A PhD student Mgr. Tomáš Bíró from the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences completed a two-month professional internship at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). Under the supervision of Dr. Martin Humenik (Hybrid Materials Group, Chair of Biomaterials), his research focused on the preparation of protein/fibril-DNA hybrids for the fabrication of nanohydrogels.
The developed hydrogels combine the structural stability of protein fibrils with the programmable functionality of DNA, opening up new possibilities for applications in tissue engineering, targeted drug delivery, and biosensing.
The outcomes of the internship significantly contributed to the ongoing collaboration between the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Center for Interdisciplinary Biosciences (TIP UPJŠ), and the University of Bayreuth, further advancing the development of fibril-based functional biomaterials.
The internship was funded by SAIA – the National Scholarship Program of the Slovak Republic, which supports the mobility of students, PhD candidates, university teachers, researchers, and artists, and was carried out in close cooperation with project No. 09I02-03-V01-00021.
