Ivalina Trendafilova

Professional experience

01/04/2024 – 01/04/2026 – Research fellow – Institute of Organic Chemistry with Center of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Fellowship in the frame of National Scientific Program “Petar Beron i NIE” (P. Beron)

01/2024 – 02/2024 – Guest researcher – French National Centre for Scientific Research, Institute de Chimie, Montpellier, France
11/01/2021 – 11/01/2024 – Research fellow, Namur University, Namur, Belgium
Fellowship in the frame of BEWARE program co-funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
20/05/2020 – 17/02/2021 – Assistant professor, Institute of Organic Chemistry with Center of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
08/07/2019 – 08/08/2019 – Guest researcher, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
15/10/2018 – 15/03/2020 – Research fellow – National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
01/08/2014 – 14/10/2018 – Assistant, PhD student– Institute of Organic Chemistry with Center of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
01/02/2013 – 31/01/2014 – Production efficiency engineer, COATS, Sofia, Bulgaria
01/03/2011 – 01/04/2011 – Internship at Laboratory of Quality Control and Innovations, Megachim AD CO., Russe, Bulgaria
01/10/2007 – 31/02/2010 – Research scientist, Laboratory of Nanoparticle Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia university, Sofia, Bulgaria

Education and training

• 11/01/2021 – 11/01/2024 – Post-doctoral researcher, Namur University, Namur, Belgium
• 02/01/2019 – 15/03/2020 – Post-doctoral researcher, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 01/08/2014 – 20/12/2018 – PhD student, Institute of Organic Chemistry with Center of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
• 01/10/2011 – 01/07/2014 – Master of science in medicinal chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria
• 09/10/2009 – 31/06/2011 – Expert on perfume and cosmetics – University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, Sofia, Bulgaria
• 01/10/2007 – 31/06/2011 – Bachelor of science in chemistry – Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria

Main research interests

Development of sustainable porous silica and composite materials for various applications, including: i) serving as carriers in delivery systems for synthetic and natural biologically active compounds, ii) advancing highly efficient catalysts for industrial wastewater purification and the removal of harmful emissions, and iii) as adsorbents for the selective separation of biologically active compound mixtures.

Selected publications

Author of 25 research papers

Total citations (excluding self-citations): 271, h-index – 11

• Trendafilova, I., Popova, M., “Porous Silica Nanomaterials as Carriers of Biologically Active Natural Polyphenols: Effect of Structure and Surface Modification”, Pharmaceutics, Volume 16, Issue 8, Article number 1004, 2024, link https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/16/8/1004
• Šuligoj, A., Trendafilova, I., Maver, K., Pintar, A., Ristić, A., Dražić, G., Abdelraheem, Wael H.M., Jagličić, Z., Arčon, I., Logar, N. Z., Dionysiou, D. D., Novak Tušar, N., “Multicomponent Cu-Mn-Fe silica supported catalysts to stimulate photo-Fenton-like water treatment under sunlight”, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, Volume 11, Issue 5, 2023, link https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213343723011089
• Trendafilova, I., Mihaly, J., Momekova, D., Chimshirova, R., Lazarova, H., Momekov, G., Popova, M., “Antioxidant activity and modified release profiles of morin and hesperetin flavonoids loaded in Mg- or Ag-modified SBA-16 carriers”, Materials Today Communications, Volume 24, Article number 10119, 2020, link https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352492820302610

Latest projects

Leader

• Development of Sustainable Silica Adsorbents for Separation of Naturally Derived Bioactive Molecules, SAND, NSP Petar Beron i NIE 01.04.2024

Member of the research team

• Center of Excellence in mechatronics and clean technologies, in the framework of the “Science and Education for Smart Growth” Operational Program 2014-2020 under the procedure for selection of projects BG05M2OP001-1.001
• Novel approaches for utilization of lignocellulosic biomass to valuable chemical products and materials for intelligent green growth, КП-06-ОПР01/2, 2018-2020
• Development of manganese based catalytic system for the removal of dyes from wastewater working under neutral pH, Slovenia-USA research bilateral project BI-US/18-19-039
• BEWARE-MicroSpheres: Development of functionalized silica microspheres for the purification of proteins, 2010065, 2021-2024

Honours and awards

• Namur Institute of Structured Matter Award for career development plan of postdocs, Namur University, Namur, Belgium, 2023 г.
• Award “Acad. Rumen Tsanev” for scientific publication of young scientist, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2022
• National Award “Prof. Hristo Balarev” of The Union of Chemists in Bulgaria for “Outstanding Young Scientist in the Field of Inorganic Chemistry”, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2022
• Award of The National Endowment Fund “13 Centuries of Bulgaria”, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2022
• Nomination for Pitagor National Award for a contribution in the field, category “Young Scientist”, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2023
• Nomination for Pitagor National Award for a contribution in the field, category “Young Scientist”, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2022
• Nomination for Pitagor National Award for a contribution in the field, category “Young Scientist”, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2021
• Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Award for young researchers “Prof. Marin Drinov” for achievements in the field “Nanosciences, New Materials and Technologies”, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2019