Alena V. Makarova, Ph.D., is Head of Laboratories at the Institute of Gene Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" (formerly the Institute of Molecular Genetics), Moscow, Russia. Her main research interests include translesion DNA synthesis, fidelity of replication and mutagenesis by human specialized DNA polymerases (Pol iota, Pol eta, Pol zeta, and PrimPol). She gained the postdoctoral fellowship of D. Zimin foundation “Dynasty”, 2014–2016. She was awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science (national fellowship, Moscow. Russia) in 2017.