A. A. Buglak defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Federal Research Center for Biotechnology RAS (Moscow). Dissertation topic: "Photobiochemistry of pterin coenzymes". At the moment, scientific interests include: 1) the study of the physicochemical properties of metal nanoclusters protected by organic ligands using quantum chemistry methods; 2) studying the photochemistry of organic and organometallic compounds using the method of quantitative structure-property relations (QSPR) and machine learning.

The main areas of research are at the intersection of physics, chemistry and biology, namely such disciplines as biophysics, biochemistry, photochemistry and computational chemistry. A. A. Buglak conducts research on the following topics:

• Gold and silver nanoclusters for detection of low molecular weight organic analytes - disease biomarkers
• Photochemistry and photophysics of pteridine compounds
• Application of QSPR and machine learning to the analysis of photodynamic activity of sensitizers

Main research methods:

• quantum chemistry
• QSPR

Main grants:

• Russian Science Foundation grant 20-73-10029 "Development and characterization of biosensor systems based on metal nanoclusters for detection of biomarkers and phototherapy of vitiligo" — 15 million rubles, 2020-2023, head.

The most significant publications over the past 5 years:

1. Hamdan, Y.M.; Makarova, D.A.; Shamsutdinov, N.I.; Zelenikhin, P. V.; Nizamutdinov, A.S.; Buglak, A.A.; Telegina, T.A. Study of the Effect of UV Laser Pulse Duration and Wavelength on Fibroblasts. Part. Nucl. Lett. 2024, 21, 835–838. (WoS, Scopus, RSCI)
2. Reveguk, Z. V; Khoroshilov, E. V; Sharkov, A. V; Pomogaev, V.A.; Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Excited States in Single-Stranded and i-Motif DNA with Silver Ions. Phys. Chem. B 2024, 128, 4377–4384. (WoS, Scopus)
3. Buglak, A.A.; Nguyen, M.T. Interactions of coinage metal nanoclusters with low-molecular-weight biocompounds. Biophysical Reviews 2024, 16, 441–477. (Scopus)
4. Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Interactions of deprotonated phenylalanine with gold clusters: Theoretical study with prospects for amino acid detection. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 2024, 311, 124004. (WoS, Scopus)
5. Sych, T.S.; Shekhovtsov, N.V.; Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Amino acid-stabilized luminescent gold clusters for sensing pterin and its analogues. Methods 2024, 16, 4607–4618. (WoS, Scopus)
6. Chebotaev, P.P.; Buglak, A.A.; Sheehan, A.; Filatov, M.A. Predicting fluorescence to singlet oxygen generation quantum yield ratio for BODIPY dyes using QSPR and machine learning. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2024, 26, 25131–25142. (WoS, Scopus)
7. Buglak, A.A. Antioxidant properties of α-amino acids: a density functional theory viewpoint. Free Radic. Res. 2024, 58, 380–387. (WoS, Scopus)
8. Neyra Recky, J.R.; Gaspar Tosato, M.; Buglak, A.A.; Dántola, M.L.; Lorente, C. Photosensitized isomerization of resveratrol: Evaluation of energy and electron transfer pathways. Free Radic. Biol. Med. 2024, 216, 50–59. (WoS, Scopus)

