Stratingh Institute for Chemistry

Our postdoc @francdefel.bsky.social just gave a fantastic talk on gold-based artificial metalloenzymes for asymmetric catalysis. #Biotrans2025
@stratinghinst.bsky.social @rug.nl

Can a strange state of matter explain what life is – and how it began? Laboratory experiments have coaxed simple molecules into states that naturally become more complex, hinting at the origins of evolution itself

Can a strange state of matter explain what life is – and how it began? 🌎

Great article in @newscientist.com about Sijbren Otto's research on life-emulating molecules 👇
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

#Chemistry #SciComm #Science 🧪

@stratinghinst.bsky.social/@sciencenewsroom-ug.bsky.social

Check out this week’s #ChemSciPicks from Gerard Roelfes (@roelfesgroup.bsky.social, @stratinghinst.bsky.social) et al.!

‘Genetically Encoded 3-Aminotyrosine as Catalytic Residue in a Designer Friedel-Crafts Alkylase’

Read it here for free: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

#ChemSky 🧪

Great news!🥳Prof. Nathalie Katsonis will receive the Ammodo Science Award for fundamental research 2025 for her pioneering research on molecular systems👏

Read more about Katsonis research and her goals: www.rug.nl/research/str...

Bravo Adri Minnaard!

He received an NWO (Dutch Research Council) M1 grant for his project on "New Light on Carbohydrate Modifications".

He will to prepare complex carbohydrates in a novel way and trace them in cells and tissue, with the aim of using them for novel drugs and vaccines.

A free student-created escape room with chemistry puzzles, in our building – how awesome is that?

It happened yesterday, thanks to @lerchlab.bsky.social. Students and staff certainly enjoyed it, though no one would say it was easy! 🙂

@unigroningen.bsky.social
@sciencenewsroom-ug.bsky.social

Our group members Tanja and Franco @francdefel.bsky.social presented their exciting research at NCCC this week.
Franco talked about his work on asymmetric catalysis in gold-based artificial metalloenzymes.

Huge congratulations to our former PhD student Reuben @reubenlg.bsky.social on winning the KNCV-DCS Thesis Award from the Dutch Catalysis Society for his outstanding PhD research in our group! A well-deserved recognition of his hard work and dedication. 🎉

Tanja presented her work on metallaphotoredox catalysis in designer photoenzymes.
Congrats to both of you!
@stratinghinst.bsky.social @unigroningen.bsky.social

In our recent publication, we describe a systematic framework leveraging the documentation of the quantum chemistry suite ORCA for developing large language models that are capable of providing input files based on user prompts with the help of prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation […]

Grateful to be part of this awesome project lead by @brouwerb.bsky.social. Take a look to our preprint about unlocking iminium ion catalysis when using amino-tyrosine as a genetically encoded amino acid! 🤓
#MSCA @roelfesgroup.bsky.social

A guidebook for sustainability in laboratories This guidebook aims to improve lab users’ everyday practices to become more sustainable. Specifically, this guidebook provides practical suggestions on how to effectively use lab instruments and resou...

Happy #SustainabilityTipTuesday ! Today we want to highlight an amazing resource from @thomasfreese.bsky.social and colleagues: an all-encompassing guidebook for #sustainablelabs! Check it out here: chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Photoreceptor‐Like Signal Transduction Between Polymer‐Based Protocells (Adv. Mater. 3/2025) Protocell Communication and Signaling Polymer-based protocells equipped with artificial organelles mimic the transduction of information in retinal photoreceptors. Cellular communication involving sp...

Check out our latest publication where we elicit a light-triggered ⚡️ cascade response in a synthetic cell 🔬using polymersomes and molecular motors👩🏻‍🔬!

