Tara Koldžić, a student of the Fifth Belgrade High School, won a gold medal in the “Life Science” category at the recently held Conference of Young Scientists in Thailand, thanks to her innovative idea.
She is the first in the world to devise a new method of isolating vitamin B12, which is key to the normal functioning of the human body and is obtained almost exclusively by consuming foods of animal origin. However, many people also need its supplements, especially those who have some types of anemia.
“I was doing research on the topic of nanoencapsulation and controlled release of vitamin B12 from RuBisCO protein nanoparticles obtained by cold gelation induced by ultrasound. In essence, I wanted to create a complex, that is, a system in which vitamin B12 would be gradually and controllably released exactly as much as needed,” the young scientist tells Euronews Serbia.
She explains that when taking common vitamin B12 supplements, most of the vitamin is released immediately at the beginning of digestion and does not reach all parts of the body at all.
“My goal was to create a system in which that vitamin would be gradually released and reach all the necessary parts of the body to the extent that it is needed,” says Koldžić, who is currently enrolling in the third year of high school.
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She points out that she had the full support of her family and teachers, but that for every young researcher, the path to realizing an idea is long.
“I would say that perhaps the most difficult part is to come up with the idea itself, and when you come up with an idea that you would like to realize, you start looking for a mentor. This is usually a professor at a faculty, and this year I worked at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy with Professor Zorica Knežević-Jugović, without whom this research could not have been carried out. And then you start with the experiments,” Tara explains, adding that the experimental part, writing the paper and abstract, as well as the presentation, follow.
That is precisely why this recognition is very important to her.
“It means that someone recognized your effort and your work, your time that you invested in the whole project and knew how to reward it,” says the high school student, who is already planning to work on new projects.
She is currently preparing for a competition that will be held next year in India, and she plans to enroll in medical studies in the future.
“Of course, some experimental work and work in the laboratory are not excluded. So we’ll see, there’s still time,” our interlocutor concludes.
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Source: Euronews, Photo: Euronews