Elif Özlem Arslan Aydoğdu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Basic and Industrial Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Biology Department, Istanbul University. She completed her undergraduate education in 2001 at the Department of Biology, Istanbul University, her master's degree in General Biology at the same university in 2005, and her doctorate in Basic and Industrial Microbiology in 2012 with a thesis titled ‘Investigation of Virulence Factors in Different Legionella pneumophila Isolates’. In addition to her work on microbial diversity and immunology, she has conducted research on food microbiology, microbial applications in agriculture, cave microbiology, microbial calcification, biotechnological microbial processes, and green synthesis of nanoparticles using microorganisms. She has previously researched the antibacterial and haemolytic activities of the body fluids of earthworm species. She is a member of the Turkish Society for Microbiology.