Mariana de Souza Sikora

Professor Sikora holds a degree in Chemistry, with a Bachelors and Teaching License, from the State University of Central-Western Paraná (UNICENTRO) and completed her PhD at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), including a sandwich period at Christian Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, Germany. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Technology - Paraná (UTFPR) and serves as the Research Director in the Pro-Rectory of Research and Postgraduate Studies. She was the president of the Multiuser Laboratories Committee at UTFPR and acted as a Research and Postgraduate advisor, mainly focusing on securing institutional research funding from agencies such as Fundação Araucária, CNPq, and FINEP. She is an extension advisor for the "Universidades Amig@s" program by Fundação Araucária, coordinating the reception of Ukrainian researchers. She is a permanent professor in the Postgraduate Programs in Chemical and Biochemical Process Technology (PPGTP) at UTFPR and Applied Chemistry (PPGQA) at Unicentro, in Guarapuava-PR. Her research experience includes the electrochemical synthesis of nanostructured oxides for biomaterials and photocatalysis. Her interests involve modifying titanium implant surfaces to enhance bioactivity and exploring their use as drug release devices, as well as investigating corrosion in biosynthetic and biological media. In photocatalysis, she focuses on optimizing nanostructured surfaces using doping and nanoparticle decoration methods to treat chemical pollutants and pathogenic bacteria. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)