A team member, Silvija Šafranko, stayed at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Technology (University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina) from March 29th to April 15th 2023 within the CEEPUS mobility programme. During her stay, Silvija investigated the diverse plant material wiuth potential biological activities, and she has been also invited to hold a short lecture to the students about the findings presented in her PhD thesis.
The Principal Investigator, Stela Jokić, full professor and the ByProExtract team members, participated at the 28HSKIKI Conference held from March 28th to March 31st 2023 in Rovinj, Croatia. A professor Jokić held an invited lecture with the topic „Insights into green techniques for the extraction of bioactive compounds: Current research and future challenges“ and also participated with the poster presentation entitled „Quantum yield optimization of hybrid carbon quantum dots and their application as sensing nanomaterial“ by the authors Silvija Šafranko (PhD), Šimun Mandić, Drago Šubarić (full professor, PhD), Stela Jokić (full professor, PhD). The 28th Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers (28HSKIKI) is organized by the Croatian Society of Chemical Engineers and the Croatian Chemical Society.
Silvija Šafranko, PhD and a member of the research group, visited the Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy in Pecs (University of Pecs, Hungary) from February 22nd to March 24th 2023 within the ERASMUS scholarship. Silvija has worked on the modification of the plant extracts (supercritical CO2 extraction) and on the nanoemulsion preparation with potential application in pharmacy.
The public doctoral thesis defense by Silvija Šafranko entitled “The Preparation and Modification of Carbon Quantum Dots from Citrus clementina: Physico-chemical Characterization and Pharmacological Activity Investigation of the Obtained Nanoparticles” was held on February 9th, 2023 at the Faculty of Food Technology in Osijek. The doctoral thesis was done under the supervision of Stela Jokić, PhD, full professor, and co-supervision by Ivica Strelec, PhD, full professor, and it was also supported by the project “Application of innovative techniques of the extraction of bioactive components from by-products of plant origin“ (UIP-2017-05-9909). Silvija presented her research hypothesis and results, and after responding to all the questions asked by the members of the Committee, a decision was made that Silvija Šafranko successfully defended her PhD thesis.
The PhD thesis is available at the following LINK.
Silvija Šafranko, a PhD student on ByProExtract project participated at 5th Symposium of Young Researchers on Pharmaceutical Technology, Biotechnology and Regulatory Science. The conference was held on from 18 to 20th January 2023 in Szeged, Hunagry. During the poster sessions, they presented research from ByProExtract project. The participation included oral lecture with the topic “Multifunctional biomass-derived and N-doped carbon quantum dots – the versatile nanoparticles for ion sensing with potential biological and pharmacological activity” by authors Silvija Šafranko and Stela Jokić, full professor.
The 10th International Congress of Food Technologists, Biotechnologists and Nutritionists will be held in Zagreb, Croatia from 30 November to 2 December 2022. The participation included poster presentation with the topic “The Preparation of N doped Carbon Quantum Dots from Citric Acid and Citrus clementina Peel The Application in Iron(III) Detection in Herbs and Spices” by Silvija Šafranko, Šimun Mandić, and Stela Jokić, full professor and Principal Investigator.
Silvija Šafranko, a ByProExtract team member, participated in the 4th Young Scientists’ Conference held on 7th October 2022 at the Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek. Silvija presented her research study on the topic “Preparation and Characterization of N-Doped/Hybrid Carbon Quantum Dots and Their Application in Metal Ion Detection” by authors Silvija Šafranko, Ivica Strelec (full professor) and Stela Jokić (full professor).
The main aim of this Conference is to join forces and organize a scientific conference for young scientists and researchers from Osijek University. The host of this year’s conference was the Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek.
Congress of the Croatian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology HDBMB22: FROM SCIENCE TO KNOWLEDGE was held from September 28 to October 1, 2022 in Brela, Croatia. The Conference was organized by Croatian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (HDBMB). The organization panel awarded our team member Silvija Šafranko with a fellowship to attend the conference based on the excellent early-career achievements. Silvija Šafranko presented her research results with the poster presentation entitled: PREPARATION OF AMINO ACID FUNCTIONALIZED CARBON QUANTUM DOTS USING CLEMENTINE PEEL – Potential Application in Biomedical Analysis and as Fluorescent Probe for Fe3+ Detection.
On the 29th and 30th of September, two student thesis defenses were held at the Department of Chemistry in Osijek. The public defenses by students of Department of Chemistry, Kristina Janđel and Monika Kovačević, were results of the successful collaboration of the two institutions of Faculty of Food Technology and Department of Chemistry Osijek, where co-mentor was principal investigator of ByProExtract project Stela Jokić (full prof.), with the assistance of PhD student Silvija Šafranko. The student Kristina Janđel defended her thesis entitled “Preparation and Modification of Carbon Quantum Dots from Citric Acid: The Application in Metal Ions Detection” and Monika Kovačević “Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon Quantum Dots from Clementine Peel: Testing the Particles for Antiradical Activity and Selectivity of Metal Ion Detection”.
Based on that, the defense committee presented the decision that both students successfully defended their graduate thesis with an excellent grade.
The International Congress “CEFood Congress” was held from 27th to 30th September 2022 in Slovenia (Čatež ob Savi). The Congress aims to help researchers, scientists and academia to discover new directions in research, and developments in food technology and nutrition. The principal invesigator, Stela Jokić (full professor), was invited to present the achievements of ByProExtract project regarding innovative extraction methods. The topic of the invited lecture was “INSIGHTS IN ADVANCED EXTRACTION TECHNIQUES USED FOR BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS ISOLATION”.
