Scientists from the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences receive Bekker scholarship

• Dr. Grzegorz Bury will be creating a methodology in Switzerland for correcting Galileo and GLONASS precision clocks using SLR laser distance measurements.
• Dr. Monika Dymarska plans to study the glycoside derivatives of natural flavonoid compounds - quercetin and genistein, which show, among others, an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effect. He will be going to Canada for an internship.
• During her research in Lisbon, Karolina Tkacz will look for potential applications for hydrogels in the food industry and learn how to manage fruit pomace in the food chain.
• Igor Turkiewicz plans to create a new, pro-health plant drink from Moringa seeds with properties similar to milk. 
• Research by Dr. Szymon Szufa in Slovenia is to enable the production of new bioproducts from difficult-to-dry by-products of agricultural biogas, so-called digestate.
• In the United States, Professor Beata Łabaz will be identifying the causes of degradation and erosion of Mollisol soils, which will contribute to the proper planning of protective measures.

The Bekker scholarship supports the international mobility of doctoral students, scientists and academic teachers so that they can develop scientifically in foreign research and academic centres.

Trips lasting from 3 to 24 months will allow scientists to stay in foreign research centres, establish long-term cooperation with them and implement projects together with scientists from around the world. 

More accurate Galileo and GLONASS clocks

As part of the Bekker scholarship, Dr. Grzegorz Bury from the Institute of Surveying and Geoinformatics at the UPWr will join the team implementing the ERC grant Unifying the three pillars of Geodesy using space ties. This project is carried out at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern in Switzerland. 

– During the two-year internship in Bern, I intend to create a methodology for correcting precise Galileo and GLONASS clocks using laser SLR distance measurements. The SLR technique is based on measuring the time it takes for a laser beam to travel the distance from the station's telescope to a retroreflector mounted on the satellite, where it is reflected and returns to the station's detector. Normally, SLR measurements for dedicated passive spherical surveying satellites are used to determine global surveying parameters, coefficients characterising the Earth's gravitational field, study relativistic effects, implement reference systems and more – explains Dr Bury, who will also work on the integration of microwave and laser observations on board GNSS satellites during the internship.

Healthier and tastier non-dairy fermented foods

Dr. Monika Dymarska, a researcher from the Department of Food Chemistry and Biocatalysis and a member of the BioActive Leading Research Team, is going to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, for a five-month internship as part of her scholarship. Her research will focus on the glycosidic derivatives of two natural flavonoid compounds - quercetin and genistein, which show a number of valuable biological activities. They have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, and stimulate the growth of healthy intestinal microflora. 

Dr. Dymarska wants to learn about the transformation of flavonoid glycosides during lactic fermentation, protect flavonoids important for our health and create starter cultures, i.e. appropriately selected microorganisms added to food to enrich it, guaranteeing the desired properties of the final product. She also intends to identify compounds that in the future could serve as a natural alternative to currently used food preservatives.

Consumers are becoming more and more aware of the health benefits and taste of dairy-free fermented foods. This inspires us to develop new plant-based products, because they are a natural source of various flavonoids with valuable pro-health properties - explains Dr. Monika Dymarska, emphasising that one of the many beneficial effects of flavonoid compounds is the selective inhibition of pathogenic microorganisms and stimulation of the growth of certain lactic acid bacteria used in the fermentation industry. 

Functional fruit pomace hydrogels

Karolina Tkacz, a doctoral student at the UPWr Doctoral School, is going on a four-month internship to the University of Lisbon in Portugal with doctoral student Igor Turkiewicz. They will be carrying out projects in cooperation with scientists from the research group The Food & Feed (F&F) operating at the Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF) centre.

Karolina's research will consist of obtaining functional hydrogels from fruit pomace, i.e. remains of seeds, fruits and vegetables after being pressed, processed with psyllium husk. Hydrogels are colloidal systems in which the dispersed phase is water, and the forming phase is mainly polymers. The most common example of such a colloid is gelatine jelly. 

Karolina, together with scientists from the Food & Feed research group, wants to optimise the formula of hydrogels. - Trends in the food and nutraceutical industries oblige us to constantly work on innovative solutions and products in line with the concept of sustainable food production, promoting health and prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases. During the research, we want to find potential applications of hydrogels in the food industry, as well as find out how to better use fruit pomace in the food chain - the scientist explains.

Coconut, oats and almonds. What else can you make milk from? 

Igor Turkiewicz, who is going to Lisbon for an internship with Karolina Tkacz, will work on finding milk substitutes for the production of dairy-free products. His research will concern the development of a functional drink based on Moringa seeds with health-promoting properties. 

The scientist emphasises that the demand for dairy-free products is growing, because consumers are increasingly avoiding milk-based products for various reasons. Most often these are health reasons, for example people suffering from lactose intolerance, allergic to cow's milk or suffering from hypercholesterolemia, or as lifestyle changes, when someone is switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet. 

- Milk substitutes can be water extracts from legumes, oilseeds and cereals, and the most popular are almond, coconut, linseed, oat, rice and soy milk - says Igor, explaining that the seeds of Moringa oleifera, i.e. Horseradish Tree, have a good chance of becoming the basis for creating a new, functional, pro-health plant drink with properties similar to milk.

A new carbon replacement?

Dr. Szymon Szufa from the Faculty of Process Engineering and Environmental Protection of the Łódź University of Technology is currently doing a postdoc at the Department of Applied Bioeconomy of the UPWr. As part of the Bekker scholarship, he plans to leave for another postdoctoral internship for two years at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Under the supervision of Prof. Blaž Likozar, Dr. Szufa will implement a project called BioGainValue, which consists of studying the process of biomass torrefaction using superheated steam and the properties of new biomaterials.

Torrefaction is the process of preliminary, thermal processing of biomass, carried out in order to improve the milling of biomass, and also to bring its properties closer to coal. Thanks to research results from the Ljubljana Institute, Dr Szufa will rebuild a semi-technical installation for the production of new bioproducts and compounds.

- The newly designed reactor will allow for the production of new bioproducts from difficult-to-dry by-products of agricultural biogas, so-called digestate. Agricultural biogas is a gas obtained in the methane fermentation process, for example from forest trimming waste. The new bioproducts will become green solid biofuels with increased calorific value, which, as coal substitutes, can be burned in existing coal boilers, and will also be a great addition to the production of organic fertilisers - explains Dr. Szufa. 

Mollisol soils – if they run out, the world could run out of food

As part of her internship, Beata Łabaz from the Institute of Soil Sciences, Plant Nutrition and Environmental Protection will travel to the United States to the University of Wisconsin to study Mollisol soils under the supervision of Professor Alfred Hartemink. She will be assessing the fertility of Mollisols found in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan Illinois and Indiana. Together with Professor Hartemink, they are also going to compare the physical and physicochemical properties of various subtypes of these soils found in North America and Poland, and determine the main factors responsible for the intensity of erosion and degradation, as well as the directions of Mollisola transformations in the United States.

The decreasing range of black earth soils - Mollisola in favour of weaker soils is a threat, both due to the limited possibilities of food production, with a constantly growing human population, and due to the developing climate changes related to CO2 emissions. Mollisols only occupy approx. 7% of the Earth's surface, and are the most important soils in the world. 

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