Needing to support herself and her daughter, she enrolled in the co-educational Vladimir lecture courses in 1870 and then became a medical student at the University of Zurich two years later, specializing in physiology.

Some of her work there was later published in the Journal of Medical Science (German: Zentralblatt für Medizinische Wissenschaften).

Unable to work in her field, Panteleeva began translating scientific papers and wrote essays on popular science.

After signing two petitions protesting the brutal treatment of peaceful protestors in 1901, her husband was exiled from St Petersburg for three years.

Five years later, she presented a paper to the First All-Russian Congress on Women's Education (Pervyi Vserossiiskii S’ezd po Obrazovaniiu Zhenshchin) on her experiences in Zurich.