published: September 30, 2020

In silico approach in screening for the conserved motifs in helicases as a potential drug targets for anti-helicase compounds
Longitudinal Scholarly Project (MD Thesis)
PI: Prof. Syed Ali

Astana, Kazakhstan

March 2018 - March 2020

The significance of the research lies in the challenges that drug resistance brings. The research goal was to develop drug repurposing strategies to identify existing drugs that potentially target conserved regions in the helicase sequence that may be essential for structure and/or function.I developed research idea, performed literature review, and prepared research proposal and report.

• Link

Syed Hani Abidi, Nahlah Makki Almansour, Daulet Amerzhanov, Khaled S. Allemailem, Wardah Rafaqat, Mahmoud A. A. Ibrahim, Philip la Fleur, Martin Lukac, Syed Ali

Repurposing potential of posaconazole and grazoprevir as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 helicase

Type: Journal Article
Publication: Scientific Reports
Published: May 13, 2021

beyond academia

I took on roles in various projects and different roles in event production and management, social media marketing, and scientific communication. Tap on the logo to check it out.

beyond academia

Nazarbayev University Dance Club

NU Dance Club is one of the first University student clubs and is still functioning. Main focus of NUDC was street dance and choreography.As a president of the NUDC I managed organizational and administrative issues as well as assisted in training.
NUDC participated in numerous university and city events, and organized two major dancing events: Mix Dance Fest and Feel the Dance. While I only assisted in the organization of the Mix Dance Fest, I find Feel the Dance to be my personal contribution to the social life of NU.

NUDC also participated and won in several dancing competitions, one of which was The Dancing Territory where we debuted as a club and won 2nd place.

beyond academia

United4 event agency

Co-founder and Executive Director
2012 - 2019

While our agency produced and assisted in production of numerous events, the major event was an international dancing competition that we held every summer starting from 2011.While it is still an ongoing event, my last one was in 2019 - a tenth event.

ISDS was the largest dancing competition in Central Asia in the field of street dance like hip-hop, popping, waacking, and choreography. It included 2 days of the preselection, 1 day of classes and 1 day of the final concert at the city square. Every year we gathered roughly 1000 dancers and more than 1000 spectators.Our special guests were famous dancers and choreographers from around the world, like Poppin Pete, Madd Chadd, Kevin and Dea Nguyen. These are the dancers who won numerous worldwide dancing competitions, judged them and worked with famous artists like Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, BTS and others.

I was responsible for event planning and management, outreach to sponsors, team management, administrative and legal issues, communication with guests, their accommodation and transfer, brand development, and crisis management.

ISDS was always memorable as we provided photo and video recaps, different merch and certificates for dancing classes.

As we organized this event from scratch, there were many challenges every year in different aspects of the event production. For example, during the first two years the order of the event was preselection day, finals day and classes. The problem we faced was the low number of dancers participating at classes, as most of the dancers traveled back to their cities after finals. What I suggested and we implemented was separating preselection and finals days with a day of classes, which worked greatly. Not only we sold out classes every year, but we also pushed dancers to seize the opportunity to learn from others.

ISDS was also a place where volunteers and team members learnt and grew. As a senior member of the team, I mentored a few people who started as a volunteer and became managers at ISDS. Those people, I believe, have used this experience and are working at large companies as project managers or pursuing their own business ventures.

As a team, we managed to reignite the dancing culture of Kazakhstan by building a platform where local dancers could compete, learn from each other and build network with international dancers.

I believe we as a team contributed greatly to the improvement of the dancing culture in Kazakhstan.

beyond academia

Medical Center Hospital of the President’s Affairs Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Marketing and Advertising Department
Social Media Marketing Manager
April 2020 - August 2021

As COVID-19 emerged, people around the world have faced many challenges in their lives. What made it worse was misinformation about the disease, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. It was also true for Kazakhstan. At that time I had just completed my medical studies and felt the need to contribute to the improvement of health literacy in Kazakhstan. We, as medical students, were trained to communicate with patients in a way that would allow a 5-year old to understand the information. So, I decided to use my knowledge and passion for scientific communication, and started managing social media of one of the advanced medical centers in Kazakhstan.

As we observed how the followers react to different posts and what questions they have, we identified several issues to be addressed. First and foremost, health literacy. Patients simply do not know or do not understand an evidence-based medicine. So, what we did included simple and engaging posts, interviews with doctors and quick posts about different medical terms. These are the examples:

We also noticed that there was no trust towards hospitals and doctors. So, we needed to introduce doctors and their work into the Instagram feed. I covered various treatments and surgeries, and interviewed both doctors and patients about their conditions and treatment. One of the newly implemented things was a Q&A series with doctors and Q&A series with an imaginary person, who answered all the questions about the hospital and healthcare services. In the latter we used the Memoji function in the Iphone to answer all the questions we received from our followers.My personal contribution to the social media of the hospital was introducing a new series of publications about doctors. Specifically, about a non-medical part of their lives. The series was called "Doctor's Smile", and my goal was to remove the space between a doctor and a patient, and show that doctors are also human beings.

