Krzysztof Zwolinski, PhD
Lab manager, Post-doc
Krzysztof holds a PhD in chemistry from the Jagiellonian University (Poland). He is a passionate bench researcher with a substantial background in various fields of applied sciences, some of which include organic, supramolecular and material chemistry. Prior to joining the Functional Macromolecules group, He worked in various scientific roles for academia and biotech companies. He brings a wealth of hands-on experience to support key laboratory and project processes ensuring their operational excellence. In his spare time, Krzysztof enjoys taking long walks, cycling and hiking. On rainy days he also enjoys taking alternative ways of making a perfect cup of coffee.
Email me: Krzysztof.Zwolinski@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Anuj Sharma, PhD
Research engineer, Post-doc
Anuj Sharma received his Master degree in Organic Chemistry at the University of Delhi (India) in 2015. Later, in the same year he joined in PhD in Organic Material Laboratory group at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (India) where he worked on the design, synthesis and characterization of fluorescent organic compounds for optoelectronic applications. Anuj obtained his PhD degree in September 2021 and currently working as Research Engineer in the Functional Macromolecules group at PORT. His role is to develop chromophore-substituted sequence-defined macromolecules for tunable optical sensors.
Email me: Anuj.Sharma@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Siyasanga Mbizana, PhD
Research engineer, Post-doc
Siya obtained his master and PhD degrees in chemistry and polymer science from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. In his PhD and a year-long post-doc position, he worked on copolymerization kinetics of N-carboxyanhydrides, synthesis and development of polypeptide-b-poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) based copolymer as an antitumor nanocarrier. Thereafter, he worked for Fine Chemicals Corporation (Aspen) for 2 years as a regulatory affairs scientist, where he led projects on pharmaceutical process impurities detection such as nitrosamine and potential genotoxic impurities. On July 2022 he joined the Functional Macromolecules Team at Łukasiewicz – PORT, where he is exploring the sequence-structure relationship of sequence-defined polyurethanes. In his spare time, he watches soccer and read.
Email me: Siyasanga.Mbizana@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Franz Steppeler, Msc
PhD candidate
Franz obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena and his M.Sc. eng. degree in Medicinal Chemistry at Wrocław University of Science and Technology (WUST). He is a fifth-year PhD student at WUST and during his doctoral studies, he focused on stereoselective syntheses and the application of aza-bicycloalkanes as rigid bicyclic substitutions of cyclic nitrogen containing compounds. In March 2023 Franz joined the Functional Macromolecules Group as an NCN scholar to work on the synthesis of sequence-defined polymers. During his spare time, he enjoys riding a bike, cooking and virtual farming.
Email me: Franz.Steppeler@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Paweł Cwynar, MSc
Process engineer, PhD candidate
Paweł obtained his MSc Eng. Degree in Materials Engineering at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (WUST). He was a member of the research group NONA at the WUST University for 1 year and during this time he realized his master thesis about amyloidogenic proteins and their optical properties. In parallel, he completed master studies – Erasmus Mundus Master Programme at the École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay in the field of Nanobiophotonics. During his education, Paweł did two internships at the Aalto University in Helsinki and the Institute of Materials Science ICMAB-CSIC in Barcelona. In September he joined the Functional Macromolecules Group at Łukasiewicz PORT to pursue his PhD. Paweł’s scientific interests are mainly nanotechnology in biology and medicine applications whereas his personal interests are snowboarding, analog photography, and travels.
Email me: Pawel.Cwynar@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Weronika Forysiak, MSc
Process engineer, PhD candidate
Weronika studied forensic chemistry and toxicology at the University of Wrocław, and in 2019 I have completed her bachelor’s degree with the thesis „Biomaterials based on functionalized silicon compounds”. Now, she is a Master student of Medical chemistry at the University of Wrocław. Weronika is a Master student at the University of Wrocław. On June 2020 she joined the Functional Macromolecules Group as an intern to work on sequence-defined oligocarbamates for her master project. She successfully defended her thesis at the University of Wroclaw on July 2021 and continue her scientific career as PhD candidate. „I am interested in combining chemistry with medicine like drug design or implant design and I enjoy creating computer graphics, reading books and listening to criminal podcasts.”