9. Reveguk, Z. V; Sych, T.S.; Polyanichko, A.M.; Chuiko, Y. V; Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Rapid and selective colorimetric determination of L-DOPA in human serum with silver nanoparticles. Acta Part A Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc. 2023, 299, 122810. (WoS, Scopus)
10. Sych, T.S.; Polyanichko, A.M.; Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Quantitative determination of albumin and immunoglobulin in human serum using gold nanoclusters. Acta Part A Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc. 2023, 298, 122796. (WoS, Scopus)
11. Telegina, T.A.; Vechtomova, Y.L.; Aybush, A. V; Buglak, A.A.; Kritsky, M.S. Isomerization of carotenoids in photosynthesis and metabolic adaptation. Rev. 2023, 15, 887–906. (Scopus)
12. Telegina, T.A.; Vechtomova, Y.L.; Borzova, V.A.; Buglak, A.A. Tetrahydrobiopterin as a Trigger for Vitiligo: Phototransformation during UV Irradiation. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 13586. (WoS, Scopus)
13. Chebotaev, P.P.; Plavskii, V.Y.; Kononov, A.I.; Buglak, A.A. Pterin interactions with gold clusters: A theoretical study. Pigment. 2023, 216, 111323. (WoS, Scopus)
14. Buglak, A.A.; Kapitonova, M.A.; Vechtomova, Y.L.; Telegina, T.A. Insights into Molecular Structure of Pterins Suitable for Biomedical Applications. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 15222. (WoS, Scopus)
15. Mikulchyk, T.; Karuthedath, S.; De Castro, C.S.P.; Buglak, A.A.; Sheehan, A.; Wieder, A.; Laquai, F.; Naydenova, I.; Filatov, M.A. Charge transfer mediated triplet excited state formation in donor–acceptor–donor BODIPY: Application for recording of holographic structures in photopolymerizable glass. Mater. Chem. C 2022, 10, 11588–11597. (WoS, Scopus)
16. Buglak, A.; Kononov, A. Silver Cluster Interactions with Pterin: Complex Structure, Binding Energies and Spectroscopy. Acta A Mol. Biomol. 2022, 279(11), 121467. (WoS, Scopus)
17. Buglak, A.; Kononov, A. Silver Cluster Interactions with Tyrosine: Towards Amino Acid Detection. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(2), 634. (WoS, Scopus)
18. Telegina, T.; Vechtomova, Y.; Kritsky, M.; Nizamutdinov A.; Madirov, E.; Makarova, D.; Buglak, A. Photooxidation of tetrahydrobiopterin as the basis of vitiligo phototherapy. Spektrosk. 2022, 130(5),761. (Scopus, RSCI)
19. Vechtomova, Y.; Telegina, T.; Buglak, A.; Kritsky, M. UV Radiation in DNA Damage and Repair Involving DNA-Photolyases and Cryptochromes. Biomedicines 2021, 9, 1564, 1-13. (WoS, Scopus)
20. Buglak, A.A.; Charisiadis, A.; Sheehan, A.; Kingsbury, C.J.; Senge, M.O.; Filatov, M.A. Quantitative Structure‐Property Relationship Modelling for the Prediction of Singlet Oxygen Generation by Heavy‐Atom‐Free BODIPY Photosensitizers. – A Eur. J. 2021, 27, 9934–9947. (WoS, Scopus)
21. Telegina, T.A.; Vechtomova, Y.L.; Kritsky, M.S.; Madirov, E.I.; Nizamutdinov, A.S.; Obuhov, Y.N.; Buglak, A.A. Tetrahydrobiopterin Photooxidation: a Key Process in Vitiligo Phototherapy. Biochem. Microbiol. 2021, 57, 571–578. (WoS, Scopus, RSCI)
22. Reveguk, Z.V.; Pomogaev, V.A.; Kapitonova, M.A.; Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Structure and Formation of Luminescent Centers in Light-Up Ag Cluster-Based DNA Probes. Phys. Chem. C 2021, 125(6), 3542–3552. (WoS, Scopus)
23. Buglak, A.A.; Telegina, T.A.; Vechtomova, Yu.L; Kritsky, M.S. Autoxidation and photooxidation of tetrahydrobiopterin: a theoretical study. Free Radic. Res. 2021, 55, 499–509. (WoS, Scopus)
24. Reveguk, Z.V.; Pomogaev, V.A.; Kapitonova, M.A.; Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Structure and Formation of Luminescent Centers in Light-Up Ag Cluster-Based DNA Probes. Phys. Chem. C 2021, 125(6), 3542–3552. (WoS, Scopus)
25. Buglak, A.A.; Samokhvalov, A.; Zherdev, A.V.; Dzantiev, B.B. Methods and Applications of In Silico Aptamer Design and Modeling. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(22), 8420. (WoS, Scopus)
26. Buglak, A.A.; Kononov, A.I. Comparative study of gold and silver interactions with amino acids and nucleobases. RSC Adv. 2020, 10, 34149-34160. (WoS, Scopus)
27. Buglak, A.A.; Filatov, M.A.; Hussain, M.A.; Sugimoto, M. Singlet Oxygen Generation by Porphyrins and Metalloporphyrins Revisited: a Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship (QSPR) Study. Photochem. Photobiol. A 2020, 403, 112833. (WoS, Scopus)