Project Members

Principle Investigator (PI)

 Dr. Aniketkumar Gade, a visiting professor at the Department of Microbiology, Nicolaus Copernicus University. Dr. Gade is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India. He has a diverse educational and research background, encompassing a Bachelor's in Microbiology (1998), a Master's in Biotechnology (2000), and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology (2012). His research areas of interest include fields like microbial biotechnology in general and Nanobiotechnology in particular. He received the Raman Post-Doctoral research fellowship from UGC, New Delhi in 2013-14 and completed his one-year Post-Doctoral research work in Professor Anne Anderson's lab at the Biology Department, Utah State University, Logan. He visited the Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Campinas, Brazil under Indo - Brazil Collaborative Research Project.

Dr. Aniketkumar Gade has completed several Indian government-funded research projects and holds two National patents to his credit. Throughout his academic and research journey, he has authored and co-authored 89 research articles in International high-impact peer-reviewed journals, 8 articles in National journals, 27- International Book chapters, 3 national Book Chapters, submitted 36 sequences of ITS region to NCBI database, and received over 18,246 citations with an i-10 index-80 and h-index-44 as per Google Scholar. He also served as a referee for several international peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Project Mentor

Prof. Patrycja Golińska works at the Department of Microbiology at Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) as an Associate Professor. She received a fellowship from the Marshal of Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship for the best doctoral students in 2006 and from the NCU in 2011 to complete one-year postdoctoral internship at the School of Biology of Newcastle University, UK. She has near twenty years teaching and research experience. Prof. Golińska scientific contribution encompasses over 50 original, 15 review articles and 20 book chapters. She also has been an editor of three books. She has received the grant within the Horizon Europe programme of European Commission, participated in several grants from Nacional Science Center (NSC) of Poland and was a mentor in NSC and NAWA grants. The main focus of her research is the biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles, mainly by actinomycetes and fungi, and their use for combating bacterial and fungal pathogens and plant growth promotion, the study of actinomycete diversity in extreme biomes and their potential for specialized metabolite production and the use of actinomycetes as biocontrol agent of fungal phytopathogens.

Julia Nadrowska (BSc) is a student of Biotechnology course at Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. In 2023 she completed a bachelor thesis “Polymers modified with silver nanoparticles” at Department of Microbiology under supervision of prof. Golińska. Currently she works on biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles for their application for plant growth promotion. She has got the 24-months scholarship from Polonez Bis project (NSC).

Joanna Trzcińska-Wencel (MSc) is a PhD student on the 4th year of study in the Academia Scientiarum Thoruniensis PhD School of NCU and implements the PhD thesis related to synthesis of metal nanoparticles with antifungal activity against plant pathogens under supervision of Prof. Golińska. She supports studies on biosynthesis of metal nanoparticle, their physico-chemical characterization and is responsible for studies on effects of nanocomposite fertilizers on plant growth. Joanna has been a co-author of five original and five review papers, and two book chapters in reputable journals and publishers. She has been a principal investigator in internal (NCU) and external (NSC) grants and participated in several national and international conferences. Joanna completed one month internship at the VSB - Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Ewa Prusakiewicz (MSc) - administrative and financial support for the project.