Russian Science Foundation has published the results of the grant contests within the Initiative Research by Young Scientists and Research by Scientific Groups Led by Young Scientists programmes. In two sections, 12 projects of Saratov University at once received funding from RSF.

The first competition was aimed at supporting young people under the age of 33 who defended their PhD theses. The funding for the winners amounted to 1,5 million rubles. The grant will last for 2 years. 1,400 applications were sent and 469 projects were supported by the expert council. From SSU the projects are the following:

– The noise impact on neural networks, complex ensembles, and the effectiveness of machine learning (21-72-00002; supervisor – Nadezhda Semyonova);

– Van der Waals heterostructures based on borophene, zinc oxide, gallium nitride, and transition metal dichalcogenides гused to implement metal-semiconductor contact: a computational experiment on quantum models (21-72-00082; supervisor – Mikhail Slepchenkov);

– GRS-active materials with supramolecular elements used to determine medication in biofluids H (21-73-00098; supervisor – Natalya Markina);

– Luminescent test methods for non-invasive preclinical monitoring of psychoemotional disorders based on cadmium-free quantum dots (21-73-00102; supervisor – Anastasia Novikova);

– Polymorphism of populations of Globularia L. taxa in European Russia due to their genesis and dispersal (21-74-00004; supervisor – Alyona Parkhomenko);

– Development of the technology for integrated mapping of thermostructures on human body surface and its application in fundamental medicine (21-75-00035; supervisor – Andrei Fomin).

The second contest is aimed at supporting a new generation of scientific leaders. The foundation provides grants for young candidates and doctors of science under the age of 35. The size of the grant is up to 6 million rubles annually, its duration is 3 years, and the project can be competitively prolonged on a competitive basis for 2 years. For these funds, young researchers should not only offer an interesting idea but also form a youth research group in order to implement their projects as leaders. More than 1,600 thousand applications were registered, and 318 projects received the support of the expert council – 6 of them were developed by SSU employees. The list of such projects includes:

– Inverse spectral problems for differential operators with distribution coefficients (21-71-10001; supervisor – Natalya Bondarenko);

– Study of the effectiveness of local photodynamic impact on biological tissues with targeted delivery of dyes or nanoparticles using submicron carriers (21-72-10057; supervisor – Irina Yanina);

– Development of methods for determining the concentration of cytostatic medicine in biological fluids and controlled release systems (21-73-10046; supervisor – Olga Goryacheva);

– Modelling of electrochemical systems based on carbon nanostructures decorated with lithium-accumulating materials (21-73-10091; supervisor – Arsenii Ushakov);

– Improving the efficiency and safety of therapy for urinary system diseases using macromolecular carriers with controlled drug release for intravesical delivery (21-75-10042; supervisor – Oksana Maiorova);

– Digital technologies for studying the lymphatic system of the brain and its membranes: interactive 3D atlas (21-75-10088; supervisor – Nikita Navolokin).

You can see that a significant part of the projects supported by the foundation are related to medicine. This reflects the current research priorities of the university which has accumulated an impressive research and educational potential in order to prepare highly qualified specialists in interdisciplinary research. To remind, this year a new educational unit, the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine and Medical Technologies, is opening at SSU.