Wobbly Gel

Wobbly Gel

Title of the project: Magnetic Controllability in Magnetic Nanogels of Various Morphologies
Name of the VDSP student(s) & image credits: Ivan S. Novikau
Project supervised by: Sofia Kantorovich

About me/us: As a final year PhD student, I strive to strike a balance between laziness, tackling cutting-edge challenges, and the necessity of earning the degree. I don't have time for "no time" if something brings fun, often working postsunset, finding inspiration in the resilience of enthusiasm amid failures.

Image: In the Kantorovich group, our expertise lies in simulating soft magnetic materials. My focus is on a soft matter system with promising medical applications, specifically targeted drug delivery. This involves encapsulating toxic anti-cancer drugs within gels containing magnetic nanoparticles. The goal is to inject this material into the body, use a magnetic field to target the cancer tumor, and destroy it without harming healthy cells. My current research centers on investigating the magnetic controllability of nanogels in the circulatory system, exploring the aesthetic aspects of their wobbling behavior under applied shear. The figure illustrates a magnetic nanogel in shear flow, featuring isosurfaces of perturbed hydrodynamic field in gel's vicinity.