An international group of researchers created a 3-D lung cell model system to investigate how carbon-based combustion byproducts behave as they interact with human epithelial tissue. In Biointerphases, an AVS journal, the investigators discovered that the surface properties of the carbon nanodot's properties and aggregation patterns affected their distribution in a lab-grown copy of the lung's barrier layer, the epithelium. The carbon nanodots served as representatives for air pollution particles.

Rafael Luque, an external specialist from RUDN, works on the synthesis of gamma-valerolactone (GVL) together with his Chinese and Spanish colleagues. This colorless liquid can be obtained from food waste or harvesting leftovers. GVL may be used as a safe solvent or an additive to gasoline or may be distilled into hydrocarbons, "green fuel" for internal combustion engines.