Kokaia Zaal

Zaal Kokaia (b. May 29, 1962, Tbilisi), biologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences (1997), professor (2008). He graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Tbilisi State University (1984); worked at the I. Beritashvili Institute of Physiology (1987); was a fellow of Lund University (Sweden, 1990), where he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (1995). In Georgia, he was awarded the scientific degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences (1997). He was an employee of Lund University (1999) in the field of experimental neurology, associate professor (2002) in the field of experimental medicine; head of the Neural Stem Cell Biology Laboratory of the Strategic Center for Stem Cells and Cell Therapy (2003), deputy director and director of the same center (2011–2020); head of the EU-funded international scientific consortium Stemstroke (2007–2011); coordinator of the EU FP 7 consortium Target Brain (2012–2016); professor at the Neurology Section of the Department of Clinical Science at Lund University (2008) in the field of experimental medical research. The main topic of his research is the possible use of stem cells to restore functional disorders caused by cerebral stroke. He has received the Georgian National (2019) and B. Falk (2020) Prizes in Neuromedicine.