Dijana Plaseska-Karanfilska

Dr. Dijana Plaseska-Karanfilska graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University “St. Cyril and Methodius” in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia in 1987. She defended the PhD thesis “Micromethodology for the characterization of haemoglobin variants” in 1994 at the Limburg University, in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Since 1988 Dr. Plaseska-Karanfilska has been employed at the Research Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (RCGEB), Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MASA) where at present she holds a position of a senior scientist, group leader and head of laboratory. In 2010 she has been elected for Associate Professor of molecular biology and pharmacogenetics at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University “St. Cyril and Methodius”, Skopje, R. Macedonia. During her professional career Dr. Plaseska-Karanfilska made a contribution to the molecular characterization of different monogenic diseases in Macedonia, such as hemoglobinopathies, cystic fibrosis, cystinuria, Fragile X syndrome, etc. She has been also involved in the research of different infectious diseases, such as HPV, HBV, HCV infections and molecular basis of several malignant diseases as well as forensic DNA identification. Dr. Plaseska-Karanfilska’s recent special research interest is in the field of reproductive genetics, such as male infertility, spontaneous abortion, rapid and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis and breast cancer.