Young scientists propose a safe combination to fight cancer

In our conversation with the members of the winners, Lusine Harutyunyan, Svetlana Hovhannisyan, Eva Melikyan and Jemma Manoyan, it became clear that their love for biology, physics and chemistry not only contributed to their success in the competition, but also predetermined future collaborations.

Lusine Harutyunyan, a graduate of the Physics Institute of YSU and Junior Researcher at the Scientific and Technological Center of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, talked about the interdisciplinary competition and the formation of the team.

My participation in the competition organized within the framework of the "All-Armenian Scientific Conference-2023" was unexpected and impromptu. The heads of the grant programs funded by the Higher Education and Science Committee of the RA MօESCS had the opportunity to nominate young researchers included in the projects, and I was one of them. At first, I didn't want to participate because I thought the workload would be too heavy. I had no idea how we could combine different scientific directions, especially the humanities sphere, and work with different young researchers.

The 12 teams of the competition were formed randomly, involving participants with different scientific interests in one group. My uncertainty, anxieties and fears dissipated when I learned that my teammates were from science field, even though I had never worked with any of them. I only knew Eva from my student years.

My first impression was very positive, I understood that we would certainly be able to present an interesting project together since we understood each other quite easily.

Svetlana Hovhannisyan, a graduate of the YSU Faculty of Biology and Junior Researcher at YSU Laboratory of Basic and Pathological Biochemistry, talked about the choice of the topic of the project and its uniqueness.

At first glance, it seemed impossible to combine all of our scientific interests, so we tried to choose a topic outside of our specialties, but our team mentor Mushegh Rafaelyan advised us to find the point of intersection of our scientific studies.

The subject of my research are cancer cells, Eva is interested in 2D materials, specifically graphene oxide (GO), Jemma is interested in algae, and Lucine is interested in porphyrin. After several days of studying professional literature, it became clear that algae have antioxidant effects that may impact on cancer, graphene oxide may serve as a carrier, and porphyrin has the ability to bind oxygen.

Combining this information, we presented the project "Nanocomposites as carriers of new generation medicine", by which we expect to obtain GOLC (graphene oxide liquid crystalline phase) with porphyrin and stable nanocomposites functionalized with GOLC-microalgae, which may have a targeted impact on cancer cells without dosage loss and side effects, in contrast to currently used chemical medicine that damage healthy cells. Our ultimate goal is to propose this model for the production of other medicine, as the currently used medicine also have side effects.

Eva Melikyan, a graduate of the YSU Physics Institute and Junior Researcher at the Institute of Chemical Physics after A.B. Nalbandyan of RA National Academy of Sciences, talked about the competition process.

During the first two days of the week-long competition, we studied professional literature and then worked on the main project. We all worked in separate scientific groups, and each scientific group had its own way of working. It was difficult for the four of us to get a common, solid system for the project, but we overcame it thanks to teamwork. On the last two days of the competition, we prepared for the oral presentation, discussing even the possible questions of the committee members and the answers.

The competition was quite serious. All 12 teams' topics were relevant and interesting, but our advantage was that our topic was truly interdisciplinary, including physics, biology and chemistry, which was appreciated by the committee. Overall, the project went through two stages of assessment. In the first stage, importance was placed on the relevance and novelty of the project, and in the second stage, the oral presentation was considered.

This competition was my first experience and proof that I have learned a lot from the scientists working with me, and through winning I am grateful for this opportunity.

Jemma Manoyan, applicant to the YSU Faculty of Biology and Senior Laboratory Assistant at the Chair of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, talked about the guarantee of the team's victory and the plans for the future.

From the beginning, I was sure that our team would win because we were the only group whose project fully met the competition's requirements and had all the necessary resources to implement our project.

Some of our professors were members of the Assessment Committee. Noticing their satisfied faces during our speech, we already understood that we succeeded.

The key to our success was our unity, cohesion, compromise and stock of knowledge. Any student studying at YSU does not receive education in only one direction but develops in a multifaceted way and receives in-depth study of related sciences. Our YSU professors not only educate competitive specialists but also point the way for our students to become advanced specialists.

We plan to publish the research results in international high-impact journals, present them at international conferences, as well as, in case of interdisciplinary competitions, improve our project and apply for a large grant to implement the research.