Russian Science Foundation has summed up the results of several contents. For the first time, the scientists of Saratov State University have won a competition to support the research of world-class scientific laboratories. Another SSU project has received support to extend the deadlines for research projects carried out in the world-class scientific infrastructure.
Oksana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya (the Pilot technology of photomodulation of the immune system of the brain of animals and humans: innovative strategies in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease project) and Maria Morozova (the Nanoscale multifunctional devices of magnon logic and reservoir calculations on spin waves in periodic magnetic heterostructures project) are among the winners of the Conducting research by world-class scientific laboratories which implement the priorities of research-to-technology development of the Russian Federation contest of the Presidential Research Projects Programme of. This grant is aimed at carrying out research in 2023-2026, and it may be prolonged for the project period.
Another project of Saratov State University, Metasurfaces for controlling spin-wave processes in magnetic micro- and nanoscale structures, which Sergei Grishin is engaged in, was included into the list of winners of the contest for prolonging the deadlines for Conducting research at world-class scientific infrastructure projects of the Presidential Research Projects Programme.
The Head of the Office of Research Olga Moskalenko marked the importance of these achievements for the university. ‘This time, our university has very big victories. Of the three applications submitted for the RSF 2023 contests, the results of which were announced in February, all three applications have received the support of this fund. For the first time, our university has won a contest aimed at supporting world-class laboratories, and two laboratories of our university have received support at once. These are the Smart Sleep Laboratory, established with the support of the government megagrant programme in 2019, and the Magnetic Metamaterials Laboratory, which is the legal successor of the Metamaterials Laboratory, established in 2010 as a result of winning the first megagrant contest.’
Both laboratories work as part of strategic projects of the Priority 2030 programme – Personalized Medicine Technologies (Smart Sleep Laboratory) and ICT-Electronics (Magnetic Metamaterials Laboratory). The project led by Sergei Grishin is also included into the ICT-Electronics stratproject.
‘All this testifies to the correct choice of priority areas of the university development and the high level of research conducted at the university,’ Olga Moskalenko noted.
The project of the Chair of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology Oksana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya is aimed at developing a pilot technology for photo-modulation of the brain immune system in order to develop a new strategy for the prevention and therapy of Alzheimer's disease based on breakthrough discoveries in neuroimmunology and meningeal lymph vessels (MLS). The study applies fundamentally new knowledge how to activate the protective mechanisms of the central nervous system (CNS) during sleep.
Modern vectors in the research of the mechanisms of development of Alzheimer's disease are aimed at studying the decrease in lymphatic drainage function of the brain, which leads to the accumulation of toxins in its tissues and neuroinflammation, which damages neurons and their functions. Therefore, the development of methods for controlling lymphatic vessels and immune responses of the brain is considered promising. During sleep, the processes of excretion of metabolites, including beta-amyloid, from the brain are naturally activated. Therefore, sleep is considered as a biomarker of Alzheimer's disease and an important informative platform for the development of innovative technologies for its treatment.
Professor of the Department of Nonlinear Physics, a leading researcher at Metamaterials Laboratory Maria Morozova is aimed at solving a scientific problem related to the creation of a new element base based on the principles of magnonics, which consists in using spin waves or magnons instead of electrons as information carriers. The rapid development of IT dramatically increases the requirements for systems for generating, intelligent processing, and transmitting large-scale information. It is necessary to search for fundamentally new approaches and methods of information processing. The most promising approach in this direction is based on the use of short-wave magnon excitations in nanoscale periodic magnetic heterostructures. The use of semiconductor media in such heterostructures opens up potential opportunities for the integration of the proposed magnonic devices into standard semiconductor electronics.
As part of the project of the Chair of the Department of Electronics, Oscillations, and Waves Sergei Grishin, new controlled materials of microwave and terahertz frequency ranges in the form of micro- and nanostructured magnetic metasurfaces will be developed. For the first time, the researcher is going to develop planar magnetic metamaterials, the structure period of which will be much shorter than the spin wave length. Such metamaterials will be used to develop linear and nonlinear controlled devices operating not only in the microwave frequency range, but also in the terahertz one.
