Nikolay Kandul received his Ph.D. at Harvard University. As a student, he was interested in evolution and was studying the effect of chromosomal rearrangements on the origins of new butterfly species. Later Dr. Kandul became interested in engineering and building genetic tools in model organisms with an ultimate goal to address big and yet more applied biological questions such as aging. At Caltech, he developed an innovative approach to study the role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in aging of muscle cells, and found that our cells have a capacity to selectively remove mutant mtDNA in vivo, rejuvenate themselves, and slow aging at the cellular level. Now, at the UC San Diego, Dr. Kandul is developing novel technologies to suppress or replace insect populations, such as the precision guided Sterile Insect Technique (pgSIT) and CRISPR/Cas9-based homing gene drives, and tackling many other challenging biological questions.