Rate My Professor Tanya Bekyarova

Tanya Bekyarova is a Teaching Professor of Biology at Illinois Institute of Technology, where she also serves as Primary Advisor of the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in Biology, Director of the Honors Program, and Associate Chair for the Department of Biology. She has been recognized as a senior lecturer and plays key roles in academic advising, graduate program oversight, and undergraduate honors initiatives within the College of Science and Letters. Bekyarova earned her M.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Plovdiv and her Ph.D. in Biology from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Her research interests center on the structure and function of muscles, with a particular emphasis on indirect flight muscles and cardiac muscle regulation. Bekyarova has contributed to several key publications in prestigious journals, leveraging techniques such as X-ray diffraction and synchrotron studies. These include “Crossbridges as Passive Brakes: Reverse Actin Sliding Triggers Strong Myosin Binding That Moves Tropomyosin” (PNAS, 2008), “Protein Kinase A-Mediated Phosphorylation of cMyBP-C Increases Proximity of Myosin Heads to Actin in Resting Myocardium” (Circulation Research, 2008), “Radial displacement of myosin cross-bridges in mouse myocardium due to ablation of myosin binding protein-C” (Journal of Molecular Biology, 2007), “The myosin filament superlattice in the flight muscles of flies: A-band lattice optimization for stretch-activation?” (Journal of Molecular Biology, 2006), and “Molecular dynamics of cyclically contracting insect flight muscle in vivo” (Nature, 2005). In teaching, she received the Excellence in Teaching award from the IIT College of Science, noted for her rigorous classes and student support. Through her leadership, she advances education and research in biology, molecular biochemistry, and biophysics at the institution.