Nicholas Kotov

Title:

Glamour, Pains and Unexpected Fruits of Start-ups: Perspective of an Émigré Scientist

Afiliation:

University of Michigan, USA

Abstract:

In this presentation I will describe two-decade long experience with launching several companies in my research group: “Nico Technologies” on ultrastrong biomimetic composites; “3D Biomatrix” on cellular organoids for drug discovery; “Magellan Technologies” on color-coded visualizations of search engine data; “Elegus Technologies” on safe high capacity batteries; “Tuebor Energy” on lithium sulfur batteries for electrical vehicles; and “Photon Semantics” on perception systems based on chiral LIDARs. In brief, it is totally worth it, but labor camp upbringing really helps.

Biography:

Nicholas A. Kotov received his degrees from the Moscow State University with his diploma and PhD studies centered on bioinspired harvesting of solar energy. His postdoctoral studies in Syracuse University encompassed the synthesis and self-assembly of biomimetic nanocomposites. After taking a position of an Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University he expanded the field of biomimetic processes and materials by establishing a research program on self-assembly of nanostructures. Nicholas is currently holding the rank of Irving Langmuir Distinguished University Professor of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. He heads the laboratory and international team of scientists working on practical implementations and theoretical foundations of Biomimetic Nanostructures. Self-assembly and optical properties of chiral nanoparticles and their superstructures represent a focal point for the continuum of bioinspired nanoscale materials with significance to physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. Nicholas is a co-founder of five startup companies and a passionate advocate for scientists with disabilities.

Sara Bals

Title:

Building an Academic Career While Battling the Imposter Syndrome and the 'Lucky Girl' Myth

Afiliation:

University of Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract:

In this presentation, I will share my experience during the transition of a Physics student into a principal investigator and director of a large research group at the University of Antwerp. I will discuss the different milestones that have influenced my path and will reflect on which decisions have brought me to where I am now. I will also provide some thoughts on personal struggles along the way. Finally, I will reflect on what I feel is important when building a healthy career in academia.

Biography:

Sara Bals was born in Antwerp (Belgium) in 1977 and studied Physics at the University of Antwerp from 1995-1999. She obtained her PhD in 2003 with greatest distinction and special honours by the jury. From 2003-2004, she did postdoctoral work at the National Center of Electron Microscopy in Berkeley, USA. The focus of her work was the development of electron tomography for materials science. After returning to UAntwerp, she became an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department. In 2018 she was promoted to Full Professor. She is currently the spokesperson of EMAT, consisting of 7 principal investigators, about 25 postdoctoral researchers and more than 30 PhD students. Moreover, she is the coordinator of the “Nanolab” Centre of Excellence at the host institution, composed of 6 research groups. Sara Bals is an expert in the application and development of electron tomography for functional nanomaterials. By combining state-of-the-art electron microscopy with advanced 3D reconstruction algorithms, the positions and chemical nature of individual atoms in a nanomaterial are measured. These measurements are now also performed under realistic conditions (heating, liquid or gas flow experiments). She was awarded an ERC Starting grant in 2012, an ERC Consolidator grant in 2018, received the award "Laureate of the Academy for Natural Sciences" by the Royal Flemish Academy in 2016, became Francqui research professor in 2017 and was elected as member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in 2020 and of the Academia Europaea in 2022. She received the European Microscopy Award in 2020 and the ACS Nano Lectureship award in 2021. Since 2023 she is an associate editor with ACS Nano.

Mathias Brust

Title:

Is there ever a “next big thing”? Some private thoughts on colloidal gold

Afiliation:

University of Liverpool, UK

Abstract:

Diagnostics, Catalysis, Therapy, Electronics, Sensors, Atomically precise clusters, Bio-everything… and the list can be continued. These are some of the fields in which small particles of gold have been attracting huge scientific interest and research efforts. For someone trapped on the inside of these activities, not seeing the forest for the trees becomes the standard state of mind, while always hoping to be pioneering the “next big thing” in the progression of knowledge, which one perceives as linear. I would like to take this opportunity to look back for 10 minutes, in the attempt to create a rough personal sketch of some of the scientific landscape that has been shaped by clusters and colloids of gold, and then use the remaining time to present the outline of a vision for possible future directions of the field, hopefully not just based on “what we are doing now”.

Biography:

I was born in the beautiful city of Hamburg, where I obtained my degree in Chemistry in 1991 before moving to Liverpool, another beautiful city, where most of my work with gold nanoparticles was carried out, recently dominated by unsuccessful attempts to make these particles carry out uphill chemical work themselves. Apart from my secondary school chemistry teacher, important mentors to me were David J. Schiffrin in Liverpool and Allen J. Bard in Austin, Texas both instilling in me an indelible fascination for electrochemistry. My work-life balance is achieved by a passion for travel, visiting concerts, and attempting to make music.  

Thomas Hellweg

Title:

Smart microgels: What can we learn from neutron scattering?

