In the third edition of the Young Fahrenheit competition, aimed at young employees, doctoral students, and students of the University of Gdańsk, the winner was mgr Vladyslav Ievtukhov.

The third edition of the Young Fahrenheit competition, organised by Univentum Labs (a special purpose vehicle of the UG) with the support of the Technology Transfer Office, has ended. In the initial stage, the Competition Jury evaluated the written applications of the participants. As a result, four persons were qualified for the finals: mgr Veronika Babinska-Wensierska (Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG and MUG), mgr Kamila Jarzynska (Faculty of Chemistry), mgr Vladyslav Ievtukhov (representing both the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics and the Faculty of Chemistry) and Natalia Wyźlic (Faculty of Chemistry).

These individuals were met by members of the Competition Jury on January 24. All presentations were of a very high standard, and the decision of the Competition Jury to award the first prize was not unanimous. Ultimately, the top prize went to a project by Vladyslav Ievtukhov that combined physical and chemical aspects. The winner's idea is to design organic compounds - acridine derivatives - with high potential for application in various dynamic fields. The first option to implement the project results is to design and study the properties of effective indicators for immunodiagnostic applications. The second option concerns the design and study of light-emitting compounds for OLED applications, with the aim of improving the stability and performance of OLED devices.

Second place was awarded to mgr inż. Kamila Jarzyńska, whose project concerns creating ILSearch software, uses machine learning algorithms to optimise the selection of an ionic liquid structure for a specific industrial application. Such a solution reduces the number of laboratory tests and the time and costs associated with conducting them. The winner of the third prize was mgr Weronika Babinska-Wensierska, working in the team of the IFB Research and Implementation Laboratory of the UG and MUG. Her research concerns the problem of increasing antibiotic resistance among virulent human pathogens and ways to reduce this phenomenon.

The Competition Jury also decided to award an honourable mention to the only student among the finalists - Natalia Wyźlic, who presented her research on cancer diagnostics and treatment.

‘The third edition of the competition showed that at the University of Gdańsk, it is possible to find exciting research conducted by young scientists, which has a chance not only for commercialisation and market success but also for the introduction of solutions significantly improving, e.g. the state of the environment,’ says president of Univentum Labs, dr hab. Wojciech Bizon, prof. UG.

The awarding of prizes to the competition's winners is scheduled to take place during a ceremonial session of the UG Senate on the occasion of the University of Gdańsk's festivities. The competition's organisers are planning another edition for the beginning of the new academic year.