18.-30.03.2024.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faculty of Science University of Sarajevo, Department of Biology

Our PhD student, Iva, honed her skills in the technique of in vitro ginkgo culture under the mentorship of Professor Erna Karalija, a team member of the project. During her training, Iva delved into proper equipment handling, sterilization techniques for both equipment and plant material, preparation of diverse nutrient substrates, as well as the roles of growth regulators across various stages of in vitro culture.

10.-13.03.2024, Duesseldorf, Germany, Heinrich-Heine University

The PlantACT! initiative aims to serve as a think tank of plant science experts dedicated to combating climate change. The inaugural PlantACT! conference took place in Duesseldorf from March 10-13, 2023, on the Heinrich-Heine University campus. Our PI, Dunja Šamec, is one of the initiative's members, and during the conference, she presented our project results in oral talk "Understanding the stress tolerance of living fossil plants: are biflavonoids involved?" 

10.03.2024.

As part of the project activity related with the optimisation of biflavonoid extraction from ginkgo leaves, we have published a research paper in the open access journal Applied Sciences. PhD student I. Jurčević Šangut is a first author and D. Šamec corresponding author.

11.-16.02.2024., Dubrovnik, Croatia

At the 59th Croatian & 19th International Symposium on Agriculture D. Šamec gave a lecture on "Biological activity and biflavone content of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) – ornamental, medicinal and food plant" as a part of the Session 4 . Vegetable Growing, Ornamental, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.

01.12.2023., Osijek, Croatia

Iva Jurčević Šangut and Dunja Šamec take a part in the Symposium of Croatian Society for Plant Biology in Osijek. During the Syposium Dunja Šamec presented the project results as a short lecture in the presentation "Investigation of the role of biflavonoids in plants: Results of in vitro biological activity and distribution in different tissues of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.)".

21.10.2023., Zagreb Croatia & 9.-10.11.2023., Tuzla, B&H

Two students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the University of Zagreb presented the results of project activities related with biflavonoids extraction at the 8th Simpozij studenata kemičara in Zagreb and the Environmental resources, sustainable development and food production conference in Tuzla. In Tuzla they won the best oral presentation award. Congratulations!

26.-27.10.2023.

Biocentar, Zagreb, Croatia

Our PhD student Iva Jurčević Šangut participated in the workshop „Fundamentals of Liquid Chromatography“ at the Biocenter in Zagreb. This workshop gave her the opportunity to learn about liquid chromatography, a technique she will use in her research.

16.-17.10.2023.

Koprivnica, Croatia

At the 2nd International conference "Food and Climate Change" we presented three three posters resulting from the project activities:  "Evaluation of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) green waste (yellow leaves and seeds) as a source of bioactive compounds"; "Development of efficient method for in vitro micropropagation of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.)"; "The influence of freeze-drying, air-drying and oven-drying on the biflavones content of yellow ginkgo (Ginko biloba L.) leaves".

I. Jurčević Šangut won the prize for the best poster presentation.

12.10.2023.

As part of the project activity related with the study of biological activity of biflavonoids, we have published a research paper in the open access journal Antioxidants. All project team members are co-author, PhD student I. Jurčević Šankut is a first author and D. Šamec corresponding author.

09.09.2023.

Three book chapters were published as part of a book Handbook of Dietary Flavonoid (Xiao, J. (ed)) by Springer Nature and are available online. The chapters are about the the biflavonoids amentoflavone, ginkgetin, and isoginkgetin and summarize the current knowledge about their resources, biological and pharmacological activities. In a chapter preparation were involved I. Jurčević Šangut, E. Karalija and D. Šamec.

07.09.2023.

Koprivnica, Croatia

Two students, Sara Gospičić and Josipa Đelekovčan, students of Food Technology at the University North, defended their baccalaureate thesis conducted within the project under the supervision of D. Šamec. I. Jurčević Šangut was the immediate supervisor.

31.08.2023

Koprivnica, Croatia

Rebeka Oreški, a student of food technology at the University North, defended her baccalaureate thesis "Effect of extraction solvent on the content of total polyphenols, flavonoids and antioxidant activity of ginkgo leaves", which was carried out as part of the project under the supervision of D. Šamec. I. Jurčević Šangut was the immediate supervisor.

14.07.2023.

Koprivnica, Croatia

Lana Pavličević, a student of food technology at the University North, defended her baccalaureate thesis "Effect of drying method on the content of total polyphenols, flavonoids and antioxidant activity of ginkgo leaves", which was carried out as part of the project under the supervision of D. Šamec. I. Jurčević Šangut was the immediate supervisor and team member B. Šarkanj was the chair of the expert committee. 

21.-23.06.2023.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dunja Šamec gave oral presentation "Metabolomics as a tool to study plant stress" as a part of Training school "Molecular analysis of epigenetic to plant stress" organized as a part of COST action CA19125 EPI-CATCH at the University of Sarajevo. During the presentation she presentet GinkoBiFlav project and some results.

31.05.-04.06.2023. 

