Dr. Igor Barsukov received a PhD in chemistry from the Shemyakin Institute in Moscow. He is an expert in molecular imaging by NMR spectroscopy and has helped run major facilities at the University of Leicester and now at the University of Liverpool. His main research achievements and interests involve exploring how cells adhere to surfaces via integrin-based cell-matrix adhesion, including structural studies of the protein Talin which activates integrin receptors and connects them to a cell’s actin cytoskeletal network. He is also currently investigating the protein Shank3, which is associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder.