News

RUDN chemists investigated in detail the molecular mechanism of interaction of the newly created antitumor drug with blood proteins. The results will not only allow us to judge the effectiveness of the drug, but also are of interest from the point of view of understanding the mechanisms of action of such drugs.

RUDN University mathematician together with colleagues from India and France for the first time studied in detail the system of coexistence of three species of living creatures in the wild. The results help to understand what parameters determine the extinction andли survivalof species, and how the number of species changes in space and time.

RUDN mathematician, together with colleagues from India, Romania and France, calculated how many people need to be vaccinated in different population groups to cope with the epidemic. Moreover, mathematicians figured out what vaccination strategy should be followed in order to simultaneously minimize both the number of infected and the cost of the vaccine. The calculations are valid for any epidemic, including COVID-19.

RUDN University mathematician built a model of the tumor growth with account of tissue mechanics. Unlike many others, it is quite simple for numerical and analytical research. It made it possible to reproduce two phenomena described in clinical practice. Further study of the model will allow finding optimal ways to treat tumors.

RUDN University mathematician proposed a feedback mechanism for a group decision-making. It is based on a joint and step-by-step convergence of the opinions of all participants in the process, and not only those in discordance with the common opinion.

RUDN chemists have created a palladium catalyst for the Suzuki reaction for a more economical and safe synthesis of complex molecules for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. It keeps palladium from unwanted ingress into the final product, allows the reaction to be carried out in a “green” solvent and achieve 97% of the product yield.

A biophysicist from RUDN University and his colleagues modelled the molecular dynamics of growth of microtubules, the most important elements of cell activity. The researchers have built a model for the interaction of microtubule subunits, which takes into account their internal and external connections. The results will help form a more complete model of the dynamic instability of microtubules. It will allow choosing chemical agents for the treatment of certain diseases, including neoplasms and neurodegenerative pathologies.

At the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia from May 18 to 22, 2020, a school was held at the Faculty of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences of RUDN University entering the magistracy “Laws of physics - laws of nature”.

A RUDN University chemist has created a catalyst for wastewater treatment that removes paracetamol – one of the most commonly prescribed antipyretics. This medicine is excreted from the body through the kidneys and enters the sewage, where it does not decompose and can pose a threat to people and the environment. The chemist managed to create a catalyst based on silver sulfide, zinc oxide, and graphene oxide to decompose paracetamol under light irradiation. The study is published in the journal Separation and Purification Technology.

For the first time, RUDN University chemists obtained polymer nanoparticles from chitosan derivatives with antibacterial activity at the level of modern antibiotics. Chitosan is a polyaminosaccharide, which is obtained from chitin and is actively used as a biological additive and cosmetics, but the antibacterial properties of chitosan are expressed quite poor, mainly due to its low solubility in water. Chemical modification of chitosan allows obtaining water-soluble chitosan derivatives with increased antibacterial activity. In this study, chitosan derivatives with extremely high antibacterial activity and significant solubility in water were obtained. To synthesize chitosan derivatives, from which highly active nanoparticles are formed, scientists have developed a new approach based on a combination of click chemistry and ultrasonic processing. With the help of the proposed approach, it will be possible to obtain other polysaccharide particles with antibacterial activity. The article is published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

Postgraduate student Peter Harin and Master students Elena Makeeva and Valeria Savich from the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Telecommunications of the RUDN University underwent a one-week internship in Austria at Johannes Kepler Universität Linz.

RUDN University mathematician for the first time proved the theorem of existence and uniqueness of solutions of the Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation in a strip. Such theorems are very rare for partial differential equations. The new results can be applied, for instance, in astrophysics, in describing the propagation of plane waves in plasma. The article is published in the journal Nonlinear Analysis: Real World Applications.