Group leader (former) : Assistant Professor Jelena Muncan
Affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Research Topics : Characterization of biomaterials and nanomaterials, Biomedical diagnostics and therapy, Aquaphotomics.
Jelena Munćan started her research career at Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Belgrade in Serbia. After graduating at Department of Manufacturing Engineering in 2008, her interest in artificial intelligence and neurprosthetics led her to pursue PhD in Biomedical engineering, with the initial focus on nanotechnologies and how they can help early diagnostics and/or therapy in the case of neurodegenerative diseases.
During her early years as a PhD student she meets Professor Dr Tsenkova, and starts initial explorations in aquaphotomics, with works on characterization of water, aqueous solutions of fullerol and other fullerene based nanomaterials, as well as cosmetic and therapeutic products based on fullerene. The framework of Aquaphotomics inspired her to search for better understanding of water phenomena and how it can be implemented for the purposes of biomedical diagnostics and therapy, as well as better understanding of the role of water in biological organisms.
After completing her PhD thesis on the topic of non-invasive glucose sensing, recognizing the potential and vast possibilities of aquaphotomics in biomedical science, she widened her research area to characterization of hydrogel based contact lenses, cancer and diabetes diagnostics, and efficacy of dialysis therapy. During this period, first as an Assistant, and then as an Assistant Professor at the Biomedical Engineering Department, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade she introduced some additions to the standard curriculum offering the courses such as BioStatistics and Data mining, Spectroscopy methods and techniques as well as a new PhD course entirely devoted to Aquaphotomics.
In 2017 she was awarded by Japanese Society for Promotion of Science, and after completing her 2-year postdoctoral fellowship on mastitis diagnosis in dairy, she decided to continue to live in work on aquaphotomics in Japan, where is currently employed as a Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at newly established, Aquaphotomics Research Department, Kobe University.
