Nicoleta Elena DINA, PhD - Project Manager
Dr. Nicoleta Elena DINA received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics (2008) and the Specialization in Biomedical Physics (2010) from Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). She has completed her Ph.D. (2013) at Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) with specialization in Physics. She completed a six months internship (September 2012-February 2013) at Technische Universität München (TUM), München, Germany, where she contributed at the optimization of the single-cell SERS-based detection methodology of uropathogens. Since 2015 she is working at the National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies (INCDTIM), Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as Research Assistant. Her research main interest is using SERS in real-life applications. Dr. Dina was a referee at Journal of Spectroscopy and at AIP Conference Proceedings. Also she is a member of the Romanian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics.
Email: nicoleta.dina@itim-cj.ro
Alia COLNITA, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral researcher
Dr. Alia COLNITA received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics (2009) and the Specialization in Biomedical Physics (2011) from Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). She has completed her Ph.D. (2014) at Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) with specialization in Physics. She won a 6 months Erasmus scholarship (October 2010-March 2011) at University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany, where she completed several studies involving the physical-chemical characterization of biomolecules. In the period 2014-2015 she also attended two training visits at Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland, where she paticipated to the deposition and characterization of supramolecular structures self-assembled on metallic surfaces. Since 2012 she is working at the National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies (INCDTIM), Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as Scientific Researcher. Her research interests concern the use of vibrational spectroscopies in real-life applications and the development of sensors based on selfassembled molecular structures. Dr. Colnita was a referee for Analytical Letters and Spectroscopy journal. Starting with 2014, she is also the treasurer of the Romanian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics, Cluj branch.
Email: alia.ungurean@itim-cj.ro
Sorin Daniel MARCONI, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral researcher
Dr. Daniel Marconi received her Bachelor Degree in Physics (2002, Physics Faculty, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca) and the Master Degree (2003, Physics Faculty, UBB, Cluj-Napoca) with the specialization in Solid State Physics. In 2008, he was granted the PhD Diploma in Physics for the thesis: "The partial atomic substitutions on electrical and magnetic properties of oxide superconductors". In 2012 Dr. Marconi joined INCDTIM on a research scientist position and since then he research activities focus on: 1) Deposition of organic/inorganic films deposited under ultra-high vacuum using MBE facility and characterization of the surfaces using STM and AFM, with applications in biosensors, molecular sensors and nanoelectronics; 2) Fabrication of high-resolution nanostructured surfaces using photolithography techniques and 3) Design and Fabrication of a hybrid inorganic-organic p-n junction diode based on iron phthalocyanines (FePc) on flexible substrate using heavily doped ZnO as transparent conducting electrode. In 2013 he completed a dedicated training in deposition techniques of epitaxial molecular monolayers with controlled structure and thickness by MBE deposition and characterization using STM techniques. The internship was held at Technische Universität Chemnitz, Institut für Physik, Solid Surfaces Laboratory Analysis. In 2014 he finalised an internship in techniques for obtaining micro and nanostructured electrodes for high-quality applications in biosensors and molecular electronics using high-precision equipment and techniques. The internship was held at Technische Universität Chemnitz, Institut für Physik, Solid Surfaces Laboratory Analysis. In 2015 and 2016 he concluded internship training in STM and STS. The internship was held at Technische Universität Chemnitz, Institut für Physik, Solid Surfaces Laboratory Analysis. Currently he is employed as a senior 3rd degree research scientist.
Email: daniel.marconi@itim-cj.ro
Ana - Maria - Raluca GHERMAN, Ph.D. Student
Drd. Ana - Maria - Raluca GHERMAN, received her Bachelor Degree in Medical Physics (2013) and the Master Degree in Biomedical Physics (2015) from Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania). She is currently a PhD student (since October 2015) at the Faculty of Physics of Babeş-Bolyai University. Her research at the Faculty of Physics focuses on the study of biomolecular ligand-receptor systems, using pharmaceutical ligands and employing experimental spectroscopies (Raman, NMR) and theoretical methods (DFT, autodocking, etc). Since July 2016, she is also a Reasearch Assistant at National Institute for Reasearch and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, in Cluj-Napoca (Romania). The main fields of study of her interest are computational chemistry, molecular modeling (especially of Raman, IR and NMR spectra of biomolecules) and chemometric analysis (mainly SERS/Raman spectra of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi).
Email: raluca.gherman@itim-cj.ro
Tiberiu SZÖKE-NAGY, Ph.D. Student
Drd. Tiberiu SZÖKE-NAGY received his BSc in Biology and MSc in Cellular Biotransformation during 2006-2011 and is a PhD student in Biology since 2011. Starting with 2013, he was involved in several research projects hosted by the Institute of Biological Research Cluj-Napoca, National Institute for R&D for Biological Sciences (INCDSB) Bucharest, as Assistant Researcher, being assigned to environmental sample collecting, DNA and RNA isolation, purification and quantification, identification of bacterial strains using 16S RNA molecular markers and analysis of sequenced fragments. As a PhD student, his research activity is mainly focused on Molecular Biology (Initiation of the algal cultures of Botryococcus braunii, DNA and RNA Isolation, cDNA Synthesis; Identification and bioinformatic analysis of SSLs (squalene synthase-like) from different strains of B. braunii; Identification, and isolation of gene responsible for SSL activity in the same algae strains) and Environmental Microbiology and Metagenomics. Since July 2016 joined INCDTIM on a research asistant position and since then he research activities focus on biological sample preparation, manipulation and Molecular Biology specific analysis.
Email: tiberiu.szoke-nagy@itim-cj.ro