Born on 30 May 1964 in Leningrad, USSR (=St. Petersburg, Russia). Graduated from Leningrad State University in 1986. PhD in Mathematics from St. Petersburg State University, 1991. Previous long-term positions: - Institute of Analysing Devices, Leningrad, USSR (1986-1989), researcher; - St. Petersburg University of Electrical Engineering, St. Petersburg, Russia, assistant professor (1989-1992) and then associate professor (1992-1998) in the Department of Mathematics; - Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain (1996-1997), visiting professor; - Universitat de Barcelona, Spain (1999-2001), visiting research fellow; - Steklov Institute of Mathematics, St. Petersburg Branch (POMI), St. Petersburg, Russia (1998-2007), senior researcher; - Universitat de Barcelona, Spain (2003-2006), Ramón y Cajal researcher. Prizes: Young Scientist Award in the area of Mathematics from Academia Europaea (for fSU researchers), 1998.