Ural Federal University: Two University Projects Will Receive Grants from the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education
Two Ural Federal University projects won the 2021 Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s competition to conduct research with foreign colleagues. The grant for the first project, “Segnetoelectric Crystals with Regular Domain Structure for Optoelectronics,” was awarded for three years. The second project, “Stochastic transport of nanoparticles, organelles, and viruses inside living cells with applications in medicine,” is for one year.
In the first project, the performers are employees of the laboratory of segmentelectrics and the Ural Center for Collective Use “Modern Nanotechnologies” of UrFU under the leadership of Center Director Vladimir Shur. They will work together with Chinese colleagues from the International Dielectric Research Center group at Xi’an Transport University on the domain structure and growing crystals.
“The goal of the project is to develop methods for creating a stable regular and cascade domain structure in crystals of the relaxor segmentelectric family based on the results of studies of domain structure kinetics in an inhomogeneous electric field. In addition, there are plans to produce prototypes of laser frequency converters with a regular domain structure and cascade optical deflectors,” says Vladimir Shur.
The second grant was awarded to employees of the laboratory of multiscale mathematical modeling, headed by the laboratory’s lead researcher Dmitry Alexandrov. Together with colleagues from the University of Manchester (England), they will compile a model describing the behavior of nanoparticles, organelles, and viruses in cells.
“Our model, for example, will tell us how viruses behave during vaccination, help us understand how toxic some or other particles are for cells. Thus, our work contributes to the development of personalized medicine, high-tech healthcare, and health-saving technologies, including through the rational use of drugs, primarily antibacterial ones,” explains Dmitry Alexandrov.