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!
Group News
“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.
Dr. Nicolas Zeidan joins the lab
A warm welcome to Nicolas Zeidan, who has obtained a Marie Curie fellowship from the European Commission to join our lab. The project is called NonEnzymatic and will investigate non-enzymatic metabolic reactions in prebiotic chemistry. Nicolas comes to us from Mark Lautens’ group at the University of Toronto, where he worked on Pd-catalyzed methods for heterocycle synthesis. Congrats and welcome, Nicolas!
Abhijit leaves for IICT Hyderabad
Farewell to Marie Curie postdoc Abhijit Sau, who leaves us for a tenure track position at IICT Hyderabad. Abhijit will work at home for a couple of months to write grants and finish papers before launching his new lab. Congratulations and good luck!
Farewell to the MSc Students
2020 has been a challenging year for young researchers, but our MSc students have made the most of it. Unable to work in the lab, Valentyn Pozhydaiev (M1 EUR) and Martin Power (M2 EUR) both finished top of their class for their internships and co-authored a feature article that is now under review. Daria Brykczyńska (M1, Poznań University, Poland), Eugénie (M1 CB), Louis-Albin Gravillier (M2 CB) and Joris Zimmermann (M2 CB) completed their internships despite their lab time being cut very short. Luckily, Elodie Didier (M1, University of Geneva, Switzerland) was able to reschedule her internship over the summer so that she could do some lab work. We will miss them all but look forward to their bright future!
Martin will join Prof. Dave Leigh’s lab in Manchester as a Marie Curie PhD student. Joris won an MRT fellowship to do a PhD in our lab. Congrats and good luck!
Dr. Elodie Chevallot-Beroux
Congrats to Elodie Chevallot-Beroux on successfully defending her thesis! She is the sixth PhD student to graduate from the group. Special thanks to jury members Prof. Peter Strazewski, Dr. Robert Pascal and Prof. Petra Hellwig for being part of the jury. A memorable pot de thèse followed featuring an unimaginable number of gifts! Elodie will start her new position as Research Scientist at Innovame in Marlenheim, France.
Dr. Lucas Lethuillier
Congrats to Lucas Lethuillier on successfully defending his thesis! He is the fifth PhD student to graduate from the group. Special thanks to jury members Prof. Albrecht Berkessel, Prof. Jay Siegel, Dr. Sami Lahkdar, Prof. Nicolas Javahiraly, and our close collaborator Prof. Thomas Ebbesen for being part of the jury. A memorable pot de thèse followed featuring both of his grandmothers! Lucas has accepted a lucrative industrial postdoctoral contract to apply the findings of his thesis to problems of interest to a major chemical company.
Dr. Robin Isnard joins the group
A warm welcome to new postdoctoral fellow Robin Isnard, an analytical chemist who comes to us from the group of Prof. Hervé Cottin at the University of Paris-Est Créteil, where he worked on the analysis of organic matter in comets. Welcome, Robin!
Sophia and Harpreet join the group
The sixth incoming class of PhD students joins the group. Sophia Rauscher, funded by the ProtoMet ITN, and Harpreet Kaur will both work on proto-metabolism. A warm welcome to both!
Jan leaves for BASF
Congratulations and farewell to group member Dr. Jan Gorges, who accepts a research position at BASF in Ludwigshafen. Jan was a postdoc in the group for only 10 months, but managed to submit his first publication before leaving ahead of schedule for a sweet industrial position. He is the third lab member to obtain a permanent position at BASF. For a farewell, Jan prepared homemade kebabs for a group dinner. Best of luck in the new career and come visit often!
