Engineered Living Materials: How Anna Sandak Is Making Buildings Self-Heal
Month: July 2026
A researcher from InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM attended the deCYPher hands-on summer school “Fundamentals in Integrating Synthetic Biology, Data, and AI”, held 6–8 July 2026 in Ghent, Belgium.
Klara Gregorič, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM researcher, attended the international summer school, which brought together students and researchers from different count several European universities and research institutions. The summer school focused on three main themes: automated literature scraping and data collection, automated microbial cloning and best practices in research data management. The programme combined lectures, interactive sessions and group work, providing participants with practical skills and conceptual foundations for integrating synthetic biology with modern data and artificial intelligence approaches.
Effective research data management and the use of automated literature scraping can be directly applied to the ARCHI-SKIN project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC), as these techniques facilitate more efficient identification and retrieval of relevant scientific literature while supporting robust research data management practices, which are essential for the effective implementation and overall quality of the project.
COST Actions (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) provide valuable opportunities for researchers to build international networks and strengthen collaboration across Europe. InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM researchers continue to actively contribute to these initiatives.
Dr. Anna Sandak, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM Materials research group leader, was nominated as a Management Committee (MC) member for the newly approved COST Action CA25136 – Intelligent Soft Materials via Chemical Feedback Control at Materials Interfaces (INFORMat).
INFORMat aims to bring together interdisciplinary experts to define and advance the principles of intelligent soft materials, enabling systems that can sense, decide, and act autonomously in real-world environments. The Action will identify promising approaches and material platforms, and develop roadmaps for key functionalities such as sensing, decision-making, signaling, and movement. By fostering a shared vision and building capacity across Europe, INFORMat will help position the region at the forefront of advanced materials innovation, accelerating the transition from academic research to practical, sustainable, and economically impactful applications.
The ARCHI-SKIN delivered lectures
Anna Sandak – Wool as a functional biological interface
Jakub Grzybek & Ana Gubenšek – Mycelium-based composites: from growth to performance
Wojciech Pajerski- Understanding wool – a chemical perspective
and a practical hands-on training
Jakub Grzybek & Ana Gubenšek – Wool & Mycelium Composites
Jakub Grzybek – Phase Change Materials and Wool