News
Obituary – Associate Professor Željko Svedružić
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- Published on Monday, 24 April 2023 14:50
We at the Department of Biotechnology knew him as a scientist, a colleague, a teacher and a mentor, and his passing has left a void in many of us. Underlying his apparently child-like naivety and occasionally provocative approach to his colleagues, were his strong ethical principles that guided him in both his work and private lives.
He was defined by his unique and quirky personality, his enthusiasm for science and his openness to everyone, because as he used to say jokingly: I am Svedružić (which loosely translates as “all friend”) and I like to socialise with everyone. Now, though, there will be no more socialising, but our memories of the good and unique moments we spent with Željko will remain. He loved sports and was actively involved in them, and he was most proud of his butterfly swimming stroke. He left each of us who knew him with a series of anecdotes that we will remember and, one day, after we have accepted his departure, we will recount them with joy and fond memories.
Željko was born on 16th March 1969 in Osijek. He completed his graduate studies in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Zagreb, and continued his doctoral studies at the Oklahoma State University, where he defended his doctorate in Enzymology and Enzyme Kinetics in 1998. He then undertook postdoctoral training at the University of Santa Barbara in California, Duke University in North Carolina, Washington State University in Washington, and the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
After returning to Croatia in 2010, he was employed in the Medical Biochemistry laboratory of the Rab Psychiatric Hospital. Since summer 2013, he has been working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, University of Rijeka, where he led several undergraduate and masters courses, acted as mentor to many successful research students, and was extremely active in the popularisation of science. In 2022 he was promoted to the status of Associate Professor. His research at the Department of Biotechnology focused on the structure, function and design of biomedically active molecules using in silico approaches.
Rest in peace, dear Željko.
By: Assoc. Prof. Rozi Andretic Waldowski
InnovaMare, last stop of the roadshow on blue technologies in Bari
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- Published on Friday, 10 March 2023 09:11
The final leg of the roadshowwhich has involved Dubrovnik, Venice and Rijeka in recent months, is organized by ARTI, Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation of Puglia, and will include two days of workshops, demonstration activities and visits to some regional realities of excellence. The event, ARTI said, will mainly focus on the promotion of networking around the new-born Digital Innovation Hub and on open sea demonstrations of the technologies created for marine safeguards.
On March 22, from 9. 00 a.m. at the Bari University Sports Center, will be held a thematic workshop on “Cooperation, Blue technologies and smart solutions for a soustainable Adriatic Sea”. It will be followed by hands-on demos of two robotic solutions developed by CNR-National Research Council and University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as partners of the project. Tests will involve, in particular, SWAMP, an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (Asv) i.e. the lightweight mini-catamaran for sea monitoring in ports and river basins, and the Smart Multifunctional Buoy, a robot for measuring, managing and storing data recorded at sea. These two different robotic solutions were designed to work in an integrated way to maximize results in the fight against maritime pollution. They will be both tested, for their first time in the Apulian sea, to show to the public how they can effectively work together. Researchers point out that "successuful tests carried out during the project showcased these systems are effective both in cooperative scenarios and in particularly risky environments", such as lagoon waters and polluted waterways.
On March 23, partners and project’s stakeholders will visit the Laboratory of Coastal Engineering (LIC) of the Polytechnic University of Bari, a national excellence for its state-of-the-art instrumentation applied to coastal dynamics modelling and wave motion detection. They will then continue the tour to the Monopoli-based company AS Labruna, a leading Italian manufacturer of "green," electric and hybrid-powered engines for the marine industry.
Submarine robotics will play a strategic role in protecting the seas, both because of its low cost and because it can operate effectively. Developing innovation for the Blue Economy by consolidating the virtuous ecosystem created with InnovaMare is in fact the mission of the Digital Innovation Hub (DIH), the hub for the development of submarine robotics created last February by signing a Memorandum of Understanding, another concrete confirmation of effective cooperation for the sustainability of thesea.
More: https://mairos.org/news/fourth-innovamare-roadshow-bari-22-23-march-2023/
Call for Applications - Biotechnology for the Life Sciences International graduate/masters research program 2023/2024.
