Magdalena Olesińska is a PhD student at the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis of the University of Cambridge, UK.

She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Warsaw in 2011 and 2013, respectively. As part of her undergraduate graduation project, she studied hybrid nanosystems for drug delivery based on heterocyclic derivatives of mercaptopurine. Magdalena’s Master thesis focused on organic synthesis of liquid crystalline ligands and  modification of metal nanoparticles surface.

Prior joining the University of Cambridge, she carried out an Erasmus Internship Programme at the Institute des Sciences Moléculaires at Bordeaux 1 University (France), where she worked on metal nanoparticles synthesis. She was a visiting student at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), studying gold nanoparticles chemistry.  From January until June 2014 she was working on two dimensional CdSe nanosheets at the University of Hamburg (Germany).

Research

Dynamic and stimuli-responsive supramolecular hydrogels demonstrate unique physical properties that make them suitable in diverse applications, including: bio-chemical sensors, synthetic biomaterials and electrochromic materials. The design and structure of such functional hydrogels hinge on their ability to self-assemble through forming dynamic complexes with such organic macrocycle as cucurbit[n]uril.

The current PhD project aims to explore the detailed synthesis and characterization of tuneable supramolecular hydrogels and macrocyclic complexes based on host-guest interactions. It is planned to investigate the parameters of the overall preparation methodology and stimuli-responsive behaviour control of the prepared hydrogels.