Probably not accidentally in September I appeared on the SIM 2013 in Krynica, which is annual meeting of PhD students and Young Scientists. Meeting was aimed at bringing young researchers from different material science fields together to discuss the latest advancement and development of novel materials. During the conference I presented results of work entitled “Thermal stability of polyelectrolyte multilayer films for surface modification of blood contacting materials”. The low level of biocompatibility of materials used for cardiovascular implants, indicates the necessity of their targeted functionalization. An innovative approach is to modify the surface by polyelectrolyte coating with a thermal tolerance allows to store implant under cryogenic conditions and then use it for a long-term at physiological temperature. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of temperature in the range from -50 ° C to +50 ° C on physico-chemical properties and potential to endothelialisation of the coatings consist of poly-L-lysine (PLL) and hyaluronic acid (HA). The relationship between the chemical cross-linking degree and thermal stability of the multilayers was also investigated. Changes in films properties and behavior were assessed based on diffusion analysis by FRAP method and endothelial cells adhesion and proliferation assay. It has been shown that heating leads to small changes in the properties of the coating. There was improvement in thermal stability in response to increase of coatings cross-linking degree.

An examination of energy cuttoff influence on structure in liquid binary metallic systems using CP2K and CASTEP package.

In September I was on coference EUROMAT 2013 in Seville , Spain, where I presented the results of my work in the form of poster entitled „Electrodeposition and characterization of zinc-molybdenum coatings for corrosion protection of steel”. Also I listened to several very interesting presentations concerning various aspects of materials science.

In September I participated in a great scientific event. It was the ESAO 2013 conference in Glasgow –Scotland. I had an opportunity to present results of my recent work in form of speech entitled “Alginate and poly-L-lysine modified capsules as human cardiac stem cells delivery system for myocardial regeneration”.
The presentation concerned heart regeneration modern ideas. The endogenous repair of injured myocardium is limited process, therefore either cell replacement or recruitment into damaged heart area is required. The human cardiac stem cells (hCSC) therapy has been suggested as a novel approach to address myocardial regeneration. Unfortunately commonly applied methods of cell transfer are not sufficiently effective. The polymer alginate (ALG) or poly-L-lysine – alginate (PLL-ALG) microcapsules can be used to improve the efficiency of cell delivery and therapy. The aim of this study was to assess hemocompatybility and cytotoxic influence of capsules on the human cardiac stem cells growth and proliferation. The cytotoxic effect of alginate, poly-L-lysine-alginate microcapsules or their extracts on the primary hCSC culture conditions was examined by microscopic analysis of the death cells contribution. The viability and precentage of apoptotic cells was assessed after hCSC culture incubation with capsules by flow cytometric analysis of propidium iodide potential to intracellular penetration and anexin V, CD95, caspase-9 receptor expression. Changes in cell morphology were determined by microscopic observations after DAPI, phalloidin, anti-vimetnin staining and Shape Index (SI) evaluation. Moreover, the thrombogenicity of alginate, poly-L-lysine-alginate microcapsules in a few different dilutions was investigated by a flow cytometric analysis of platelets activation and aggregates formation. The effect of capsules or their extracts on lymphocytes activation was determined based on cytometric measurements of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD14, CD16, CD19, CD40, CD45RA, CD45RO and CD86 markers expression. Results of cytotoxicity studies showed significantly higher effect both of ALG capsules and extracts on the contribution of the death cells in comparison with PLL-ALG treated samples. It was found that capsules had no influence on cells viability. However, it was significant difference in caspase-9 expression between samples. The highest contribution of caspase-9 positive cells was noticed in PLL-ALG treated cultures. There was no significant difference in morphology and Shape Index values between control and samples treated by ALG or PLL-ALG capsules. It was no influence of capsule type on thrombogenic process. Dilution was significant only in case of aggregates formation. Samples treated with 100 times diluted PLL-ALG capsules indicated the highest aggregates contribution. It was found that capsule or extract type had no significant influence on lymphocyte activation. Results of performed studies showed that application of capsules is promising concept of myocardium regeneration based on paracrine action of hCSC, due to non-toxic effect on cardio-spheres, either lack of trombogenicity or potential to lymphocytes system activation.

In August, I was mainly writing a paper on boundaries
of special (i.e., tilt, twist, symmetric, and 180-tilt)
in hexagonal materials.
I tried to demonstrate the usefulness of theoretically
obtained diagrams for interpretation of
experimentally obtained grain boundary distributions available in the literature.