Congratulations to Dr. Robert Mayer, who has obtained a postdoctoral fellowship from the DFG to work on mechanistic challenges in prebiotic chemistry. Well deserved!
Author: moranlab
Jobs, farewells and new Masters students
The group has seen lots of change in the past months, with all postdocs who joined the group prior to September 2020 departing for jobs. Dr. Robin Isnard, our analytical chemist who was with us for six months, has taken a position at Eurofins in beautiful Aix-en-Provence, France. Dr. Ankita Malik, our sugar specialist, has taken a position at Tacalyx, an exciting startup in Berlin, Germany.
Andrei Golushko, an M2 student from the CSC graduate school, has finished his internship and has moved to the lab of Prof. Nicolas Giuseppone, also in Strasbourg. Corinna Heusel, our visiting Masters student from Münster, finished her internship and has returned to Münster to carry out her Masters project with Prof. Frank Glorius. Best of luck to all and good luck in the future. You will be missed!
On the incoming side, we welcome Edouard Voegtli, who joins us for his M2 internship. He joins our two other M2 students from the CSC Graduate School, Valentyn Pozhydaiev and Maciej Piejko. Finally, we welcome Wahnyalo Kazone, who joins us as a much needed analytical technician. Welcome all!
Dr. Robert Mayer joins the lab
A warm welcome to Robert Mayer, who joins us from the group of Prof. Herbert Mayr and Prof. Armin Ofial at the LMU Munich, where he worked on kinetic, mechanistic, and computational studies to elucidate fundamental reactivity trends of different classes of electrophiles and nucleophiles. In our group, Robert will work on mechanistic challenges in prebiotic chemistry. Welcome, Robert!
New publication
The fourth paper from our collaboration with the Ebbesen group describes how running a reaction between two appropriately-spaced mirrors can change the stereoselectivity of a electrocyclic ring-opening reaction. The article has appeared in Angewandte Chemie. Congrats to Abhijit (first author) and Lucas from our group and also to all authors from the Ebbesen group!
Abhijit thanks the EU for a H2020 Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellowship (project 792101)!
Dr. Florent Noel
Congrats to Florent Noel on successfully defending his thesis! He is the seventh PhD student to graduate from the group. Special thanks to jury members Prof. Philippe Belmont, Dr. Christophe Bour and Dr. Mihaela Gulea for being part of the jury, which was done partly in person and partly over Zoom. Unfortunately, no pot de thèse was possible due to the coronavirus pandemic, but we will have a real party as soon as it is feasible (hopefully by the summer)!
ERC Consolidator Grant
Joseph has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant (2 million €)! The award will allow us to pursue our dream to create reaction networks that resemble biological metabolism. Informal inquiries regarding postdoctoral positions related to this project are encouraged at any time.
Dr. Quentin Dherbassy joins the lab
A warm welcome to Quentin Dherbassy, who joins us from a prior postdoctoral appointment in Prof. David Procter’s group at the University of Manchester. Quentin will work with Dr. Kamila Muchowska on her efforts to explore the prebiotic origins and functions of biological cofactors. Welcome, Quentin!
Dr. Marie Vayer joins the lab
A warm welcome to Marie Vayer, who joins us from a prior postdoctoral appointment in Prof. Nuno Maulide’s group at the University of Vienna. Marie will work on the development of new synthetic methods exploiting HFIP. Welcome, Marie!
Cyprien, Emilie and Joris join as PhD students
The seventh incoming class of PhD students joins the group. Cyprien, funded by the CSC Graduate School, will work on Vibrational Strong Coupling. Emilie, funded by a ENS scholarship, and Joris, funded by an MRT fellowship, will both work on proto-metabolism. A warm welcome to all three!
“Forcheurs Jean-Marie Lehn” Prize
Joseph has received the 2020 “Forcheurs Jean-Marie Lehn” prize together with Harun Tüysüz (Max–Planck-Institut for Coal research, Mülheim, Germany) for their collaborative work on transition metals in prebiotic chemistry. The prize supports promising collaborations between young French and German researchers in the areas of health, pharmacology or chemistry. The prize is co-organized by the French Embassy in Berlin and the Université Franco-Allemande, and generously sponsored by BASF France and Sanofi Deutschland. A ceremony was held in Berlin on September 29, 2020. More information can be found here.
