Archives: Projects

Sergey Samsonov: Despite the tremendous successes of contemporary medicine in the last decades, there are still many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, which are far from being not only cured or well described in terms of the characteristic symptoms but also from being understood in detail.

Agnieszka Maria Tomala: The two main constituents of tribology are friction and wear, the control and reduction of both parameters is critical to proper functionality of machine elements.

Michał Jerzy Michałowski: Gas in galaxies can exist in two forms: atomic and molecular. Atomic gas is composed of hydrogen atoms separated from each other, whereas molecular gas is composed of hydrogen atoms forming a molecule (two atoms bound together).

Panagiotis Theodorakis: Proteins are biomolecules consisting of one or more amino acids that carry out a vast array of functions within organisms. However, proteins can also be the cause of various diseases when, for example, they aggregate into particular structures.

Eva Otón: Photonic devices are present in everyday life: from TV screens, holograms, phones, PC displays and fibre optical communications to avionics. All these are examples of photonic devices – devices that are able to manipulate light with an external control. The general objective of this project was to develop new families of photonic devices to manipulate guided and unguided light beams using novel materials.

Ashley Paul Gumsley: It is now emerging that our wandering continents came together and diverged throughout Earth’s history, a process known as the Supercontinent Cycle. The last known supercontinent was Pangea, which began to break apart in the time of the dinosaurs. However, this has been shown as just one of many supercontinents back in time, with the supercontinent before Pangea known as Rodinia existing up to one billion years ago, and which was the focus of this project.

Anna Kula-Pacurar: There are almost 40 million people throughout the world living with HIV. 35 years after its discovery there is a good anti-HIV therapy; however, this treatment cannot fully eliminate the virus. 

James Wesley Scott: The development of the European Union is often linked to ideas of ‘Europeanisation’, which sometimes suggests a one-sided exportation of values and rules from West to East. At the same time, the notion of an East-West gap within the EU emphasises economic, political and cultural differences. However, is this an accurate reading of the situation?

Dawid Witold Janas: We are living in times when energy demand is growing at such a fast pace that it will not be long before we encounter a huge crisis unless discoveries come to light to avert it. What we need is a new generation of electrical conductors, more efficient, ecologically-friendly and sustainable. A recently discovered form of carbon called carbon nanotubes seems like one of the most viable candidates to accomplish this goal.

Djuro Huber: As with all wildlife, and perhaps even more so, brown bears are affected by loss of living space and changes to the remaining parts of habitat. This has led to the extinction of bears in most parts of Western Europe. Poland, Croatia and Sweden still have bears in parts of the countries.