At the 28th International Conference-School "Advanced Materials and Technologies 2026," held in Palanga on 24–28 August, the poster presentation by Marija Kalnaitytė – a doctoral student in the Advanced Biomedical Photonics Group of the Laser Research Center (LRC) at the Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University (VU) – was named the best. The event brought together around 120 participants from 22 countries around the world.
PhD student Marija Kalnaitytė next to her poster. Photo from personal archive.
"This award is a significant recognition and a source of motivation to keep moving forward. I'm very glad that I was able not only to successfully convey the essence of the research but also to demonstrate the importance of visualizing science when presenting complex processes," the doctoral student shared her impressions.
In her presentation "The photostability of hematoporphyrin in buffered aqueous solutions at different L-ascorbate concentrations," the young researcher introduced the participants and the jury to her studies of the interaction between the tetrapyrrolic photosensitizer hematoporphyrin IX and antioxidants, in which the samples were exposed to either visible-range laser radiation or X-ray radiation. Optical spectroscopy was used to evaluate how the composition of the phosphate buffer solutions affected the porphyrin photoconversions mediated by photodynamic and radiodynamic mechanisms when the irradiated medium contained different concentrations of L-ascorbate. These results are the product of close collaboration: the research was supervised by Prof. Saulius Bagdonas and Dr Rokas Dobužinskas, a researcher at the Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University.
The conference attracts a large number of young researchers and experienced lecturers every year. The event was organized by Kaunas University of Technology together with Vilnius University, the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, the Lithuanian Materials Research Society, and other partners from the Baltic states and abroad.