Elizaveta Sidler joined PoreLab and the department of Physics at NTNU as PhD candidate on September 1st, 2022. She has a four-year contract.
Her supervisor is Associate Professor Raffaela Cabriolu et her co-supervisor is Professor Erika Eiser
Elizaveta introduces her PhD project as follow:
“My PhD project is dedicated to the study of the process of biomineralization by computer simulation method. Biomineralization can be defined as the crystallization of certain minerals in the presence of biogenic compounds (proteins, amino acids etc.). Complex organic-inorganic structures in the form of sea shells and bones arise as a result of biomineralization. This process is still little studied, includes many stages, and can’t be described by existing theories. Many experiments have been carried out to investigate the process, but computer simulation has advantages, as it allows you to study the earliest stages of biomineralization, as well as comprehensively explore the process at the molecular level and ultimately derive the concepts, principles of biomineralization. The object of my research is calcium carbonate in the water environment. I started by studying three polymorphs of calcium carbonate – calcite, vaterite and aragonite, their stability and role in the crystallization process. Molecular dynamic with various force-fields and advanced techniques as umbrella sampling and RETIS will be applied to the study.”