In 2021, the scientific results of the researchers of the Federal Research Center "KSC SB RAS" were not deprived of the attention of the media. The total coverage of scientific news mentioning KSC SB RAS exceeded 500 million people. The most notable results were obtained in the field of biomedicine, creation of new materials, and assessment of carbon emissions from forest fires.

It was especially difficult to select the most vivid scientific news this year. For this, the media monitoring system "Medialogia" was used. Some news broke records in terms of vividness, others in terms of the number of messages in the media, and still others in terms of potential audience. The only record holder was the news about a development of young physicists, namely, replaceable filters made of nanofibers for respirator masks. Among the most cited were news on medical and environmental subjects and on the creation of new materials.

It is encouraging that the traffic of the FRC website is gradually increasing. Since the creation of the new version of the site, there has been a steady increase in the daily number of visitors. This is extremely important, because the organization's website is, on the one hand, a visiting card of the external audience evaluating us, and on the other, an instrument of corporate culture uniting the whole Center.

Science is the process of acquiring new knowledge, technologies, abilities, and skills. This path has its own mistakes and difficulties, but there are always unexpected, albeit small, findings. And, of course, science itself implies researchers as well: people who, by their personal example and passion, are able to demonstrate the benefits, beauty and power of science.

The ten most noticeable scientific news in 2021 about the research of scientists of the Federal Research Center "KSC SB RAS"


Replaceable Nanofiber Filters for Respirator Masks Protect Against Viruses

“Most competing aerosol filters are capable of capturing 2.5 micrometer particles. However, these filters do not impede the passage of particles with smaller diameters, such as viruses or soot. That is why an idea arose to develop another design capable of trapping particles smaller than 100 nanometers in size. Such a mask will become an excellent means of protection for doctors and patients not only during the period of influenza and acute viral infections, but also for miners who constantly need respiratory protection,” said the post-graduate, junior researcher Of the Federal Research Center, Airaana Kuular.

According to Krasnoyarsk scientists the survivin protein may help fight cancer

“The key factor in the formation of tumors is dysfunction associated with cell death. Drugs aimed at activating this process can provide the ability to selectively destroy cancer cells. However, each type of tumor is characterized by individual disturbances in the process of cell death. Accordingly, the creation of drugs aimed at the renewal of cellular processes can become a means for influencing such tumors, " said Evgenia Bashmakova, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Biophysics SB RAS.

Scientists have estimated the impact of arctic fires on carbon emissions

“Boreal and Arctic ecosystems currently constitute a carbon sink of the atmosphere. However, fires significantly affect carbon balance and can transform these ecosystems into a carbon source. The fire hazards in the northern regions have increased significantly over the past 100 years, and global and regional patterns indicate a further increase in temperatures and duration of the fire season. It is in the northern regions where the maximum increase in temperature and burning is observed. There is now an urgent need for accurate and unbiased estimates of carbon emissions from fires due to their significant impact on regional and global carbon balance and atmospheric chemistry. For the boreal forests of North America, a large amount of data has already been accumulated on the combustion efficiency and carbon emission during fires in various types of forests, and models of their relationship with meteorological indicators have been developed. For the forests of Russia, such data are scarce. The available estimates of carbon emissions for the territory of Russia are often based on data for ecosystems in North America which are completely different or just on assumptions. Insufficient knowledge of the reserves of combustible materials in forest and tundra ecosystems remains one of the most important sources of errors in assessing fire emissions, ” explained Elena Kukavskaya, Candidate of Biological Science, senior researcher at the V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forest KSC SB RAS.

Krasnoyarsk scientists have created a new material for thin films and discovered its unusual properties.

“We have been putting this puzzle together for three years. When the resistance of the resulting titanium oxynitride was measured, it was found to be very low compared to the pure material. We were confused. We began to examine the films, and it turned out that they contained an admixture of copper. This changed our whole idea, because copper conducts electricity very well. Further research showed that instead of being evenly distributed over the film, copper began to float to the surface and accumulate there into a narrow layer of 5-10 nanometers. As a result, we discovered a new phenomenon of copper segregation. The fact that it is not stirred, but pushed out is very good news for technologists. Moreover, we accidentally caught a phase transition between the state of heavily doped copper and low doped copper. The transition turned out to be quite interesting from the viewpoint of physics. By varying the extent of doping, different types of conductivity can be obtained. In the case of heavy doping, a semimetal both with the metal and nonmetal properties was obtained from copper. As a result, we got the ability to create conductive layers. This can be useful in instrumentation, for example, for devices that operate at high frequencies. Therefore, this development in the future may be useful for devices which need low resistance, for example, transistors, resistors, capacitors, photocatalysts and solar-selective absorbing coatings, ” said Philip Baron, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, a researcher at the Kirensky Institute of Physics KSC SB RAS.