As a result, what we achieved was increased awareness about the hospital and medicine, increased engagement of the audience, and hopefully improved health literacy. Important to note that we did not use any artificial strategies to increase the number of followers. From the moment I started managing Instagram, the number of organic followers increased from 6,000 to 11,000 in only one year. Now, there are more than 20,000 followers.Working there I improved my skills in scientific and visual communication, creative thinking and technical skills in Canva, FinalCut Pro, photography and videography. Besides, I got a chance to work in a large medical organization improving my networking and communication, organizational and teamwork skills.

If at least one person has decided to get a vaccine against covid-19 or do the check-up, then I consider my work there successful.

beyond academia

national research cardiac surgery center
(heart center)

International Cooperation and Promotion of Services Department
Main Specialist
June 2020 - October 2021

Heart Center is the most advanced cardiac surgery center in Central Asia, and provides tertiary care for adults and children including newborns who are suffering from cardiovascular conditions. Heart Center is the first in the world to be certified for clinical programs of chronic heart failure and VAD implantation.

While working at the Heart Center, I was responsible for establishing scientific communication and increasing brand awareness through social media. Beyond that, having previous experience in event production, I also assisted in the organization of the international scientific conference and gala event dedicated to the 10 years celebration of the Center.

One of the aims was to improve the population's knowledge of the heart and heart conditions. So, I wanted to implement a new series, where I could explain the complex medical terms using visuals and simpler words.

As the Center is highly innovative, my goal was to tell people about the high-tech heart surgeries that are performed daily - all to build trust towards the medical center and cardiac surgeons.

In 2021, the Heart Center celebrated its 10th birthday, and dedicated a scientific conference to it with a goal to provide a platform for healthcare professionals to network, to learn and to share their insights in the cardiac service. My responsibilities were to cover the conference through social media, photo and video reports, and visuals. I also was responsible for the transfer of the invited speakers and assistance at the event itself.

Our department also organized a Gala-event to celebrate the 10 years of achievements and successful conduction of the conference. As an organizing committee, we produced the event from scratch, which includes planning and execution, management of the team and volunteers, communication and outreach to partners and sponsors, preparation of the entertainment program and visuals.

Working there I got a chance to explore and learn about high-tech cardiac surgeries, to meet new people and to grow professionally.

beyond academia

heart center foundation

event coordinator
April 2022 - August 2022

Heart Center Foundation is the only endowment foundation in Kazakhstan that supports healthcare ventures, specifically in the field of cardiology and cardiac surgery. It is an important organization that supports educational and scientific projects, provides support for physicians, and works to increase awareness about cardiac conditions.

HCF has organized numerous events with the goal of increasing awareness, building the trust towards medical practitioners, and engaging the population into charity. One of such projects was a charity run, which I helped to organize. The Charity Run was called "You are the champion of my heart!". The reason for such a long and unusual name was that we saw every participant as a champion of every heart that they could potentially help by running with us, which was beautifully shown on the logo and medal of the run.

With a small team of the Heart Center Foundation, I was responsible for the production of the event from scratch. It included conceptualization, event planning and management, outreach to sponsors and partners, team management, administrative and legal issues, communication with guests, crisis management, preparing the website with the registration page and short promo-videos, preparation of the starter pack and medals, entertainment program.

Apart from the whole event production, my personal contribution was preparing a concept of the logo and designing a landing page about the event.

We managed to gather almost 500 participants, 50 of whom were kids, for a 10km run across the city. Before and after the run, participants enjoyed the entertainment program, which included dancing warm-up, local band performance, CPR demonstration, quiz and contest with prizes.

One of the goals for me was to attract new fans of the Heart Center Foundation. Gathering more people or attracting a large financial support was not feasible at that point. But what was doable is building a trust with new followers and building a platform for the next events. For example, the charity run in the next year gathered more than 1,300 participants. I believe this number will only increase as the scale of the Run and Foundation gets bigger.

Producing such an event was a terrific experience, where I met new people and contributed to a great cause.

beyond academia

kazakhstan institute of osteopathic medicine

social media marketing manager
May 2021 - December 2021

Kazakhstan Institute of Osteopathic Medicine is the first institute in Kazakhstan that provides an osteopathic education according to the western standards.My role was to assist in the opening of the institute by providing explanatory and visual content about osteopathy in the form of Instagram posts and leaflets.

One of my personal contributions was a design of the logo, which illustrates the osteopathic approach with hands.

Beyond that, I also designed a website on Tilda with several pages and registration form.

On October 7, 2022, KIOM was officially opened, and 30 students attended the first osteopathic seminar.

beyond academia

eurasian institute of osteopathic medicine

social media marketing manager
January 2022 - March 2023

Eurasian Institute of Osteopathic Medicine is the first institute in Central Asia that provides an education in osteopathy and is the full member of Osteopathic International Alliance.As an SMM manager my main responsibility was to present information about osteopathy in an engaging way. It included informational and visual posts, and interviews with doctors.

EurasIOM conducts various events regularly, including free-of-charge patient appointments, educational seminars, and conferences, which I covered as well.

hobbies & interests