SCAMT Workshop Week (SWW) is a scientific school for students hosted biannually by ITMO’s ChemBio Cluster. Participants attend lectures and workshops, develop their soft skills, and work on their research projects within one of the two tracks: research (lab work) or digital (interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of IT, chemistry, and biology). The school’s main partner is ITMO’s Advanced Engineering School. 

For two years in a row, the school is held as an advanced professional education program, with all participants receiving special certificates at the end. After completing the course, students can opt to carry on with their research at ITMO by doing an internship at the SCAMT Institute or the Advanced Engineering School, turn their study into a publication or investment proposal, or enroll in the university’s Master’s programs without having to take entrance exams. 

This year, SWW received 281 applications, 47 of which passed the selection process; these were participants from 11 Russian cities and regions: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai, Tyumen Oblast, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Ufa, Rostov Oblast, and others. 

At the school, students worked on projects at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and IT: namely, they designed aptamers as biosensors for antibiotics in food, as well as created tissue-engineered skin for wound healing and flexible sensors with magnetic composites for drug delivery, optics, and aerospace industry. Read on to learn more about some of this year’s projects. 

Project: ML-Based Forecasting of Magnetic Properties of Nanoparticles 

Maria Burychkina, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Geochemistry 

We were building a model that can predict the not-yet-studied magnetic properties of nanoparticles. It can potentially pave the way for more compact and energy-efficient devices, as well as high-performance and affordable components (e.g., magnetic resistors and quantum dots), which can significantly accelerate storage devices and processors. 

We studied how well models can be trained for our task; specifically, we put two ML approaches to the test. These were Bagging Regression (an applied, tried-and-tested method for improved model stability) and Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN, a promising theoretical concept that has a potential, though is not used as commonly). The second model did not perform as well as the first and failed to summarize the patterns – we blame it on the lack of certain parameters in our dataset. 

I decided to attend the school because I wanted to get to know ITMO better; I heard a lot from my friends that this is the place for an academic career. 

After the event, I was invited to join one of the SCAMT Institute’s ongoing projects that focused on the prediction of the structure and properties of molecular crystals. Here, I will learn to predict the lattice energy for subsequent solubility assessment or assess the probability of co-crystallization of two substances. Hopefully, the research will turn into a scientific publication, and I will be its co-author. Additionally, I’m planning to work on one more project at the SCAMT Institute’s Energy Lab.

Project: Assembling Nucleotide Sequences De Novo

Valeria Vibe, Academy of Biology and Biotechnology of Southern Federal University, Biology

Our team assembled a gene that was then introduced into a plasmid, which, in its turn, was embedded into a bacterium – it was like a gene engineering nesting doll. Plasmids are extrachromosomal ring DNA molecules that can replicate independently. In gene engineering, plasmids are used to create gene libraries, perform transformations, and produce target genes and proteins. Our main task was to assemble a plasmid and its viable accompanying bacteria. 

We worked with the lab’s equipment and biological materials: assembling the target gene’s fragments, producing competent cells (i.e., capable of accepting the plasmid), introducing the assembled gene into the plasmid, and then adding plasmids to competent cells. On the next day, the bacterial colonies grew to a size visible to the naked eye – the transformation was successful!

This was my first experience at a scientific school hosted by SCAMT; earlier I participated in the Advanced Workshop Week by ITMO’s AES. I learned about SWW from my friend, who had attended it several times and got into a Master’s program at ITMO. For me, the school was beneficial in terms of practical skills, primarily working at the lab; I also really appreciated the workshop on public speaking – I applied the methods described there when I was defending the project at the end of the school.

Project: AI for HIV Treatment Design

Timofey Lishchenko, MIREA – Russian Technological University, Applied Mathematics

We used machine learning to generate molecules that are potentially capable of suppressing HIV. For this purpose, we tried to teach AI to predict the compounds that could be used as a basis of new treatments. This approach can expedite the search for new medicine, which can otherwise take years with traditional methods. In the future, such technologies can assist researchers in identifying promising compounds for all kinds of treatments. 

Naturally, it takes more than a week to identify the exact molecules, but out of the 10,000 compounds we generated, five look the most promising – and I’d love to keep working on the project.

I was curious to see AI applied in a new field for me. This was my first time at SWW; I learned about the school when I was looking for AI-related programs online. I decided to join the school for new experiences, networking, and Master’s studies opportunities, as I’m considering applying to ITMO. In just a week, I improved several skills, from working with new AI tools to science communication. I particularly enjoyed the lecture on public speaking – it helped me see how best to present my ideas.

SWW is set to change its format in the future while retaining its practice-oriented approach. Follow the project on the official pages of SCAMT (VK and Telegram) and ITMO’s Advanced Engineering School (VK and Telegram).