PhD Student – Organic Chemistry

E-mail: Polina.Lenkova(at)uclm.es

Polina Lenkova Topalska was born in Pleven, Bulgaria, in 2000. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) in September 2025. During her final year, she completed her bachelor’s research project, exploring new strategies for the preparation of supramolecular gels based on heterochiral peptides.

In July 2026, she earned her Interuniversity Master’s Degree in Advanced Materials. For her master’s thesis, she worked with the MSOC-Nanochemistry research group under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Iglesias, researching the use of photoactive peptides to create dynamic supramolecular hydrogels. During this time, she was awarded the UCLM-Santander Research Initiation Grant for Master’s students.

In September 2026, Polina began her Ph.D. in Sustainable Chemistry. Her current research focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of supramolecular systems based on short peptides for the development of dynamic and programmable soft materials.