Speaker 1: Ekaterina Moiseeva, PhD-2, BioPhotonics Lab, Photonics Center

Title: Ultra-small water-soluble citrate-coated superparamagnetic g-Fe2O3 nanoparticles: size effect on MR contrast properties

Abstract: As magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast, several formulations of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have been approved for use in clinical settings. Their main ability is to possess only negative (T2) contrast enchantment. However, the contrast properties of SPIONs depend heavily on the structure and physicochemical properties of SPIONs. The size of the magnetic core can be controlled in this context in order to alter the relaxation time of proton particles. In a remotely controlled chemical reactor, we synthesized a series of SPIONs aqueous colloids with different core sizes. Synthesized SPIONs are examined in water and human plasma using a 1.5T MRI scanner. The phantom test in water shows that as the particle core size increases, the T2 contrast intensifies, while the T1 contrast is extinguished

Bio: Ekaterina is a PhD-2 student in the Biophotonics Lab under Prof. Dmitry Gorin's supervision. Her research interests include developing magnetic nanoparticles based on iron oxide as MR contrasts and therapeutic agents. Ekaterina graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 2022 with a specialist degree in Chemistry.

Speaker 2: Natalia Starkova, MSc-1, Hybrid Photonics Lab, Photonics Center

Title: Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality in a one-dimensional chain of exciton polariton condensates in inorganics

Abstract: Many physical phenomena such as surface growing of bacterial colonies and crystals fall into one universality class despite different complex physical processes that are involved. It was shown experimentally and theoretically that the phase fluctuations of the driven-dissipative exciton-polariton condensate could be mapped into this KPZ universality class. These systems displaying quantum macroscopic coherence open a field to explore universal statistical behavior on a new platform.

Bio: Natalia is a MSc-1 student in the Hybrid Photonics Lab under the supervision of Prof. Pavlos Lagoudakis. Natalia graduated from Moscow State University in 2023 with a Bachelor degree in Physics. Her previous scientific studies were connected with terahertz photonics and nonlinear optics. Now her research interests are exciton polaritonics and stochastic universality classes.