Krasnoyarsk scientists received an order from the Russian Ministry of Health for the development of a kit for the diagnosis of acute leukemia

“We have received a state order from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for the development of kits allowing multiplex detection of up to 18 different oncogenic RNA transcripts. The work is performed in close cooperation with the doctors of the Regional Hospital and Krasnoyarsk Regional Center for Maternal and Child Health, as well as with the staff of the National Medical Center of Hematology of the Russian Ministry of Health.
It is expected that if leukemia is suspected, blood samples will be drawn from the patient both for classical hematological analysis and for testing on our kits, which would allow detecting oncogenic RNA markers of tumor cells within two to three hours. We hope that next year our kits will receive a registration certificate to allow for their use in medical practice, ” said Igor Olkhovsky, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Senior Researcher of the Experimental and Clinical Hematology Group, FRC KSC SB RAS.

Low-toxicity hybrid nanoparticles will find application in biomedicine

“Although the gold shell does not completely cover the core, the toxicity of the hybrid nanoparticles is reduced even after one deposition cycle of the precious metal. In addition, the resulting nanomaterial demonstrates good ferrimagnetic properties; it can quickly heat up under magnetic field. We believe that this feature, combined with low toxicity, makes hybrid nanoparticles suitable candidates for biomedical applications such as magnetic hyperthermia, photothermal therapy, drug delivery, bioimaging, and biosensorics. In addition, with the help of an external magnetic field, such particles can easily be directed to particular organs and tissues, together with drug molecules attached to their surface. Another advantage is that the hybrid material has a higher efficiency and lower cost compared to gold nanoparticles, and therefore, may be of interest as a catalyst, ” says Svetlana Saykova, Doctor of Chemistry, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of SB RAS, Professor of the Siberian Federal University.

Krasnoyarsk scientists have learned to create three-dimensional optical vortex lattices

“Optical vortices are of interest from the view point of realizing effective interactions of light with matter. They can be used to trap, confine and transfer micro-objects of different origin, including biological ones, for example, cells and biomolecules. The approach developed by our team makes it possible to form three-dimensional optical lattices consisting of optical vortices. We obtained optical lattices with a dimension of 40 × 40 × 5 nodes. That is, the lattice consists of more than 8000 nodes, each of them containing an optical vortex. In the presence of the optical vortex, the trapped particles can be set in motion and interact with each other. This approach can turn out to be productive when dealing with a variety of micro-objects, for example, in devices of the next generation, for example, in optical tweezers, ” said the Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Deputy Director for Science of the L.V. Kirensky Institute of Physics SB RAS, Andrey Vyunyshev.

New technologies will bring depleted Arctic lands back to agriculture

“Our research institute has been taking care of the restored areas for three years. During this time, 120 hectares of the disturbed lands have been restored and returned to agricultural production. Now we are monitoring technogenic wastelands, following the dynamics of settlement and development of plant communities, both wild and seeded ones. With proper care, seeded meadows function for more than 10-15 years. To increase the efficiency of our technology, we plan to create and use artificial soil mixtures to replace the lost fertile soil layer during the mining operations. The use of protective belts from local shrubs on sown crop plots is also being developed; as well as tree crops are widely employed during the restoration of technologically disturbed areas, ” says Abibulla Sariev, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, head of the biological reclamation group of the Department of Nature Management of the Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture and Ecology of the Arctic SB RAS (Norilsk).

Krasnoyarsk scientists: genetic analysis will help to avoid severe development of bronchial asthma

“Asthma is a serious socially significant disease that leads to physical and psychological discomfort. If the therapy is poorly selected or it does not allow one to control the disease, and thus, in some patients it can turn into severe forms and result in disability and even death. On the other hand, someone can live with this disease without having great complications. Genetic factors predispose to this. Our task is to identify markers in order to predict the probability of developing a severe form at an early stage of the disease. So far, we have identified genetic markers for susceptibility to severe asthma in children. They have turned out to be allelic variants of the G-IL12B and T-IL13 genes. In the future, we plan to introduce guidelines for the investigation of gene polymorphism and the level of their encoded proteins into practical healthcare. The aim of our work is to prevent the development of bronchial asthma in a severe uncontrolled form,” said Marina Smolnikova, Candidate of Biological Sciences, head of the molecular genetic research group at the Scientific Research Institute of Medical Problems of the North of SB RAS.

Biotest based on luminous bacteria will assess the contamination of urban soils

“Together with colleagues from the Siberian Federal University, we have developed a biotest based on enzymes from luminous bacteria to predict soil toxicity. The test results depend not only on the amount of contaminants in the samples, but also on the characteristics of the soil itself. To obtain more accurate and reliable data, we have supplemented the enzyme biotest with software. The appendix contains information on the characteristics of standard soil samples and on the effect of aqueous extracts from these soils on enzyme systems. This is a background inhibitory effect on biosensor components. Knowing these values and excluding them from the measurement results, we obtain an estimate of the extent of contamination of a soil sample. The developed software and biotest can find wide application in environmental monitoring,” said Alexander Shpedt, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Director of the Federal Research Center of KSC SB RAS, one of the co-authors of the study.