We welcome two undergrad students to the group Aleksandra Zacheja and Zuzanna Kukla. Aleksandra is working with Bartek Kamiński on antiviral agents. Zuzanna works with Natalia Szczepańska on novel functional materials.

We're thrilled to announce that another paper has just been published!

Raza, S.; Bończak, B.; Atamas, N.; Karpińska, A.; Ratajczyk, T.; Łoś, M.; Hołyst, R.; Paczesny
The Activity of Indigo Carmine against Bacteriophages: An Edible Antiphage Agent
Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-025-13414-4

We bid farewell to Ashley, who has completed her Erasmus internship with the group. However, her project will continue in collaboration with our partners in Czechia!

In January, an article by Bartek Kamiński was published, presenting research he conducted under the supervision of Dr. Marcin Lindner at the Institute of Organic Chemistry as part of his master’s thesis. The work focused on designing new efficient emitters for OLED devices. Congrats!

Kumar, D., Bartkowski, K., Kamiński, B., Masoumifeshani, E., Ślęczkowski, P., Kubas, A., Data, P., Lindner, M.
Mixed Emission of Acenaphtho[1,2- b ] Quinoxaline Regioisomers
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c06867

Konrad coauthored a new piece. Congrats!

Global non-equilibrium thermodynamics for steady states like never before

Robert Holyst, Konrad Giżyński, Anna Maciołek, Karol Makuch, Jakub Wróbel and Paweł J. Żuk

Europhysics Letters  DOI 10.1209/0295-5075/ada182

We went through the verification and cataloging of the team`s assets. This would not have been possible if not for Aleksandra Ferenc Mrozek, Rafał Zbonikowsk, and Natalia Szczepańska.

We missed to inform about some of Enkhlin`s achievements this year! We are fixing it now!

February: 

Enkhlin returned from a six-month internship at the Rotello Lab, University of Massachusetts. During her time there, she focused on developing an innovative polymer-phage sensor for detecting and differentiating bacteria.

July: 

Enkhlin participated in the "Viruses of Microbes 2024" conference held in Cairns, Australia. She presented a poster showcasing her work on an array-based polymer-phage biosensor designed for bacteria detection and differentiation.

Sada Raza received the Best Poster Award for her innovative technology and impactful presentation during NanoBioTech-Montreux Conference 2024! Congrats!

Sada Raza and Bartosz Kaminski, PhD students from our team, presented their research at the NanoBiotech-Montreux conference (10.11.2024 – 13.11.2024). Sada showcased her poster on 

"Unveiling the Potential of Mixed-Ligand Nanoparticles: Targeted Bacteriophage Inactivation"​, 

while Bartosz presented his work on 

"Illuminating Antimicrobial Defense: Quantum Dot Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles with Light Sensitivity and Antimicrobial Properties"​.

Jan Paczesny visited Novi Sad, Serbia, as a lecturer. He delivered a series of lectures on phages in nanotechnology. There are new cooperations on the horizon - with Prof. Jaroslav Katona and Prof. Milan Vranes. Stay tuned for updates!

The campus of the University of Novi Sad is super cool! 

Hossein published two new papers recently. Congrats!

Highly efficient magnesium ferrite/graphene nano-heterostructure for visible-light photocatalytic applications: Experimental and first-principles DFT studies

Hossein Maleki-Ghaleh, Ehsan Moradpur-Tari, Mohammad Shakiba, Ehsan Ghasali, Ziba Dargahi, Danial Norouzi Arator, Yashar Behnamian, Ali Fallah, Ali Zarrabi, Ermia Aghaie, Pariya Yardani Sefidi, Mir Ghasem Hosseini, Ali Akbari-Fakhrabadi, Hamid Omidvar, M Hossein Siadati

Sustainable Materials and Technologies, e01159

Recent advancements in MXenes Synthesis, Properties, and Cutting-Edge Applications: A Comprehensive Review

Kahila Baghchesaraee, Ehsan Ghasali, Saleem Raza, Andrii Babenko, Giti Paimard, Tariq Bashir, Hossein Maleki-Ghaleh, Li Jie, Yasin Orooji

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

Natalia passed her PhD entry exam, and now she is a PhD student in the Living Materials group! 

Bartek Kamiński passed his mid-term evaluation with flying colors! Congrats! 

Ashley George joined the group as an Erasmus PhD student! Ashley came from University of Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Prague, Czechia! Ashley will work on phage-nano hybrids.

Natalia Szczepańska defended her master thesis on 27.09.2024. Prof. Izabela Madura acted as supervisor and Jan Paczesny as tutor. Congrats!

Title: "Responsive nanocoatings and thin films for applications in catalysis and as antimicrobial agents".

Enkhlin Ochirbat participated in the 4th edition of the eSPARK International Summer School on Experimental Electrochemistry that took place from the 22nd – 29th of September 2024 in Warsaw, Poland. We embrace new skills! 

Results of competition "Young Researchers of the IPC PAS". 

Sada Raza

Rafał Zbonikowski 

Mateusz Wdowiak 

were awarded! Congratulations!

Mateusz Wdowiak defended his thesis entitled: "Stabilization of bacteriophages against adverse conditions". The Reviewers, Prof. Anna Dembska, Prof. Artur Krężeł and Prof. Robert Czajkowski, all suggested to distinguish the work with the honorary mention. Congratulations! 

Mateusz is now starting his post doc at Warsaw University. 

Jan Paczesny attended in the 66th Scientific Meeting of the Polish Chemical Society. Poznań, 15-20.09.2024. He delivered a lecture entitled: "From unusual building blocks to responsive 2D systems at the air/water interface".

Rafał, Gunjan, and Hossein had the opportunity to attend the EMRS 2024 Fall Meeting, hosted in the iconic main hall of Warsaw University of Technology. The science-oriented discussion were very inspiring!

Jan Paczesny attended the 3rd Bacteriophage Symposium in Gdańsk from 5th to 7th of September. He delivered a lecture entitled "Physico-chemical studies of bacteriophage-based systems". 

We welcome Klaudia (Warsaw Univ. of Technology) and Katia (The Warsaw University of Life Sciences) for the summer internship. Klaudia will work on antivirial agents and Katia is supporting Enkhlin`s project on bacterial sensing. Welcome!

Yet another paper! 

Technology and research on the influence of liquid crystal cladding doped with magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles on light propagation in an optical taper sensor

Michał Niewczas, Karol A Stasiewicz, Natalia Przybysz, Anna Pakuła, Jan Paczesny, Rafał Zbonikowski, Jerzy Dziaduszek, Przemysław Kula, Leszek R Jaroszewicz

Advanced Optical Technologies, 2024, 13, 1422695

https://doi.org/10.3389/aot.2024.1422695

New paper! 

Kusior, A.; Mazurkow, J.; Jelen, P.; Bik, M.; Raza, S.; Wdowiak, M.; Nikiforov, K.; Paczesny, J. 

"Copper Oxide Electrochemical Deposition to Create Antiviral and Antibacterial Nanocoatings".

Published in Langmuir (July 9th, 2024).

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c00642

Our PhD student Mateusz Wdowiak participated at the 48th FEBS Congress in Milan, Italy (29.06-03.07.2024). The scientific poster he presented discussed the use of sulfonic compounds, with an emphasis on selective, efficient, and biocompatible agents stabilizing bacteriophages from UV irradiation,