Joseph visited the University of Texas at Austin for the first time since his postdoctoral days with Prof. Michael Krische. He gave a seminar and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from his former advisor.
After 12 wonderful years in France, the group will move its main activities to the University of Ottawa, (Canada) where Joseph was recently named a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair. The group will maintain a small lab in Strasbourg until the end of Joseph’s ongoing ERC Consolidator Grant. See the press release here.
The Moran Lab celebrates 10 great years! Several former group members from around Europe were able to attend the celebration and shared short presentations about their jobs and life since leaving the lab. A day to remember!
Joseph reviews Nick Lane’s new book on the Krebs cycle for Science. Please have a read (the review and the book itself)!
Joseph has received the 2022 Liebig Lectureship from the Organic Division of the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker). The award is given each year to an outstanding young scientist in organic chemistry, preferably one working in a European country outside Germany. Joseph will give a series of lectures in Germany in January 2023 and a virtual lecture for EurJOC to be announced in the near future. The list of previous laureates can be found here.
The research field of protometabolism, including work from our lab and quotes from Joseph and Kamila, is the subject of an article in National Geographic. Thanks to Michael Marshall for this accessible piece. Read it here.
Joseph has been selected as a Junior member of the 2021 class of the Institute Universitaire de France (IUF). Junior members must be university faculty of age 40 or less who are emerging leaders in research. They are awarded a substantial teaching reduction for five years and receive 15 k€/yr to support their research program. Only 70 junior members were selected in 2021 across all disciplines. An induction ceremony will take place at the National Academy of Science in Paris in November.
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.
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.
Joseph has received funding from the Volkswagen Foundation for a project called “Forming catalysts: A basic principle of deep chemistry, life chemistry and life”, which will be carried out in collaboration with Prof. William F. Martin (Düsseldorf) and Dr. Harun Tüysüz (MPI Mülheim/Ruhr). Each lab will roughly equally share the 1.5 M€ in funding. See the press release in English here and in German here. We are looking forward to officially getting the project started!
The Moran Research Group 