KFU representatives among winners of the Young Scientist of the Year in Tatarstan 2025
An awards ceremony has been held for the winners of the competition 鈥淏est Young Scientist of the Republic of Tatarstan 鈥� 2025.鈥� The winners and finalists announced include representatives of 每日大赛.
First prizes in the competition were awarded to Yana Mukhamedshina, chief research associate at the Laboratory of Gene and Cell Technologies of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, and to Margarita Sadovnikova, junior research associate at the Laboratory of Prospective Platforms for Spin Quantum Manipulations of the Department of Quantum Electronics and Radiospectroscopy, Institute of Physics.
The finalists were Konstantin Muratov, Chair of the Department of Law at the Yelabuga Institute; Yulia Volskaya, associate professor at the Department of Applied and Experimental Linguistics of the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication; Ruslan Nagrimanov, senior research associate at the Laboratory Physicochemical Foundations for Creating Thin Films Based on Organic Materials of the Institue of Chemistry; and Anastasia Vitvitskaya, a PhD student at the Institute of Psychology and Education. The jury included Irek Mukhamatdinov, lead research associate at the Laboratory of In-Situ Combustion of the Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies, KFU, and a member of the Movement of Young Scientists of the Republic of Tatarstan.
The main objectives of the competition were to popularize and stimulate research activity among young people in Tatarstan, to develop local human resources in science and innovation, and to increase the prestige of the professions of research, research-and-teaching, and research-and-technical staff among the youth of Tatarstan.
As Yana Mukhamedshina explained, she has been involved in her research for more than 15 years. Her work focuses on restoring the structure and function of nervous tissue, including through gene and cell technologies that can promote regeneration of nervous tissue. This research is titled 鈥淢olecular Cellular Mechanisms of Neuroregeneration.鈥�
鈥淧reparation proceeded in a working mode. The experience of creating a video introduction was my first, but I really enjoyed it. Here I would like to express gratitude to my PhD student Anna Timofeeva, who helped me and acted as the video editor; she became last year鈥檚 winner in the category Best Postgraduate Student in the Natural Sciences,鈥� Mukhamedshina noted.
Margarita Sadovnikova shared that she viewed participation in the competition as a personal challenge and at the same time an inspiring stimulus for further growth in science. For her, it was an excellent opportunity to present the results of her research at the provincial level, as well as a chance to receive constructive feedback from leading experts.
鈥淢y research is devoted to studying phosphate-based calcium biomaterials using magnetic resonance spectroscopy methods. These materials are widely used in biomedical applications, particularly in orthopedics, maxillofacial surgery, and implantology, to restore full functionality of bone tissue. The work was carried out under the scientific supervision of Marat Gafurov, chief project engineer of the Labioratory of Promising Platforms for Spin Quantum Manipulations of the Department of Quantum Electronics and Radiospectroscopy,鈥� the winner reported.
The competition took place in two stages. In the first (remote) stage, participants had to submit an application describing their scientific work and fill out a questionnaire about scientific achievements. From 190 submitted entries, the expert commission selected 35 – five in each nomination. In the in-person round, participants had to prepare a short video introduction about themselves and present their scientific work to the jury.
鈥淚 focused mainly on the presentation, because it was important to convey the essence of the research clearly, in a structured way, and convincingly. Another revelation for me was the process of creating the video introduction, since for the first time I had to work in a creative format, which was not easy but very interesting. On February 2, the in-person round of the competition took place at Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering. For almost 7 hours we presented in front of 15 experts. Despite the intensity, the atmosphere was inspiring, and we felt support, professionalism, and a shared passion for science,鈥� Margarita Sadovnikova said.