My main area of research interest is in the polymer materials and development of novel advanced materials for biomedical and environmental applications. My research group is a multi-disciplinary team with research interests in the development and characterisation of novel porous materials, hydrogels, (nano) composites and nanoparticle based materials. I focus on the development of functional materials for applications in the wound healing, tissue engineering, drug delivery and removing  contaminants from water.

 Specifically, my research areas include

•  Synthesis of functional porous polymer gels, hybrid polymer-inorganic and nanocomposite materials

• Characterisation of soft porous materials

• Development of smart polymer systems

• Development of drug delivery systems

• Development of novel materials for contaminated water remediation.

Accepting PhD students

Collaborators Dr T. Abdullin, Laboratory of Bioactive Polymers and Peptides, https://kpfu.ru/eng/strau/laboratories/bioactive-polymers-and-peptides

Dr M Alavijeh, Pharmidex https://www.pharmidex.com

Previous research projects:

Development of the flow through bioreactor of 3D-structured bacteria for biodegradation of aromatic chloro-derivatives from contaminated water. (H2020-MSCA-IF grant)

Water and soil clean-up from mixed contaminants (FP7-PEOPLE-IAPP, WaSClean project).

Investigation of neurotoxicity and oxidative stress of PEGylated nanographeneusing rat pheochromocytoma (PC-12) neuronal cell lines (Commonwealth scholarship).

Nanomaterials for practical use in remediation: Case study of mercury contamination in the lake Bylkyldak (The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan).

Immobilized noble metal nanoparticles as efficient flow through catalyst for “green” decomposition of chlorinated aromatic compounds (British Council Newton grant).

Controlled production and chemical modification of a variety of novel-carbons for specific end applications into the bio-organic field (FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES staff exchange programme ENSOR).

Novel smart materials for biomedical application (FP7-PEOPLE-RG grant - Bio-Smart).

Developing and evaluation of a quantitative imaging technique for assessment of nanoparticle drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier: Application for brain cancer therapeutics (FP7-PEOPLE-IAPP grant, OncoNanoBBB).

Studying adsorption of proteins on the carbon based materials (Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) research grant).

Developing novel nanocomposite materials for the water clean-up (FP7-PEOPLE-IEF. MacroClean)

Development and manufacture of permeable composite filters for environment application (FP7-PEOPLE-IAPP, CARBOSORB).

Tissue engineering materials based on macroporous cryogels and non-viral delivery systems, growth factors: the development and testing in peripheral nerve injury and therapeutic angiogenesis (Russian Federal Programme grant).

Projects on developing polymer materials, hydrogel, nanocomposites for biomedical and environmental applications. Particular interest in biomaterials, drug delivery systems, nanoparticles as catalyst and antibacterial agents, materials/methods for water decontamination.