Igor K. Lednev is a Professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in 1983 from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russian Federation under advisement of Professors Nikolay Bakeev and Viktor Aulov. Dr. Lednev then held a position as a group leader at the Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Professor Michael Alfimov. As an academic visitor, he worked in several leading laboratories around the world including Ronald Hester’s laboratory at York University, UK, Michael Petty’s laboratory at Durham University, UK and Katsumi Tokumaru’s laboratory at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. In 1997, Dr. Lednev came to the US and joined Sanford Asher’s laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh where they built the first nanosecond time resolved temperature-jump apparatus with ultraviolet Raman spectroscopic detection and utilized it for the kinetic studies of protein folding. Dr. Lednev accepted an Assistant Professor position at the University at Albany in 2002, was promoted to full Professor in 2013.
Prof. Lednev’s research is focused on the development and application of novel laser spectroscopy for medical diagnostics and forensic purposes. His accomplishments include a new approach for the noninvasive, early diagnostics of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and novel methods for the detection and characterization of biological stains, gunshot residue, hair and other trace evidence recovered at a crime scene. The fundamental research is focused on understanding the structure and formation mechanism of amyloid fibrils, which are protein aggregates related to neurodegenerative diseases. As a result of his group’s efforts, a new type of protein folding-aggregation phenomenon, spontaneous refolding of amyloid fibrils, and a new type of a reversible purple protein chromophore were discovered.
Dr. Lednev has co-authored over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals to date. His work has been covered by media more than 60 times including TV and radio interviews, and publications including the Wall Street Journal, Chemical & Engineering News, and Forensic Magazine. Discovery Channel Canada featured his work using Raman spectroscopy for gunshot residue analysis, and over 300 people from 53 countries registered for Dr. Lednev’s recent webinar on Raman microspectroscopy for forensic purposes and medical diagnostics.
Dr. Lednev has served as an advisory member on the White House Subcommittee for Forensic Science, and is currently a Fellow and Governing Board member of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, and member of the International Steering Committee of the International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy (ICORS). He co-organized the 2nd International Conference on Vibrational Optical Activity and Bio-Medical Applications of Raman Spectroscopy in 2010, and the 1st National Institute of Justice Forensic Science Symposium at Pittcon in 2018. Currently, he serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, Forensic Chemistry and Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Proteins and Proteomics. He has received a Guest Professor Fellowship from the Abbe Center of Photonics at Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany, the Research Innovation Award from Research Corporation, and both the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and the Creative Activities and CAS Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievements in Teaching from the University at Albany.
