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Tag: South Ural State University

SUSU teaches professionals in biology with physics methods

Posted on by OLGA ROMANOVSKAYA

In 2022, SUSU Optoinformatics Department launched a new English-taught Master’s program – Applied Physics and Mathematics (major – Bio-Photonics and Physics Methods for Living Beings).

“The idea to start the program is connected with the fact that in medicine specialists often use physics methods. But often there is no understanding between those who create methods and those who use them. That’s why we need a bridge between specialists connected with living systems and physicists,” shares Nataliya Kundikova, Head of Optoinformatics Department, D.Sc., Professor.

First of all, the program is intended for physicists and biology and medicine specialists who will learn to understand each other after graduating the program.

The program combines knowledge in physics, mathematics, biology, biophysics and medical sciences to provide fundamental and profound understanding and scientific grip on phenomena of nature and life sciences. As medics and biologists use physics methods of research and physics developing methods for research in medicine and biology, they need to understand the principles.

The math and physics courses of the program include studies of various optical techniques, laser technologies, X-ray and ultrasonic methods, nuclear magnetic resonance, and an overview of the fundamental laws of physics as well; knowledge of which is needed for the vast majority of the modern medical treatments, therapies and diagnostic methods.

The biomedical disciplines are designed to create deep understanding of biology of a human being, its structure, and development. These include courses on various fields of biology that are necessary to form the systematic knowledge of the processes in living organisms. Special attention is devoted to cell biology, molecular biology and biochemistry, and is focused on how physics methods and techniques can affect bio-molecules, cells, biological structures and biological processes.

The teaching staff consists of highly accomplished scientists with real working experience at other universities in Europe and the United States. More than that all of them have published their articles in high-ranking journals.

The graduates will be professionals in the field of Life Science and will acquire the Master of Science degree. Having fundamental knowledge and keen understanding of the biomedical and biological processes in human bodies, they will become capable researchers and scientists, or developers of new medical methods and biomedical technologies; or will be able to work productively as operators of complicated modern medical equipment and complexes.

Extensive international contacts greatly contribute to the work of the Department; they can be explained by the fact that the head of the program Nataliya Kundikova is the Vice-President of the International Commission for Optics.

The Faculty of Physics has a Physical Research Laboratory, the equipment of which is used in the process of education. Students also can have access to the equipment of the Nonlinear Optics Laboratory at the Institute of Electrophysics (the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) which is headed by Nataliya Kundikova. Furthermore, as the program is interdisciplinary, part of the lectures will be read by Vadim Tseylikman (Dean of School of Medical Biology, Doctor of Medicine, Professor) and it is possible to access the equipment of his team.

Scientists create a new system to solve smart city tasks

Posted on by OLGA ROMANOVSKAYA

Scientists of South Ural State University (SUSU) have proposed their own classification of fog computing systems. The analysis of existing solutions has become the first stage of work before creating a new system for Smart Cities. The results of the study have been published in the Supercomputing Frontiers and Innovations (Q2) highly ranked journal.

In 2021, a brief failure in the Amazon’s cloud services resulted in the disruption of websites, apps, and smart devices. The problem, as the experts explain, lay in the fact that the concept of cloud computing is oriented at processing data in remote centres.

If as a computing node of smart devices, not remote servers were used but rather a local computing resource, for example, a cell phone, users would not experience any problems. It is namely this approach that is the basis for fog computing, which is a new stage in the development of cloud computing that reduces delays in transmitting and receiving data.

The modern state of the fog computing technology was analysed by the scientists of the SUSU School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. The research became an initial stage of work on the development of an original computing system. The authors studied the existing theoretical sources, source codes of the existing open systems and analysed the materials provided by the developers of closed systems. As a result, a unique classification according to the distribution by clouds, openness and closeness of systems and their hardware and software, was made.

“During the preliminary phase of the work, our team did not find similar comprehensive studies on the topic of fog computing, so we decided to publish the results of our work. In the course of the study, we came to the conclusion that in order to implement similar control systems for Smart Cities, it is necessary to develop our own specific system, or to significantly modify the existing open solutions since there are no ready-made commercial projects,” said the Candidate of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics), leading Research Fellow of the Department of System Programming of the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Gleb Radchenko.

The research work was conducted within the frameworks of the project on the Methods and Algorithms for Collecting and Processing Data of the Internet of Things Based on the Cloud and Fog Computing Systems to Support Intellectual Monitoring and Automation Systems of the Smart City, being fulfilled by the SUSU School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. The project won a joint grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Government of the Chelyabinsk Region. Within the frameworks of the grant, many-aspect work was done and new fog computing architectures were proposed.

