News
"Long Night of Science 2011": great success for UniCat and BIG-NSE
TU Berlin and in particular UniCat and BIG-NSE were again very successful: 40.000 people visited the 26 “Scientific Houses” of TU. The most popular was the “House of Ideas” (15,500 visits) where UniCat and BIG-NSE presented seven "Long Night" projects. About 4,000 people came to these presentations . 400 children joined UniCat's special “kids tour”. See more photos of Long Night of Sciences on the website of our graduate school BIG-NSE.On the same night, the “Science Slam” was presented to 300 guests....[more]
Hanns Hofmann Award 2011 for Dr. Raimund Horn
The Hanns-Hofmann-Preis 2011 of the reaction engineering section of the German Catalysis Societey (GeCats) was given to Dr. Raimund Horn on 44th Annual Meeting of German Catalysis Researcher in Weimar. Raimund Horn is Junior Research Group Leader in UniCat. He received the award for the experimental proof and the kinetic modelling of gas phase reactions in heterogenous catalized reactions at high tempreatures (above 1000 K). [more]
Humboldt Prize awardee comes to Prof. Roderich Süssmuth this May
Award of a Humboldt Prize to Peter Leadlay from University of Cambridge, UK[more]
Noble Metal-Free Hydrazine Fuel Cell Catalysts: EPOC Effect in Competing Chemical and Electrochemical Reaction Pathways
Peter Strasser et al. report the discovery of a highly active Ni-Co alloy electrocatalyst for the oxidation of hydrazine (N2H4) and provide evidence for competing electrochemical (faradaic) and chemical (nonfaradaic) reaction pathways. For more information see Research\Research Highlights.[more]
Creating a Parallel Biological World with a Genetic Firewall
Breaking new ground in whole-cell catalysis using artificial bacteria[more]
A unique iron-sulfur cluster is crucial for oxygen tolerance of a [NiFe]-hydrogenase
Hydrogenases can generate hydrogen gas, but oxygen sensitivity often limits their practical applications. Investigations of an oxygen-tolerant [NiFe] hydrogenase now show that an unusual FeS cluster with six cysteine ligands alters the electron pathway to reduce unwanted oxygen and maintain enzyme function. For more information see Research\Research Highlights or go to Link to the online publication in nature.com.[more]
New UniCat movie: Catalysts for methane conversion
One of our main research topic is the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM). Methane is the main component of biogas and natural gas. During oil extraction, billions of cubic metres of methane are simply burned off unused, because commercial transportation often does not exist. This is a problem that UniCat wants to solve with the help of catalysis. Watch the full movie here.[more]
Germany top for foreign students
Germany has been named as the most supportive country for overseas students, in an international league table.[more]
Anna Company Casadevall received Dalton Young Researchers Award
Dr. Anna Company Casadevall was awarded in recognition of her research in bioinorganic chemistry, and in particular the development of models for copper and non-heme iron proteins involved in oxygen activation.[more]