Maksymilian Szatko, MSc
NCN scholarship, Process Engineer, PhD candidate
Maksymilian obtained the bachelor’s degree in chemistry and industrial analytics at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (WUST). In his thesis, he examined the spectroscopic properties of lanthanide doped fluorite crystals. On October 2020 he joined the Functional Macromolecules Group as an intern to work on simulating the spatial structure of sequence-defined polymers for his master project. He successfully defended on September 2021 and continues his scientific adventure in our Team as NCN scholar. In his spare time, he enjoys playing role-playing games and exploring forgotten places.
Sara Kozub, Msc
Process engineer, PhD candidate
Sara obtained the bachelor’s degree in forensic chemistry and toxicology at University of Wrocław. Her bachelor thesis was ‘Biomedical applications of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes’, which she defended in 2019. In June 2020, she joined Functional Macromolecules Group as an intern to carry out her Master project and work on sequence-defined oligocarbamates. The topic of her Master thesis was ‘Properties studies of sequence-defined polyurethanes with specific chirality’, thanks to which she obtained a master’s degree. In her spare time, she likes to sing, play the piano and read books.
Email me: Sara.Kozub@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Martyna Hofman, MSc
Process engineer, PhD candidate
Martyna obtained her MSc degree in Medicinal Chemistry at University of Wrocław with thesis „Development of a method of isotopically labeled tadalafil standards preparation and their application in quantitative analysis by LC-MS”. In October 2021 she joined Functional Macromolecules Research Group at Łukasiewicz PORT as Process Engineer to work on sequence-defined polymers for sensor materials. Besides science, Martyna is interested in dietetics and human nutrition. In her spare time, she likes to cycling.
Email me: Martyna.Hofman@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Anna Smulska
Intern, undergraduate
Ania is currently studying biotechnology at Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. In August, she joined the Functional Macromolecules Group as an intern to learn the chemical synthesis of sequenced-defined polymers. This experience and knowledge will be helpful in her engineering thesis „Project of an abiotic polymers biosynthesis process with the use of Yarrowia Lipolityca”. In her spare time she enjoys climbing, working out with kettlebells and travelling.
Email me: Anna.Smulska@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Wojciech Dudziak
NCN scholar, Master student
Wojciech studied Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University, UK. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2021 with thesis „Hemicellulose to biopolymers”, a design project aimed at converting wood-processing waste to phenol based resin. He is currently a master’s student in Medical Chemistry at University of Wrocław. He joined the Functional Macromolecules Group in October as an intern in the PolyDigit project. In his spare time he enjoys singing, music production, running and watching movies.
Email me: Wojciech.Dudziak@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Agnieszka Lizak
NCN scholar, Master student
Agnieszka studied Medical Chemistry at the University of Wrocław. She obtained her bachelor degree with the thesis „Application of 5-amino-3-methyl-4-isoxazolecarboxylic acid as a non-proteinogenic amino acid in the solid-phase peptide synthesis”. Now, she continues her studies in Medical Chemistry at UWr as a master student. In September, she joined the Functional Macromolecules Group as an intern to carry out her Master project and work on oligocarbamates as information carriers. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, reading books and working out.
Email me: Agnieszka.Lizak@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Former members
Niels Andre, (11.2019-6.2020), process engineer in ConFold NCN project
Avish Golakiya (06.2020-09.2020), intern from Biotechnology Department, Wroclaw University.
Paulina Walencik, PhD (06.2020-12.2020), post-doc in ConFold NCN project
Sara Kozub (06.2020-06.2021), MS student, thesis defended at Wroclaw University, currently Process Engineer at Ł-PORT
Simone Giuseppe Giuffrida (04.2021-04.2022), post-doc in ConFold project
Daria Szemereta (08.2021-02.2022), Intern
Dominika Szydło (08.2021-07.2022), MS student, thesis defended at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
Szymon Misiurka (15.04.2022-15.07.2022), Intern
Kacper Olejniczak (09.2021-09.2022) MS student, thesis defended at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, currently LG
Yu-Yu Chen (02.2022-09.2022), Process engineer
Vijaj Gupta (03.2022-10.2022), Post-doc, currently working at Selvita
Żaneta Mała (08.2021-12.2022), Process engineer
The Roza Szweda Research Group 