‘Digital Chemistry Is the Cutting Edge of Science’
In 2024, a new track ‘Digital Chemistry and Artificial Intelligence Technologies’ will open within the Bachelor’s programme in Chemistry. This track will offer courses in digital engineering, multi-scale modelling, chemometrics, and chemoinformatics, as well as big data and artificial intelligence technologies. Specialists from HSE University, Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University will be among the lecturers.
Selection for the track will take place among first year students of the ‘Chemistry’ educational programme who have shown the best results in mastering the digital chemistry course materials ‘Information Technologies in Chemistry.’
The bachelor’s programme ‘Chemistry’ was launched at HSE University in 2019 with the support of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the aim of training highly qualified personnel for world-class research centres. The programme combines fundamental training in chemical, physical, and mathematical disciplines with the deep immersion in research project work using the laboratories of partner institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences. One significant outcome of this approach to learning was the impressive scientific results of the programme’s first graduates, who received their degrees in 2023: 21 graduates published 46 co-authored articles in international academic journals.
Practical training within the scope of the new track will be completed through written coursework in theoretical chemistry and by carrying out research projects on track subjects. The faculty has the computing power and material resources necessary for this work.
'Chemistry is the science of substance transformations. Artificial intelligence is the science of transforming data into the answer required, and ideally into scientific knowledge. Digital chemistry combines classical theoretical chemistry with the latest methodology in artificial intelligence in order to accelerate the creation of new materials and reactions, and to deepen our understanding of chemical processes.
To do this, it uses both the precise laws of quantum physics and physical chemistry, as well as huge amounts of available experimental data. The curriculum for the track “Digital Chemistry and Artificial Intelligence Technologies” is designed in such a way that students who complete it will have a detailed understanding of digital tools used to solve applied problems in the field of chemistry and materials science, and also have the opportunity to apply them to real problems during their studies.'
‘Digital chemistry today is in many ways still the cutting edge of science, marking the transition to a new paradigm for the creation of substances and materials, based on working with big data. At that, it is rapidly evolving, penetrating almost all areas of chemistry: organic and inorganic chemistry, catalysis, medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, and materials science. The number of problems that can be potentially solved using artificial intelligence technologies is increasing many times over. Opportunities emerge for predicting and optimising the properties of molecules, predicting the stability of new compounds, and modelling chemical reactions. It becomes possible to solve problems of targeted synthesis of substances and materials with specified properties. In the future, artificial intelligence technologies will be able to replace time-consuming quantum chemical computational methods with models of machine learning and big data processing in electron microscopy and mass spectrometry. For this reason, it is important for a modern chemistry student not only to understand the essence of chemical phenomena and processes, but to learn how to apply these methods. It does not matter whether we are talking about training future researchers in experimental chemistry, both fundamental and applied. Mastering digital competencies takes a bachelor’s degree graduate to a qualitatively new level, at which they will find more success on the labour market.'
See also:
Russian Chemists Develop Luminous Pseudosandwich Composed of Rare Earth Metals
A team of Russian researchers has successfully synthesised a new class of complex compounds of rare earth elements. Unlike other lanthanide compounds, the resulting substances are highly soluble in most organic solvents. These novel compounds can find application in organic and organometallic synthesis, as well as in the production of new luminescent materials. The study has been published in Inorganic Chemistry.
Scientists Devise Cheaper and Easier Method for Synthesising Layered Rare Earth Hydroxides—'Chemical Sandwiches’
Researchers at HSE University and the RAS Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry have developed a simplified and cost-effective method for synthesising layered rare earth hydroxides using propylene oxide. This reagent helps streamline the process and reduce its duration by several hours. In the future, this method is expected to facilitate the synthesis of various hydroxide-based hybrid materials, including photocatalysts for water purification and luminescent materials for solid-phase thermometers. The paper has been published in the Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry.
Chemists Improve Membranes for Water Treatment and Desalination
Chemists at HSE University, Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, and the University of Science and Technology of China have developed membranes with enhanced properties. The researchers experimentally revealed the impact of various factors on the desalination process and on the selectivity of ion separation. According to the study authors, their research will enable a more precise prediction of the properties of new ion-exchange membranes used in water treatment and desalination. The study findings have been published in Desalination.
‘The Main Thing Is to Try to Learn New Things by Any Honest Means’
Chemist Polina Yurova works in the same laboratory of the IGIC RAS that she first visited as a tenth grader. In this interview with the Young Scientists of HSE University project, she spoke about the creation of ion-exchange membranes, the ‘hair’ of black holes and her favourite Moscow park.
Russian Scientists Present New Application for Nanophotonic Sensor
A joint research team from HSE, Skoltech, MPGU and MISIS has developed a compact sensor for biochemical analysis, opening up a new frontier in the development of the ‘lab-on-a-chip’. Using bovine serum albumin film as an example, the researchers proved that the chip surface can be adapted for selective analysis of multicomponent solutions. Along with enabling accurate blood tests with only 3 to 5 microliters of blood, the chip will help doctors to detect specific disease markers. The study was published in Analytical Chemistry.
Scientists Create Uniquely Stable Trimeric Model of Coronavirus Spike Transmembrane Domain
A team of Russian scientists, including HSE MIEM researchers, have presented a 3D model of SARS-CoV-2 S-protein transmembrane (TM) domain. Previously, the TM domain had only been believed to anchor the S-protein in its viral membrane without being involved in rearrangement and fusion with the host cell. Yet according to recent studies, the TM domain appears to have a function in the transmission of genetic information, but its role is not yet fully understood. The researchers believe that the model they have created can contribute to a better understanding of viral mechanisms and potentially lead to the development of novel antiviral drugs. The study has been published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Fluoride Additive to Boost Production of Sedatives
Russian researchers from HSE University and the Russian Academy of Sciences Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds have come up with a new method of enhancing the chemical reaction involved in producing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogues used in sedative drugs. Adding fluoride to the catalyst more than doubled the yield of the pure product and increased the total reaction yield by 2.5 times. This approach is expected to make the production of certain drug components more efficient and less costly. The study has been published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry.
HSE University Launches New Master’s Programme in Chemistry
In 2023, the first Master's programme 'Chemistry of Molecular Systems and Materials' at the HSE Faculty of Chemistry will enrol students. Half of the study time will be devoted to research projects in the field of modern fundamental and applied research on the topics studied at five institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitrii Roitershtein, Academic Supervisor of the programme and Associate Professor at the Joint Department of Organic Chemistry with the RAS Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, spoke about the programme to the HSE News Service.
Russian Chemists Improve Seawater Desalination Membrane
A team of researchers of the HSE Faculty of Chemistry Joint Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science with the RAS Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry have designed a novel type of hybrid ion-exchange membrane. Such membranes can be used to produce drinking water from seawater, which is particularly relevant for areas with access to the sea and a shortage of drinking water. The study is published in Desalination.
‘We Want to Share Our Research with the Whole World’
The HSE University Faculty of Chemistry opened three years ago, and its first intake of undergraduate students is set to graduate in 2023. These students have already demonstrated impressive results in their research—half of second and third-year students have publications in journals indexed in WoS and Scopus, almost a third of which are in Q1 journals. Andrey Yaroslavtsev, Head of the Chemistry programme and Academic of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), told the HSE University News Service about the secret of this success.