The next step taken by the scientists will be the creation of their own computing system.

The Smart City project is implemented on the territory of Chelyabinsk with the active participation of SUSU. The CityLab Smart City Laboratory, created at SUSU, has become a connecting link among the authorities, representatives of science, business, and citizens.

New COVID-19 transmission monitoring model developed in Russia

Posted on by OLGA ROMANOVSKAYA

Scientists at South Ural State University (SUSU) have conducted a CFD study for monitoring the spread of respiratory viruses in closed spaces.

According to the researchers, the new development will prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other viral infections in spaces where people study or work, like educational institutions and offices. The results were published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

Respiratory viral infections are transmitted from person to person primarily through airborne droplets as a result of direct or indirect contact. Distances between people in closed spaces do not always offer protection against viruses due to air circulation. That is why the proper positioning of barriers is one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses in enclosed areas.

SUSU scientists have conducted a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study that allows to analyse droplet flows in the air and to determine the effective location of barriers protecting people in a room.

“The approach of CFD is a combination of computer codes and programs that allows the simulation of different physical and chemical processes. It is used in almost all areas of research, while CFD itself is applied in a wide range of scientific fields – from supersonic aviation to bio-energy and others. The study simulates the real situation in classrooms as accurately as possible”, senior researcher at the Department of Hydraulics and Hydro-Pneumatic Systems at the Polytechnic Institute of the SUSU Afrasyab Khan commented.

According to him, thanks to CFD, enterprises will be able to maintain a normal pace of work and avoid quarantine during adverse epidemiological situations.

“This study is a starting point for detailed examination of various scenarios by using theoretical and experimental approaches. Cooperation is planned at both national and international levels”, the senior researcher noted.

In the future, the scientists plan to develop a strategy based on such CFD studies through which, in different scenarios like offices, railway stations, airports, harbours, and factories, SOP’s will be established to work without shutting the operations down.

Scientists propose innovative method to test the effectiveness of coronavirus medicines

Posted on by OLGA ROMANOVSKAYA

South Ural State University (SUSU) scientists have proposed an innovative method for testing the effectiveness of medicines for coronavirus. According to the researchers, it is necessary to focus on the maximum coincidence of the ligand and the receptor. The results of the work have been published in the highly-rated journal “Molecules”(Q1).

Despite the successful treatment regimens developed for coronavirus infection, the search for a cure for the disease continues. Now no drug could block the spread of the virus in the body. Scientists from all over the world are working on solving the problem.

Employees of the Research Laboratory for Computer Modeling of Medicines at South Ural State University are looking for effective substances against coronavirus. They may be contained in drugs at present used in the treatment of other diseases. The project is supported by a BRICS grant, and scientists from India, South Africa, and Brazil are equally participating in it.

The most recent study by the international team examined the complementarity of RNA polymerase in SARS-CoV-2(coronavirus) complexes with ligands.RNA polymerase is an enzyme that reproduces the genetic material of a virus. This is how the virus spreads throughout the body.

It is assumed that drugs for coronavirus block RNA polymerase. Scientists have found that ligands(chemical compounds that possess pharmacological effects) must match the enzyme as much as possible in order for their action to be effective.

“The structures should be as close to each other as possible, in our case- to exclude the interaction of the virus RNA polymerase with human DNA.Our colleagues conducting research on the same topic focus on the energy of interaction.However, the relation of th eelectronic structure of the ligand to the electronic structure of RNA-dependent RNA-polymerasei s more important,” says Vladimir Potemkin, Ph.D., Head, Laboratory for Computer Modeling of Medicines, South Ural State University

This is the active form of the drug Fivapiravir used to combat viral infections. The following step was to analyze the intersection of the electron clouds of the ligand and the receptor. The programs implemented for computer analysis were created at SUSU.

Scientists used the Protein Data Bank, a database of three-dimensional structures o proteins and polymeric acids, to obtain the structure of RNA polymerase. The researchers then calculated the electron density of the enzymes and the ligand favipiravir-RTP.

Rendering to the results of the study, the maximum complementarity was recorded when the ligand coincided with the RNA. The findings can be used to predict the biological activity and examine the mechanism of drug action. Also, in the publication, scientists presented an equation that can be used to test the effectiveness of the effects of other ligands on receptors.

Note that the team’s work to discover effective remedies for coronavirus is not finished. In India, effective substances are being synthesized, in vitro tests will be carried out there, and their Brazilian colleagues will perform them in vivo. The mutability of the virus will be assessed by South African scientists. Once the potency of a potential drug has been proven, production can begin.