Afiliation:

University of Bielefeld, Germany

Abstract:

Since nearly 40 years so-called smart microgels are studied and the yearly number of published works on such systems exceeds 500. The most studied colloidal gels are based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM). However, recently also other acrylamides came into focus. All these microgels exhibit a so-called volume phase transition (VPT; induced by a microphase separation) at the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the respective polymer, leading to drastic changes in particle size. This behavior grants them the adjective “smart” and makes them interesting as actuators or sensors in mesoscale devices or for making smart membranes. The VPT can be rather fast; the determination of the response times of such colloidal gels by stroboscopic pressure jump small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) will be presented in this talk.

The properties of such microgels can be varied in two ways. One is the use of comonomers e.g. to shift the LCST or to change the response with respect to pH and ionic strength. The second possibility is to change the architecture. The most prominent and most versatile example for this is the use of core shell systems. The talk will thus focus on our contributions to the study of core-shell microgels. In this context, scattering experiments are of paramount importance and especially SANS provides very important information about the internal structure of colloidal core-shell gels. This is related to the unique possibility to use contrast variation by employing deuterated monomers. Moreover, also dSTORM results for core-shell microgels will be presented which are in line with the SANS results.

Biography:

Thomas Hellweg currently works at the Faculty of Chemistry at Bielefeld University, where he is head of the Department of Physical and Biophysical Chemistry. He studied chemistry and physics at Bielefeld University where he obtained a doctoral degree in physical chemistry in 1995. Afterwards he spent about two years as a postdoc with Dominique Langevin and Didier Roux at Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (CNRS) at Bordeaux. In 1998 he moved to the Technical University of Chemnitz where he worked at the physics department in the group for materials research and liquids with Jens-Boie Suck. From Chemnitz he moved to TU Berlin where he worked in the group of Gerhard Findenegg and gained his habilitation for physical chemistry in 2005. In 2007 he accepted a call to Bayreuth University. In 2010 he accepted a call to Bielefeld University where he still works as a full professor. Since April he is dean of the Chemistry Department of Bielefeld University and he has been elected as member DFG college "Macromolecular Science".

He does research in Physical Chemistry and Materials Science with a focus on ‘Soft Matter’. One of the current projects of the Hellweg group is ‘Smart microgel based switchable membranes’. Another important current project is the study of saponins and their interaction with lipid bilayers. Moreover, at present, confined microemulsions are also in the focus of the Hellweg group. The group uses mainly scattering experiments (light, X-rays, and neutrons) complemented by high-resolution imaging techniques such as cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (Cryo-TEM), scanning force microscopy, scanning electron microcopy (SEM), and different optical microscopy techniques.

Joerg Lahann

Title:

Templated Polymer Nanofibers

Afiliation:

University of Michigan, USA

Abstract:

Our improved understanding of molecular biology, microfabrication, and materials chemistry has stimulated cross-fertilization of two fields that have witnessed increasing overlap in the last few decades: biology and nanofabrication technologies. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) polymerization offers a unique approach to precisely engineer surface properties by transferring molecular precursors onto a surface where they spontaneously polymerize into well-defined high-molecular-weight polymer films. Anisotropic media, such as thin films of liquid crystals (LCs), can be used as templating phases during CVD polymerization. Our work has demonstrated organized arrays of polymeric nanofibers with precisely controlled diameters, lengths, and interfacial chemistry including chiral polymer nanohelices. The presentation will also discuss critical aspects of polymer synthesis and defect engineering and how they can be used to control nanofiber size, shape as well as emerging nanofiber properties.

Biography:

PhD in Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen, 1998. MS in Chemistry, RWTH Aachen, 1995. BS in Chemistry, University of Saarland, 1993. Experience: Wolfgang Pauli Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2019-Present; Director of Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, 2012-Present; Co-Director, Institute of Functional Interfaces, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, 2009-Present

Luis Liz Marzán

Afiliation:

CIC biomaGUNE, BRTA, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

Cinbio, Universidade de Vigo, Spain

Title:

A twisted path from rural Lugo to the Thinking Institute at UVigo

Abstract:

When young scientists look at the image of successful scientists, they may wonder how they got there… was the academic path easier in the “older days”? …did they have an advantage? …what type of education did they receive? …how did they make decisions at various (life and) career steps? …were they always successful? …are they still always successful? …is life easier once you get there? This talk will try to describe my own path to a successful academic career and hopefully will open a debate on the experiences of other participants at the Thinking Institute.

Biography

Ikerbasque Research Professor, group leader of the BioNanoplasmonics Lab and scientific Director of CIC biomaGUNE (2013-2022). Research line: Nanoparticle synthesis and assembly, nanoplasmonics, and development of nanoparticle-based sensing and diagnostic tools. Previous research experience in the University of Vigo, University of Utrecht, Tohoku University, University of Michigan, University of Melbourne, University of Hamburg and Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Doctor in Chemistry 1992 from the University of Santiago de Compostela.