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- Published on Tuesday, 10 January 2023 10:05
The Department of Biotechnology is happy to announce that applications are now open for students wishing to begin the graduate/research program "Biotechnology for the Life Sciences" in October 2023. Biotechnology for the Life Sciences is a research focussed program, taught entirely in English, aimed at students aiming to pursue a career in life sciences research, either in academia or industry. Notably, the first year includes two 8-week long research apprenticeships in research laboratories, while the entire second year is dedicated to an in depth original research project.
Interested students should download and complete the application form and submit it to us, along with the other documents requested in it, to us by email life.sci@biotech.uniri.hr by 31st March 2023. This call is open to students from any country, and of any nationality. More information can be found in the Call for Applications. Please feel free to email us if you have any questions. The tuition fees for the course are €4500 per year, and apply to applicants of all nationalities.
Depending on applicant numbers, a second call may be issued with a deadline of July 2023, however this second call will only be applicable for students that do not need a visa to travel to the Republic of Croatia (such as EU citizens).
International reasearch masters program - Second call
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- Published on Wednesday, 15 June 2022 15:26
This second call is open to students that can travel to the Republic of Croatia without a visa (such as citizens of the EU, UK or neighbouring countries). More information can be found in the Call for Applications. Please feel free to email us (life.sci@biotech.uniri.hr) if you have any questions.
1st Roadshow of established INNOVAMARE innovation ecosystem in blue technologies and development of new project concepts in blue economy
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- Published on Friday, 22 April 2022 09:24
Robotic and submarine innovations to preserve the Adriatic Sea will be under the spotlight during a 3-day roadshow to take place in Dubrovnik. The event (April 27-29, 2022) is part of the InnovaMare strategic project activities to promote cross-border cooperation between Italy and Croatia and implement the Blue Economy by increasing the transfer of knowledge amongst partners and stakeholders.
The roadshow’s first stage is organized by the Croatian Chamber of Economy as leader partner of the project together with the University of Dubrovnik. It will bring to the public attention the results of almost two years of activities aimed at building a shared stakeholders ecosystem of innovation through a multidisciplinary approach to foster Adriatic sustainability. The roadshow is also expected to continue this summer with further appointments scheduled in Venice (June 2022), Bari (July 2022) and Rijeka (September 2022).
According to the Croatian Chamber of Economy, “successful cross-border cooperation so far has been proving to be very effective in strengthening the partners’ consortium team work and allow it to reach valuable results in terms of technological, market-oriented innovations”. Scheduled events in Dubrovnik include a series of workshops and practical demonstrations of new industrial applications against marine pollution based on robotic solutions.
In the 3-day roadshow, it will be also lunched the first Innovamare innovation interactive platform, a shared web space amongst project’s key players where private sector, public institutions, research centers and experts from different countries will keep in touch to further promote innovations based on specific knowledge transfer. Together with the Interactive Platform it will be also presented the most ambitious result of InnovaMare Project: the Digital Innovation Hub (DIH), a digital place for networking, exchanging knowledge and connecting supply and demand for highly innovative underwater anti-pollution technologies. DIH will also offer to potential users a wide range of services like specific advices in legal, strategic and financial fields.
On Friday, 29 April 2022 - at 10.00, the"BLUE EVENT 2" will be organized inBistrina, for presentation and demonstration of new models/solutions for the application of marine technologies within the Interreg projects InnovaMare and MARLESS & SeaClear project. It is planned to present a system of unmanned underwater and surface vessels for finding and collecting waste from the seabed, a robot that identifies, collects and sorts waste from the sea surface, an autonomous vehicle that can map congested water areas.
Activities in Dubrovnik represent an important opportunity for networking, developing joint innovative projects and building new consortiums to apply for future calls in the Blue economy sectors.
The program of the initiative and registration form are available on Innovamare platform https://innovamare.org/
Contact
Radmile Matejčić 2
51000 Rijeka
Croatia
Tel. +385 51 584 550
ured@biotech.uniri.hr
OIB (VAT): 64218323816
IBAN: HR3724020061400006958
Radmile Matejčić 2, O-047
http://studentska.uniri.hr/
Biotechnology for the Life Sciences e-mail :