Ohrid, North Macedonia

Student Lana Pavličević presented her research conducted within the project in a scientific part of the international student sports and science competition Agronomijada 2023. She gave an oral presentation "The influence of the drying method on the total polyphenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activity of ginkgo (Gingko biloba L.) leaves "  and won the 3rd place. Congratulations!

30.05.-02.06. 2023

St. Constatine and Helena Resort, Bulgaria

Dunja Šamec presented poster "Simoltaneus determination and quantification of five biflavones in ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) leaves" at conference  5th International Conference on Natural Product Utilization- From Plants to Pharmacy (5-ICNPU) in Bulgaria. 

18.05.2023.

Koprivnica, Croatia

Our project hosted the Plant Fascination Day event. During the event, a cooperation agreement was signed between three projects funded by the Croatian National Science Foundation. Ivana Šola, Danijela Poljuha and Mirela Uzelac gave invited talks and presented their CNSF projects. 

27.04.2023.

Koprivnica, Croatia

Iva Jurčević and Dunja Šamec organized a workshop for children of kindergarten age on the topic "Nature and networking under the ginkgo tree" as part of the Science Festival 2023 in Koprivnica. The workshop was attended by 100 children who learned about ginkgo. Students Lana Pavličević, Rebeka Oreški and Josipa Đelekovčan, who are writing their bachelor thesis within the project, also volunteered at the workshop. 

21.-22.04.2023.

Zagreb, Croatia

Iva Jurčević presented poster "Biflavonoid profiling in different tissues of ginkgo (𝘎𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢 L.)" at 7th Faculty of Science PhD Students Symposium.

28.-31.03.2023.

Rovinj, Croatia

As part of a project activity on the extraction of biflavonoids, we started collaboration with the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Zagreb. Their student Mateja Bajo presented her results at the 28th Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers in a poster presentation "Development and optimization of biflavonoids extraction from ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) leaves using deep eutectic solvents."

16.-18.03.2023.

Rijeka, Croatia

Lana Pavličević, a food technology student at University North, is conducting research for her bachelor's thesis as part of the project. She presented her resalts at the Sanitas 2023 Student Congress of Health Protection as a poster presentation entitled "The influence of the drying method on the total polyphenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activity of ginkgo (Gingko biloba L.) leaves " 

16.02.2023.

As part of the project activityrelated with the study of biological activity of biflavonoids, we have published a review paper in the open access journal Life in collaboration with international scientists. Dunja Šamec is a corresponding author of a published article. 

28.12.2022.

As part of the project activity to optimize HPLC-DAD methods for biflavonoid identification and quantification, we published a short communication in an open access journal Plants. Dunja Šamec is corresponding author and Iva Jurčević is co-author. 

13.-16.12.2022.

Matera, Italy

Dunja Šamec gave a presentation on "Specialized metabolites: plant power against climate change" at the I International Workshop on Applied Research in Plant Science- from farm to pharmacy, organized as part of the international EU-funded project PAPRIKANET, of which she is a consortium member. 

8.-9-12.2022.

Zagreb, Croatia

Our PhD student Iva Jurčević participated in the „Introduction to molecular modelling“ workshop at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, organized by the Croatian Association for Cancer Research. This workshop was an opportunity to learn and gain insight into online database searches and visualization of macromolecules, molecular docking methods and the application of PyMOL software to their performance.

30.11.-02.12.2022.

Zagreb, Croatia

10th International Congress of Food Technologists, Biotechnologists and Nutritionists was organized by the Croatian Society of Food Technologists, Biotechnologists and Nutritionists. During the poster section our PhD student Iva Jurčević presented poster entitled „The influence of 3',8'' dimerization on the antioxidant and antifungal activity of flavonoids: the example of apigenin and amentoflavone“ .

21.11.2022.

As part of the project activity related with the optimization of a extraction protocol for biflavonoid extraction, review article was published in the open access journal Applied Scienes.  Dunja Šamec is the corresponding author.

12.-16.10.2022.

Pula, Croatia

The 14th Croatian Biological Congress was organized in Pula. Dunja Šamec presented poster "Specialized metabolites in "living fossil" plants: important factors for survival in a changing environment" as a part of 8th Symposium of the Croatian Society of Plant Biologist.

6.-8.10.2022.

Belgrade, Serbia (online)

 4th International Conference on Plant Biology (23rd SPPS Meeting)  was organized by Serbian Society of Plant Physiology in Belgrade as a hybrid event. Dunja Šamec participated online and presented e-poster "Metabolomic profiling of "living fossil" plants: a tool for understanding plant-environment interactions".

21.-23.09.2022.

Vukovar, Croatia

Dunja Šamec presented poster at conference  19th Ružička Days organized by  Croatian Society of Chemical Engineers (CSCE) and its partners in Vukovar. She presented poster entitled "Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L) as a source of biflavonoids with biological activity".

 15.-16.09.2022.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Dunja Šamec presented poster at conference Plants in Changing Environment 2022  organized by the Slovenian Society of Plant Biology at Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana. She presented poster entitled "Structural diversity and bioactivity of biflavonoids from ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.), a "living  fossil" plant with exceptional adaptability to environmental changes".

