Anže Abram is a researcher at the department for nanostructured materials at the Institute Jožef Stefan (IJS), where, among other things, he researches materials for use in the fields of medicine and fusion. In April of 2022, he started a postdoctoral research project at the Department of Biology at Ryukyu University on the Japanese island of Okinawa, which is expected to last until September next year. He is now developing and testing materials that could be used to restore marine habitats such as coral reefs.
The goal is a material that will degrade in a controlled manner over time. The organisms that will grow on it will create their own skeleton.
“Around the world, they are trying to restore various marine habitats, not just corals. They mostly use concrete, plastic and similar materials for this. They sink concrete blocks or other structures that remain in the sea even after they are overgrown by organisms. My goal is to make a kind of material that will have a suitable shape for marine organisms to inhabit and will erode over time. The organisms that will grow on it will be able to create their skeleton at the same time. The material we put in the sea will slowly leach out,” explains Anže. “This is particularly useful for the restoration of environments that should not be significantly interfered with, such as nature reserves.”
As part of the project, they are developing smaller structures – tiles, and discs – that can be printed in 3D. In principle, these materials will be intended for niche use, they will not print large structures such as breakwaters and the like.
Okinawa, home to 1.5 million people, is a bit different from Japan’s larger islands, says Anže. “It has always been at the crossroads of cultures, close to China and Taiwan, it was joined by Imperial Japan rather late, and after the Second World War, it was also under American administration. Even though I live in a city of almost a million people, there is still an island feel here. It is quite a unique experience, which to me is more colourful than the strict Japanese culture.”
Source: Anja Zaletel, Finance. The complete article in the Slovene language is available HERE.
Other articles from the series TOP JOB Ambassador about Slovenians abroad in 2022 are available at this LINK.