Welcome to my research journey
When people ask me what I do, I often hesitate between a short-and-easy answer and the full story. The short answer is that I am doing research in bio-based materials. The longer version is more like a dive into the details of how I ended up here. This story began with the day I decided to move to Stockholm, ten years ago and has led me to explore questions that keep me excited every day.
Research is about asking questions and following them wherever they lead. This is a journey that includes uncertainty, lots of failing and keep trying no matter what. I am ever grateful to my PhD supervisor, Lauren, for teaching me that failure in research is just part of it. For me, this has been one of the biggest challenges: to learn how to get over a failure and most importantly, not being afraid of one. I started this journey in research a few years ago, exploring the components of wood and how we can utilise them towards a more sustainable future.
Who I am
My name is Ioanna, and I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Chemistry, at Stockholm University. My background is in lignin extraction, characterization and materials applications, and along the way, I’ve been fortunate to work on projects ranging from plant cell cultures to developing green lignin extraction protocols and to innovative applications.
Outside of research, I enjoy reading books, from comics and science fiction to biographies and the genres in between. I also love making Amigurumi. From time to time, I get excited with new hobbies, most of which are crafts related.
My research interests
I focus on lignin chemistry, a major component of wood tissue and the third most abundant biopolymer on Earth. I started exploring its native structure and now I continue by exploring different ways that affect its packing into stabilized particles, called colloidal dispersions, and how to produce structural colours for different applications. These topics may seem highly specialized, but they play an important part of sustainable development. Replacing fossil-based materials with lignin and conventional dyes with structural colours, can reduce microplastic pollution and the release of toxic chemicals into the water supplies.
I am currently organizing an interlaboratory study on the standardization of the preparation of colloidal lignin particles. Together with six more groups from Europe, Canada and China, we are trying to address reproducibility and full characterization of these particles. Projects like this make research thrilling for me: different groups from around the world collaborating to advance science.
My research interests are also about the processes that help answering questions. I am fascinated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography, two of the most important tools in the field of lignin chemistry, as they help uncover new perspectives of lignin structure and properties. Writing about my experiences in this blog allows me to reflect in ways that formal publications rarely allow.
I started this blog to share the ideas and the journey behind my research. My goal is to provide insights for readers who are curious about wood chemistry and biopolymers, coming from different backgrounds, whether they are fellow researchers, students, or simply interested in learning about my work.
I also hope to share reflections on the challenges, and lessons that come with being a researcher. As a result, this space will be dedicated to reflecting my work, but also personal enough to give you a sense of the person behind the research.
Thank you for stopping by! I look forward to sharing more in the weeks and months to come. Feel free to connect, comment, or reach out! I would love to hear your thoughts and continue the conversation.