News
Schrödinger Medal for UniCat Professor
The World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC) is awarding the 2015 Schrödinger medal to Helmut Schwarz. The medal is granted annually and has previously targeted scientists working on theoretical and computational chemistry. Having chosen Helmut Schwarz this year, WATOC has decided to honour an experimenter and eminent international researcher in molecular chemistry. The Medal will be awarded to Helmut Schwarz for the successful combination of seminal experimental and computational research on mass spectrometry and...[more]
Peter Hegemann elected as a member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering
UniCat Professor Peter Hegemann has been elected as a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering Peter Hegemann is Professor and Head of the Department for Biophysics at the Humboldt University of Berlin and UniCat member since its foundation in 2007 (UniCat Research Fields D4 and E4). Peter Hegemann studied chemistry in Münster and Munich and earned his PhD 1984 in Munich with an investigation into the structure and function of halorhodopsin, a light-driven chloride pump in Halobacterium halobium. As a...[more]
Schering Prize for Bartlomiej Krawczyk
On November 21, the 2013 Schering Prize was awarded to Dr. Bartlomiej Krawczyk from Professor Süssmuth’s group for the best dissertation in chemistry at Berlin Universities In 2009, Bartlomiej Krawczyk joined UniCat Professor Roderich Süssmuth’s group at TU Berlin, receiving a fellowship from the BIG-NSE Graduate School. Working on microbial natural products with a focus on the biosynthesis and structure of novel lantibiotics, he completed his dissertation on “Discovery, characterization and biosynthesis of novel class III lantibiotics” in...[more]
Gaede-Langmuir Award to Hans-Joachim Freund
The American Vacuum Society (AVS) has awarded the Gaede-Langmuir Award to UniCat Professor Hans-Joachim Freund, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society. The awards ceremony took place on 12 November 2014 at Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The American Vacuum Society established an annual awards program to encourage excellence in research and innovation in technical areas of interest to the AVS. The Gaede-Langmuir Award recognizes Hans-Joachim Freund’s “seminal contributions to the understanding and development of...[more]
Bruker Prize for Robert Bittl
The Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has announced that the 2015 Bruker Prize Lecturer is Unicat Professor Robert Bittl from „Freie Universität Berlin“.[more]
Dissertation Award for Niko Rossner
Niko Rossner from UniCat Professor Rudibert King’s research group has received the 2014 NAMUR Award. The award ceremony was on November 7, 2014 in Leverkusen. The former Unicat doctoral student, Niko Rossner, has been honoured for his dissertation entitled, "Robust model-based process control on the basis of Gaussian mixture density according to the example of the Bray-Liebhafsky reaction and the autotrophic cultivation of Ralstonia eutropha H16". In his doctoral thesis, Niko Rossner has dealt with the efficiency improvement...[more]
Anna Fischer called to the University of Freiburg
The UniCat junior research group leader, Dr Anna Fischer, was offered and has accepted an appointment as a Professor at the Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg. Since August 1, 2014, Dr Fischer has been a Professor of Inorganic Functional Materials at the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Freiburg. Professor Anna Fischer’s research group has since moved to Freiburg. Only four of her UniCat Doctoral candidates will be supervised by Dr Fischer from afar until finishing their projects. Anna Fischer was the junior...[more]
How to energize an electron
When an organic chemist needs strong reducing power he can turn to elemental alkali metals in an aprotic medium. When a physiological process requires an “energized” electron, it has to realize it without elemental metals as electron source and within an aqueous environment. One way how nature achieves this is shown in recent work of the UniCat groups of Peter Hildebrandt (TU Berlin) and Holger Dobbek (HU Berlin). Cobalamin-containing methyltransferases depend on the nucleophilicity of Co(I) for abstracting a methyl-group from methylated...[more]
Research for raw material change: UniCat-BASF Joint Lab „BasCat“
The Cluster of Excellence Unifying Concepts in Catalysis (UniCat) and BASF SE officially opened their joint laboratory, BasCat at the TU Berlin today. Thus, the Charlottenburg campus is enriched by another science building. On the roughly 1,000 square meters of laboratory and office space 17 scientists will be researching the fundamentals of heterogeneous catalysis for material change, and promoting the search for alternatives to petroleum. The research partners are working groups, among others, from the Departments of Chemistry, Process...[more]
Spin-out DexLeChem is among the first startup companies to be chosen by Bayer Pharma as a strategic partner
The high-tech startup DexLeChem has rent its own laboratory and office space in this first life-science centre for entrepreneurship in Berlin. On the site of former Schering company, Bayer Pharma has founded „CoLaborator“, a new business incubator for chemical and biotechnology companies. „Because of the close vicinity to other pharmaceutical and chemical companies, the CoLaborator is a perfect location for networking between innovators, industry and economy“, says Sonja Jost, CEO and head of R&D of DexLeChem. Sonja Jost is former...[more]