AST PhD candidates – A.D. 2019
Julia Berdychowska
My name is Julia Berdychowska. I obtained my Master’s thesis in biotechnology at Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences at Nicolaus Copernicus University under the supervision of dr Justyna Boniecka. I am one of co-authors of papers about seed vigour and deterioration (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2018.12.098, https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.12361) and bacterial stringent response (https://doi.org/10.21307/PM-2019.58.2.127). In 2019 I joined the Theoretical Biophysics Group at the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics. In this group, we are interested in simulating protein movements. We use molecular dynamics, which is a method that predicts evolution of state of the atoms in the protein. I study enzyme that is used in industry, nitrile hydratase (NHase). Me and my supervisor, doctor Łukasz Pepłowski collaborate with Jiangnan University in Wuxi in China. Together we published a paper about designing NHase that is more stable in high temperature (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.03.103). In my free time I like to read books, ride my bike and listen to the music. I am also interested
in travelling and learning about another cultures.
Kinga Mylkie
I am Kinga Mylkie, a PhD student at the Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences in Toruń. I deal with the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles coated with polymers with potential biomedical applications, in particular the assessment of their suitability for protein immobilization. I obtained my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Faculty of Chemistry at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
Michał Durjasz
A fan of computer games, Middle-earth mythology and formula 1. He graduated from Astronomy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, and since 2016 he has been making observations with a 32-meter radio telescope in Piwnice. In his bachelor’s thesis he dealt with the variability of maser lines with different pumping mechanisms, in the master’s thesis – the relationship between brightness changes of 6.7 GHz methanol and infrared masers in sources monitored by the Piwnicki radio telescope. He is the author of several observation projects carried out by the European Large Basin Interferometry Network (EVN), he has also published in prestigious journals: Astronomy & Astrophysics and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. During his adventure with a doctorate, he studies the processes taking place in the environment of emerging, massive stars, he also creates software for working with radio data.
Piotr Gładysz
Graduated from the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in theoretical physics, defending a thesis entitled “Asymmetric two-level system in interaction with light”. It was awarded as the best bachelor thesis written at the Faculty during the 2016/2017 academic year. Two years later, in the same field of study, he defended his Master’s degree with the thesis “Propagation of a low-frequency pulse in a medium of asymmetric atomic systems”, which is an extension of the previous research. During these studies, he was awarded the title of the best student and the best graduate student of the Faculty in the academic years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 respectively. He is currently studying in the Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences, where he is involved in a project entitled “Interaction of light with quantum systems of different degrees of symmetry”. This is a study of the broadly defined interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter such as atoms, molecules and quantum dots. During his studies he repeatedly took part in scientific conferences presenting the results of his research in the form of speeches and posters. He also participated in scientific trips to Karlsruhe and Krakow, where he collaborated with local scientists. He was a long-standing member and president of the Scientific Association of Physics Students and is currently on the board of the SPIE & OSA sections at the Nicolaus Copernicus University. He is also involved in the popularization of science by organizing and co-organizing demonstrations, workshops and speeches at various events (Copernicon, Festival of Passion, Researchers’ Night, etc.). As a hobby, he does whatever interests him at the moment – from machine learning, through electronics, programming, to bridge and computer games. As physical activities he prefers table tennis and gym.
Piotr Kłosiński
He graduated full-time second-cycle studies in the field of environmental protection with an overall result of 4.96 after submitting his master’s thesis entitled “Group behavioral responses of the monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis and gudgeon Gobio gobio to alarm substances”, made in the Department of Hydrobiology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University under the supervision of dr hab. Tomasz Kakareko, NCU prof. This work provides novel, experimental evidence for the existence of differences in the strength of defense responses to predators between prey species with different invasive potential. Due to the enormous and growing importance of biological invasions in the modern world, these results are of great importance to the international scientific community. In 2021, the Polish Hydrobiological Society awarded the 2nd degree award of the Professor Marian Gieysztor for his MA thesis. During his master’s studies he became interested in laboratory research in the biology and ecology of freshwater fish. During this period, he gained the authority to perform animal research, which is now necessary to conduct experiments with vertebrates. He actively participated as a contractor as a scholarship holder in a research project financed by the NCN Opus grant “Defense against predation as an element of the competitive advantage of invasive fish species over native ones: A case study of Ponto-Caspian Gobiidae”, led by dr hab. Tomasz Kakareko, NCU prof. Three times he received the NCU Rector’s scholarship for the best students. In 2019, he won the title of the Best Graduate of the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in the 2018/2019 academic year. The result of his scientific activity was active participation in scientific conferences, co-authorship of the poster presented at the significant nationwide conference of the XXIV Congress of Polish Hydrobiologists in Wrocław (2018), and a paper presented at the prestigious international conference Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences (SEFS 11, Zagreb, Croatia, 2019, first author). After completing his second-cycle studies, he successfully applied to the Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences “Academia Scientiarum Thoruniensis” at the Nicolaus Copernicus University (discipline: biological sciences). As part of his doctorate, he conducts research on the impact of global warming on the process of biological invasions of alien fish species. He spends his free time actively, cycling and running. His second passion, apart from biology, is sport.
Sandra Lubińska-Mielińska
A graduate of environmental protection at the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Bachelor’s thesis She defended her “Analysis of the flora of a selected ruderal area in Toruń” in 2017. For the thesis entitled “Changes in the vegetation of the halophyte reserve in Ciechocinek as a result of revitalization,” which she defended in 2019, won the second place in the competition for the best master’s thesis in the 2018/2019 academic year organized by the Provincial Bureau of Environmental Protection of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. She prepared both works under the supervision of scientists from the Department of Geobotany and Landscape Planning. PhD student at the Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences Academia Scientiarum Thoruniensis UMK in Toruń in the field of biological sciences from 2019. She is working on the implementation of a doctoral project entitled: “Functional features of species as a feature of plant communities in European inland salt marshes” (“Plant functional traits drive plant associations in European inland salt marshes”) under the supervision of dr hab. Agnieszka Piernik, prof. Nicolaus Copernicus University and the assistant supervisor, Dr. Dariusz Kamiński. ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5969-0067.
Władysław Klinikowski
I prepare my doctoral dissertation in the field of mathematics “Dynamics of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations on RN-Topological Approach”. My research concerns searching for periodic solutions of equations which describe phenomena from physics and engineering like beam or wave equation as well as Schrödinger equation. Roughly speaking, I use topological methods which preserve some interesting properties of equations under condition that considered deformation is continuous, i. e. we do not rip our object. This allows us to transform initially nonlinear (and for this reason hard) problem into easier linear equation. Moreover, I was also engaged in activity of Student Mathematical Society, in particular, I was a chairman of it during academic year 2018/2019. Up to today I collaborate with my younger colleagues from this Society. Privately, I am interested in history and great engineering objects like bridges or tunnels.