The Department of Organic Chemistry, the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, Lviv Polytechnic, is formed in a synergy of new knowledge, scientific experiments, volunteering and professional leisure.
This is the way the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD programs of the Department of Organic Chemistry are developed. Ambitious and talented students study at the lectures and laboratory classes, as well as perform individual experiments under the watchful eye of scientific mentors – Professor Volodymyr Samaryk, Professor Serhii Varvarenko and Senior Researcher Nataliia Nosova. They are involved in various manufacturing stages of the hydrogel dressings «Aquior» for the treatment of wounds and burns, attend cultural events, organize interesting trips – they actively live their lives and inspire others with their desperate young enthusiasm.
The representatives of the ZMIN Foundation, a private Ukrainian foundation established to provide systematic expert support to strengthen effective social transformation and sustainable development, got interested in such creative activities.
So, this year, the Foundation decided to provide scholarship support for the development of individual research projects for postgraduate student Solomiia Kapatsila, master’s students Diana Varchuk, Yuliia Kyrychuk, Yaryna Kuryshchuk and Serhii Tsykunkov, and undergraduate student Yuliia Cherkas.
As part of the scholarship program, postgraduate student Solomiia Kapatsila manufactured haemostatic bandages on a modified workshop line, which enabled her to produce a sufficient number of products to conduct a series of tests on live animals and obtain the necessary results to continue the research.
- Master student Diana Varchuk managed to make the first measurements of the droplet on materials with different surface energies and determine the optimal composition of the permanent adhesive which is the most important component of the occlusal dressing – a new development of the research team led by Professor Volodymyr Samaryk.
- Master’s student Yulia Kyrychuk synthesised a line of polymers for encapsulating sorbic acid and, together with doctoral student Roman Taras, analysed them on a chromatograph, and synthesised the following polymers for trial bread baking.
- Master’s student Yaryna Kuryshchuk studied unmodified and modified lignin using thin-layer chromatography, and also learned how to conduct a test to determine the transparency of hydrogel compositions by the light transmission method using a modern spectrophotometer.
- Master’s student Serhii Tsykunkov was involved in setting up and commissioning a device designed to analyse the energy properties of polymeric materials’ surfaces and participated in the development of a new methodology for studying surface characteristics that became key to the development of an occlusive dressing.
- Student Yuliia Cherkas was involved in research to create the first pilot batch of hydrogel dressings containing silver nanoparticles.
- From time to time, Khrystyna Boiko, Director of the ZMIN Foundation, visits the team of young scientists and their mentors and talks to the scholarship holders about their achievements and challenges.
Lviv Polytechnic expresses its gratitude to the ZMIN Foundation for supporting talented young people and for its comprehensive assistance in the development of research by young scientists at the University. This is valuable, necessary and important at the present time.