07.08.2022.

online

Dunja Šamec gave an invited talk on "Biological activity of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) flavonoid dimers: current status and further directions" at the 6th International Symposium on Phytochemicals in Medicine and Food organized by the International Association of Dietetic Nutrition and Safety (IADNS), the Phytochemical Society of Europe (PSE), and the Phytochemical Society of Asia (PSA). The conference was held online from 05.-13.08.2022.

04.06.2022.

Koprivnica, Croatia

Dunja Šamec gave a lecture on "The story of the ginkgo: How to survive dinosaurs?" at the Science Day organised at the "Fran Galović" Gymnasium in Koprivnica. This one-day event for the popularisation of science attracted more than thousand visitors this year. 

31.05.2022.

As a part of project activity today in our laboratory new 1260 Infinity II LC System was installed. It is a robust high performance liquid chromatography instrument by Agilent that offers the widest choice of modules for analytical HPLC and entry-level UHPLC. This instrument will be primarly used for biflavonoid profiling as part of further project activities.

23.05.2022.

The first article resulting from a project activity was published in the prestigious open-access journal Plants. The article is published as a "feature paper" - representing the most advanced research with significant potential for major impact on the field. This review paper provides an overview of the chemistry, diversity, and biological factors that influence the presence of biflavonoids in ginkgo, as well as their bioactive and health-related properties.  Dunja Šamec is first author and corresponding author and Erna Karalija is one of the co-authors.  

Link to the work: Plants | Free Full-Text | Biflavonoids: Important Contributions to the Health Benefits of Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) (mdpi.com) 

18.05.2022.

On a Plant Fascination Day (May 18th)  we took first samples of ginkgo leaves for an analysis, which is planned for the next project year. 

18.05.2022.

Koprivnica, Croatia

Dunja Šamec organised the Fascination of Plants Day 2022 at the University North in Koprivnica and gave a lecture on "Ginkgo" for students, in which she also presented our project. Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD) was first launched in 2012 with the aim of raising awareness that plant science is of crucial importance for social, environmental and economic issues on our planet today and in the future. 

03.05.2022.

Koprivnica, Croatia

Dunja Šamec gave a lecture on the topic "Ginkgo - "living fossil" for healthy life" (in Croatia: Ginko - "živi fosil" za vitalan život") at the Science Festival in Koprivnica organized from 2 to 7.05.2022. This year the theme of the festival is life. Dunja Šamec and Bojan Šarkanj were involved in the organisation of the festival at the University North. 

26.03.2022.

online

Dunja Šamec presented poster at 2022 MCAA Annual Conference and General Assembly, organized by Marie Curie Alumni Association whose member she is. Conference was organized as a hybrid event and poster sessions were online. She presented poster entitled "Ginkgo biloba L.: a model plant for studying biflavonoids biosynthesis and bioactivity" authored by D. Šamec, E. Karalija and B. Šarkanj

12.03.2022.

Varaždin, Croatia

Dunja Šamec is one of the mentor at Center of Excellence for Biology in Varaždin county. During 4 workshops she will teach students about plant molecules and their possible use in pharmacy, food industry and agronomy. In the introductory lecture she present them GinkoBiFlav project and experiments which we perform as a part of the project.

04.03.2022.

online

Dunja Šamec gave oral online presentation "Biflavonoids: What we know, what we don t know, what we need to know?" at Third Annual Conference of Centre for Natural Products Discovery (CNPD) hosted by the Centre for Natural Products Discovery  in conjunction with Liverpool John Moores University, UK.  Conference took place online from 02. to 04. 03.2022. with the participation of 295 delegates from all over the World.

25.02.2022.

online

Our team member Erna Karalija held invited talk for the members of Croatian Association of Plant Biologists "Climate change and effects on plants" during which she presented GinkoBiFlavProject.

17.02.2022.

 online

Our PI Dunja Šamec is involved in international project "Plant Active Products: Research, Innovation and Knowledge Advancements through an International NETwork- PAPRIKA.NET" . During kick-off meeting she presented GinkoBiFlav project to collegue from Italy, Greece, Spain, Germany, Poland and Bulgaria who are part of the PAPRIKANET.IT project.

26.11.2021.

 online

At the Mini Symposium organized by Croatian Association of Plant Biology, which took place online and at Faculty of Science iz Zagreb, Dunja Šamec presented project in a presentation entitled "Biflavonoids:in two it's nicer isn't it?" (in Croatian: Biflavonoidi: U dvoje je ljepše zar ne?"

15.10.2021.

Koprivnica, Croatia

At the international conference "Food & Climate Change" Dunja Šamec presented project in a presentation "Learning from the past for the future: “living fossil“ plants as model systems for understanding plants response to a changing environment ". At the same conference Erna Karalija presented methodology which she use for our project in a presentation "Elicitation of plants secondary metabolite production in vitro"

14.-16.10.2021.,

Varaždin, Croatia

From 14 to 16th October Erna Karalija from University of Sarajevo visited University North. During her stay she participated at the meeting with project team members and presented exepriments which she performed at the project during the conference "Food and Climate Change"

01.07.2021. 

 online

Project team members Dunja Šamec, Erna Karalija and Bojan Šarkanj held online Kick-off meeting where they discussed further plans for working on a project.