Elena P. Ivanova is a nanobiotechnologist/biophysicist, academic, and author. She is a Distinguished Professor at RMIT University, Australia. She is most known for her research on biomaterials and bioengineering, focusing on biomimetics antimicrobial nanostructured surfaces. Ivanova has authored/co-authored over five books, including New Functional Biomaterials for Medicine and Healthcare, Antibacterial surfaces, and Superhydrophobic surfaces. Her research is primarily focused on design, fabrication and operation of planar micro-devices, with particular emphasis on bacterial taxonomy, biomaterials, immobilization of bio-molecules and micro-organisms in micro/nano/environments, microbial interactions with macro/micro/nano-structured surfaces, and mechano-bactericidal biomimetic nanostructured surfaces. Ivanova is a Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology, Life member of Bergey's International Society for Microbial Systematics (BISMiS), and is associated with several organizations, including the American Society for Microbiology, the American Chemical Society, and Royal Society of Victoria. Education Ivanova received her BSc and MSc in Biochemistry from Vladivostok State Medical University in 1979. She then completed her PhD in microbiology at Institute of Microbiology and Virology in Ukraine in 1991, with a dissertation on "The physiological activity of marine microorganisms, associated with the mussel Crenomytilus grayanus." She worked at Pacific Institute of Bio-organic Chemistry, and received her ScD in Microbiology in 1999. Followed by a Diploma in Molecular Evolution and Bacterial Systematics from the University of Antwerp, she enrolled at Pacific Institute of Bio-organic Chemistry, and received her ScD in Microbiology in 1999. She then moved to Australia, earning her JD from the University of Melbourne in 2008, and a GradDip from the Law Institute of Victoria in 2010. Career Ivanova began her academic career as a Research Fellow of Far-Eastern Research Institute of State Hydrometeorology and Environment Preservation Committee of the USSR in 1980. She held her next appointment as a Senior Scientist in Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (PIBOC) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) in 1985. Having served in this position for 9 years, she became Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Osaka National Research Institute, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology in 1994. In the following year, she was appointed as an Advanced Technology Researcher in Industrial Technology R&D Department at New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. Between 1997 and 2001, she held concurrent appointments as Senior Scientist at PIBOC FEB RAS, and Fellow in Microbiology at the University of Maryland, Center of Marine Biotechnology. Followed by these appointments, she joined Swinburne University of Technology as a Senior Lecturer. She was