PhD student

Head of the project Prof. UAM Igor Iatsunskyi is looking for candidates to work in a scientific project “Tunable multilayered hyperbolic metamaterials based biosensors for cancer biomarker detection”

Metamaterials are artificial structures with optical properties that are different from the general properties of traditional nanomaterials (negative refractive index, for example). Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) are one of the new classes of metamaterials. They have rapidly gained a central role in nanophotonics due to their facility in manipulating light in a wide frequency range.

Development of novel materials for biosensor application is one of the most significant challenges in nowadays science and technology. Therefore, the proposed project is aimed at developing of novel HHMs with tailored optical properties based on Plasmonic material/Metal oxide multilayered nanostructures (nanolaminates) produced by atomic layer deposition (ALD) for label-free cancer biomarker biosensors. As plasmonic components, instead of noble metals, Al-doped ZnO (AZO) and TiN will be used. The metal oxide components will involve Al2O3 and ZnO nanolayers. The proposed nanocomposites will be used as an optical (refractometric) biosensing platform for specific cancer biomarkers detection (e.g. HMGB1, CD5, CD19). The proposed project is multidisciplinary. It covers the fields of physics, chemistry, material engineering, biomedicine, bio- and nanotechnology.

The expected new fundamental results in structure, electronic, and optical properties of multilayered HMMs will be important in the field of material science, allowing the tailoring and control of the multicomponent nanostructures and their properties. The achieved results will make an impact to scientific fields of material science, surface science and optical sensor technologies. They will stimulate development of new composite materials with advanced properties and new optical sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity.

Your tasks:

• fabrication and characterization of HMMs;
• development of optical biosensor towards cancer biomarker detection;
• Participation in project meetings;
• Coordination with internal and external partners (business trips are planned);
• Publication and presentation of research results in relevant journals and/or at international conferences.

For more information please contact the project leader

Prof. Igor Iatsunskyi ([email protected] ).