Alexander Obukhov graduated from Samara State University, Samara, USSR in 1983 with a degree in Chemistry, majoring in Organic Chemistry. His Diplom Thesis work was on "Chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides in solution" under the supervision of Dr. Boris K. Chernov at the Institute of Molecular Biology AN USSR (Moscow, USSR). Alexander Obukhov later earned a PhD degree in Biophysics at the Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Kyiv, Ukraine in 1988 under the supervision of Dr. Oleg A. Kryshtal. He then completed two postdoctoral fellowships in Electrophysiology at the Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Kyiv, Ukraine and Institut für Pharmakologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany from 1988 through 1999.
Alexander Obukhov started his scientific career in 1983 in the laboratory of Dr. Alexander A. Krayevsky at the Institute of Molecular Biology AN USSR (Moscow, USSR) as a PhD student. He was involved in the chemical synthesis of unnatural nucleoside triphosphates under the supervision of Dr. Krayevsky. Some of the resulting unnatural nucleoside triphosphates were later explored as the lead compounds for developing medications with anti-HIV activity. In 1985, Alexander Obukhov moved to Kyiv to test the ability of synthesized nucleoside triphodphates to modulate the activity of ATP receptor-channels (P2x channels) in sensory neurons of rats under the supervison of Dr. Oleg A. Krishtal (Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Kyev, Ukraine). In the laboratory of Dr. Krishtal, Alexander Obukhov learned the modern electrophysiological approaches used to study ion channel activity. Specificallly, he specilized in single-cell patch clamp techniques, including single-channel recordings. Alexander Obukhov focused on determining the pharmacological and biophysical properties of P2x receptor-channels onto sensory neurons from nodose ganglia of rats. Alexander Obukhov detrmined the single-channel properties of the neuronal P2X receptor channels in sensory neurons and established their pharmacological properties.
After receiving his PhD in 1988, Alexander Obukhov worked as a Research Scientist at the Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology until 1992. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awarded him the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship (1993) enabling him to undertake research at the Institut für Pharmakologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany under Dr. Günter Schultz. While there, he investigated the biophysics of recently cloned Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) Channels and honed his skills in electrophysiology, pharmacology, and molecular biology. After completion of his fellowship in 1994, he remained at Schultz's laboratory and continued to work on TRP channel research until 1999 in the laboratory of Dr. Schultz. During this period, they discovered that TRP channels are activated by a signaling elements downstream G-protein coupled receptors and could function as an ion channel. This was demonstrated using the single-channel recordings.
Obukhov move to the US in 1999 and continued his research carrier at New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ, Newark, New Jersey as an Instructor (later Research Assistant Professor). He then moved to Indianapolis and joined the faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2006 as Assistant Professor, later being promoted to Associate Professor. Research in his laboratory focuses on molecular physiology of TRP channels and mechanisms mediating metabolic syndrome-associated atherosclerosis progression.