Alena Temnikova graduated from Far Eastern State University, Academy of Marine Biology, Ecology, and Biotechnology, in Vladivostok, Russia in 2009. She is currently studying at the Far Eastern Federal University graduate school for her PhD, her thesis focuses on the assessment of environmental pollution. For a number of years Alena Temnikova worked at the Non-Profit Organization “Pure Earth/Blacksmith Institute”, and took part in projects to reduce the risk of toxic chemicals poisoning in Former Soviet Union countries.