Prior to Skoltech, Raul was an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Duke University in North Carolina, USA where he is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor. Since 2008, he is also Senior Researcher in the Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genova, Italy and since 2013 he is Professor of the Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. Before joining the Department of Cell Biology in 1996 and becoming faculty at Duke in 2000, he conducted research at the Institute of Pharmacology Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow (1988-1996). He received a Ph.D. degree in pharmacology in 1992 from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and a doctor of medicine degree in 1988 from the Second Moscow Medical Institute, Moscow, Russia. 

Classical monoamines and trace amines in physiology and pathology Dopamine transporters, receptors, signal transduction and GPCR regulatory mechanisms in dopamine-related functions and behaviors Molecular mechanisms of action of psychotropic drugs (psychostimulants, antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, cognitive enhancers) Genetic animal models of brain disorders (ADHD, addiction, depression, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia) Transgenic technologies in pharmacology