Nikolay POPOV

Nikolay Popov is a PhD candidate at the University of Luxembourg in the Department of Physics and Materials Science (DPhyMS). He is a member of the Experimental Soft Matter Physics group led by Professor Jan Lagerwall.

Popov’s research focuses on the stability of Liquid Crystal (LC) shells and their application in bio-sensing. His PhD project is titled “Liquid Crystal Shells as Reporters of Biomolecular Adsorption Events”. In addition, he significantly contributed to developing and studying LC elastomer (LCE) tubes and their actuation behavior through a collaborative project.

1. Facilitated recitation sessions for Bachelor’s students in Experimental Physics and for Master’s students in Polymer Physics at the University of Luxembourg.
2. Supervised laboratory activities for sophomore students in an Analytical Chemistry course at the Ivanovo State University (IvSU), Russia.

Popov has delivered oral presentations at major conferences, including the 29^th ILCC in Brazil on LC shell annealing (2024) and the 49^th GLCC at the University of Stuttgart, Germany on arbitrarily long tube-shaped LCE actuators (2023). His earlier work includes the 46^th GLCC at the University of Paderborn, Germany (2019) and the “Young Science” conferences at IvSU in Russia (2016-2018). He has contributed through scientific posters at the GRC at Southern New Hampshire University, USA (2023), the MRT/DPhyMS PhD day at Uni.lu, Luxembourg (2022), the 45^th GLCC at Uni.lu, Luxembourg (2018), at the Markovnikov’s Readings Conference at Moscow State University, Russia (2018).

• Master of Chemistry with honors, IvSU, Russia. July 2018.
• Featured on the cover of MDPI Materials in January 2018 for the review article “Thermotropic Liquid Crystal-Assisted Chemical and Biological Sensors. MDPI Materials. 11, 20 (2018)” (Vol. 11, No. 20).
• Diplomas for best talks at the “Young Science” conferences, IvSU, Russia, 2016 and 2018.

• Doctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg: Investigating LC shells’ stability and their bio-sensing applications; previously worked on LCE tubes.
• Research assistant, Nanomaterials Research Institute, IvSU: Focused on developing LC-based chemical and biological sensors.

Nikolay Popov holds a BS and an MSc in Chemistry from the Faculty of Biology & Chemistry, IvSU, Russia.