Alina Bekmukhametova, mentee in the 2019 MedTech-Pharma program in NSW (Western Sydney University)
My name is Alina Bekmukhametova. I am from a small city in the north of Kazakhstan, Petropavlovsk. In 2017 I graduated from Kazan National Research Technological University (Kazan, Russian Federation) with a specialization in Chemistry and Technology of Surfactants and Synthetic Detergents. The subject of my research was supramolecular systems based on macrocyclic compounds, polymers and surfactants for stabilization organic fluorophores and quantum dots. Research was undertaking using various physical and chemical methods, including dynamic light scattering, spectrophotometry, tensiometry, conductometry, and fluorimetry.
From 2012 till 2018 I worked as a laboratory assistant and research engineer at the Highly Organized Media Laboratory of the A.E. Arbuzov Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry at the Kazan Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The results of my research have been published in 17 collections of works presented at national and international conferences, I also have publications in international journals. In 2012-2017, for my scientific accomplishments and academic excellence I was awarded with KNRTU Scholarship of the Scientific Research Achievements, also, in 2013 with Russian Federation Government’s Scholarship and in 2014, 2016 with Russian Federation President’s Scholarship.
In 2018 I was awarded Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend Scholarship and now I continue pursuing my scientific career. My PhD research focuses on the light therapy to treat onychomycosis, which is called photodynamic therapy (PDT). Onychomycosis is an infection of toenails and fingernails, predominantly caused by Trichophyton rubrum. The project is directed into optimizing the delivery of a drug-photosensitiser through the nail by using nanoparticles to enhance drug the efficiency of antifungal PDT. The efficiency of NPs in combination with PDT treatment will be studied. Genetic screening will help to identify genes and indicate cellular processes, affecting fungal resistance to PDT.
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