It seems that the natural hackmanite article published in Chemistry of Materials has spread wider than we could ever imagine. It has now been found in 17 different sources from 5 different language regions throughout the world, and there will probably be even more during the coming months.
Check the links from this list:
Happy Halloween from IMC! Enjoy this video we made!
The first paper for Cecilia and Sami was just accepted for publication in Chemistry of Materials. The paper is entitled “Hackmanite – the natural glow-in-the-dark material” and it will be published soon in open access.
Great work from Cecilia, Sami and the truly multidisciplinary international collaborator group!
The 31st symposium of the Finnish Society of Physical Pharmacy (FyFa) was held on February 13th–14th, 2020 in Hotel Arthur in Helsinki. IMC’s representation consisted of Adj. Prof. Mika Lastusaari in the arranging team and PhD student Hannah Byron giving both an oral and a poster presentation.
Everything went exceptionally well, and Hannah also won the Finnish Pharmaceutical Society’s best poster award (200 €)!
The theme of the symposium this year was Trends of Thermoanalytical Methods in Materials Characterization, and Hannah’s topic was Thermoluminescence of hackmanites produced using a zeolite-free method.
The bright new MSc students of the IMC group have started their research projects of this year. Otto Rouhio, Teppo Kreivilä and Kirsi Miller have completed their BSc studies at the IMC group and are eagerly continuing their studies here.
To the question “Why did you choose our group over others?” Kirsi answers that she wants to create new materials with interesting properties and improve the already existing ones.
We warmly welcome Otto, Teppo and Kirsi to be a part of our group!
Academy of Finland has selected five projects to be funded in the call to promote international collaboration under the RADDESS Academy Programme. One of the projects is the GlowTrack consortium led by our Adj. Prof. Mika Lastusaari and co-led by Assoc. Prof. Laeticia Petit and Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Massera from Tampere University. This high-impact project focuses on developing implants that are both bioactive and have red or NIR persistent luminescence.
The overall funding amount for the five projects is 12 million euros, with 2 million euros directed towards projects promoting international collaboration. 470 775 euros are allocated for GlowTrack, and the University of Turku’s share is 232 711 euros, making 49.4 % of the project’s funds. The project will be funded from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2022.
The news in Finnish:
https://www.utu.fi/fi/ajankohtaista/uutinen/turun-yliopiston-johtamalle-glowtrack-konsortiolle-rahoitusta-suomen
Today morning Isabella led a group of ninth grade pupils and showed them what kind of business we do here. The demonstrations included an XRF analysis, afterglow, luminescence spectrometry and a combustion reaction. In addition to the nice chemistry demonstrations, the pupils were generally interested about how to study in a university. They are all going to a gymnasium after the secondary school, and hopefully we will see some familiar faces around here after that!
We have now created an Instagram account for the IMC group! Please like, share and follow!
In addition to the motivated BSc students introduced in the last post, we have had the honour to have student Anna Koleshnikova, supervised by Mika, Isabella and Emilia, from Turku Vocational Institute (Turun ammatti-instituutti) conducting her on-the-job learning period with us since the beginning of August. She has used and learned a plethora of instruments and analysis techniques, including measuring hackmanites with a luminance meter, a thermoluminescence reader, XRF, XRD, a thermogravimeter and a portable spectrometer. She has also learned to synthesize NaYF₄ via a solid-state reaction route.
Anna will be working in our team until October 7, after which she will continue her studies at the vocational institute. We want to thank Anna already at this point for helping us in conducting measurements both effectively and untiringly!
A fresh new academic year has started with some fresh new people: the motivated BSc students had a flying start, rolling their lab coat sleeves already at the beginning of September and having their work done quickly and effectively. Me, Isabella and Ari are supervising their work, which luckily doesn’t require much overseeing since the students are smart and super self-directing. We warmly welcome Nina, Samu and Saara to carry out their BSc labs here at IMC.
