Tag "research projects"

An international team of researchers from the HSE International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation, the Russian National Research Centre for Hematology, and a number of American universities examined the motivations of regular blood donors. 

A team including HSE researchers has developed a way to use microfluidic chips to assess the toxic effects of drugs on humans. This device will help identify and minimise the side effects of drugs during the preclinical trial stage and reduce the need for animal experiments. The study is published in Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine.

The image of a serial killer and/or rapist is a product of scientific discourse, transferred to the cinema, and then to TV series. In many films, the plot is based on finding and capturing such criminals by using a particular method — social and psychological profiling, and the appearance of a maniac in the cinema has been normalized today. Maria Marey, Senior Lecturer at HSE School of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, analysed how science and philosophy have contributed to the emergence of serial killer characters in popular culture, and how it affects the audience.

In September, HSE University announced the results of a competition of digital projects by early-career HSE scientists. The event was organised within the framework of the strategic project ‘Digital Transformation: Technologies, Effects, Efficiency’. The organisers selected 8 out of 22 applications. The research teams have already started to implement their projects, and the results will be presented at the end of November. The HSE News Service shares the details of three of the highest-scoring projects in the competition. The creators of the projects are staff members of the HSE Center for Language and Brain, MIEM, and the Faculty of Computer Science.

Researchers at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience have shown experimentally that magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex of the brain causes test subjects to act less rationally, changing how they assess possible outcomes at the moment they make risky decisions. The scientists believe that the discovery will provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that give rise to gaming addiction. The results of the study were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

A team of researchers of the HSE Faculty of Chemistry  Joint Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science with the RAS Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry have designed a novel type of hybrid ion-exchange membrane. Such membranes can be used to produce drinking water from seawater, which is particularly relevant for areas with access to the sea and a shortage of drinking water. The study is published in Desalination.

Researchers from HSE University propose using online TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) to study the dynamics of cognitive dissonance. The study findings are published in Pavlov Journal of Higher Nervous Activity.

According to researchers of the Moscow City Pedagogical University (MSPU) and HSE University Vladimir Postavnev, Irina Postavneva, Vadim Peskov and Alexey Dvoinin, certain personality traits can help older scholars stay productive and creative for a long time. The study findings are published in Acta Biomedica Scientifica.

An international group of scientists and medical specialists, including HSE researchers, examined the role played by microRNA (miRNA) and long non-coding RNAs on the progression of ovarian cancer. Having analysed more than a hundred tumour samples, they found that miRNA can prevent cell mutation while long non-coding RNAs have the opposite effect of enabling such mutations. These findings can help design new drugs which act by regulating miRNA concentrations. The study was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Vaccination is generally considered an essential tool for curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Russia was one of the first countries to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 and launched an immunisation campaign in 2021, its vaccination rates remained low for a long time. By October 2021, only 36% of Russian adults were vaccinated, many of whom were compelled by their employers to do so. Having examined the factors contributing to low trust in vaccination among Russians, HSE economists suggest measures to improve vaccination uptake. The paper is published in Vaccine.