Thanks always to the @feringalab.bsky.social and our amazing collaborators from @unibas.ch

advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

‘Innocent’ Hexafluorophosphate Salts Induce Capacity Fade in Non-Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries

Authors: Wenlong Tang, Jelte Steen, Jurjen Hettinga, Johan Hjelm, Edwin Otten
DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-cgp0s

Prof. Harutyunyan receives an ERC PoC grant Prof. Harutyunyan receives an ERC PoC grant

Syuzanna Harutyunyan has been awarded an @ercresearch.bsky.social (ERC) PoC Grant to develop innovative chiral ligands for more efficient and sustainable production of chiral molecules, which are vital for effective drugs and chemicals.

Congratulations Syuzi 👏🥂

www.rug.nl/research/str...

Kinetic Control of Self‐Assembly Pathway in Dual Dynamic Covalent Polymeric Systems “One monomer for two materials”: Dual dynamic covalent chemistries diversify the pathway of molecular self-assembly and produce distinct polymeric materials as a function of evaporation rate.

News in supramolecular chemistry in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social! Kinetically controlled self-assembly meets dynamic covalent exchange! 🌊 Polymer growth, dual dynamic bonds (disulfide + boroxine/borate), & reconfigurable materials unlock repairability & recyclability. ♻️

doi.org/10.1002/anie...

Spatiotemporal Control Over Circadian Rhythms With Light Circadian rhythms are endogenous biological oscillators that synchronize internal physiological processes and behaviors with external environmental changes, sustaining homeostasis and health. Disrupt...

Discover how light can fine-tune our internal clocks! 🌞⏰

Our latest publication dives into chrono-photopharmacology, where light-responsive molecules are revolutionizing the modulation of circadian rhythms.

doi.org/10.1002/med....

A good news to start the year: Lars Longwitz, post-doc in the @roelfesgroup.bsky.social, was awarded today the 2024 FSE Post-doc Prize @unigroningen.bsky.social

Earlier this year, Lars and colleagues published the first enzyme that uses boron for catalysis
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fantastic start of 2025 for the group. Our own Lars Longwitz won the @unigroningen.bsky.social FSE Postdoc prize for 2024. This prize celebrates his excellence in research and great potential of becoming a scientific leader. Well well deserved Lars! 👏

@stratinghinst.bsky.social

Christmas music in the last week of the year @unigroningen.bsky.social in the brand new Feringa building. All students and staff

Ben Feringa, Nobel Prize in Chemistry: ‘A single cell is more complex than an entire city’ The Dutch scientist designs the world’s smallest machines, including light-activated drugs to improve treatments for cancer and infection

Urban planners at BlueSky, take notes! 🦋 🏙️ Ben explains why cells are the OG city builders, with more complexity than any metro ever could achieve. Find out about nanomachines, photopharma, the Simpsons and more in the interview made by @elpais.com

english.elpais.com/science-tech...

And now with a free read-only link, courtesy of Nat Chem: rdcu.be/d1S5C

Check out how we got a beginning of Darwinian evolution with purely synthetic chemical systems!

Ubbo Emmius Fonds investment - HTRIC Groningen, December 5, 2024 –The Ubbo Emmius Foundation (UEF) has funded the Health Technology Research and Innovation Cluster (HTRIC) €18.4 million. This funding supports groundbreaking research in h...

We are excited to announce that the Health Technology Research and Innovation Cluster (HTRIC) and the Ubbo Emmius Foundation (UEF) are partnering up to bring groundbreaking research from bench to bedside. This initiative will strengthen the North as innovation hub.

htric.com/en/news/ubbo...

I am excited to share our latest work on multistep movements in microscale actuators just published in Science. Thanks to everyone on the team to bring this multiyear effort to fruition!

DOI: 10.1126/science.adq6434

Science’s ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ contest is open again! This year’s competition has a special category on artificial intelligence research or quantum science—no Ph.D. needed

Can you explain your doctoral research through interpretive dance?

The 17th annual #DanceYourPhD competition is open! Submit by 28 March for a chance to win $2000: scim.ag/3BcKi0e

What came first, life or evolution? University of Groningen scientists shows that key principles of Darwinian evolution, such as survival of the fittest, already manifest themselves in simple non-living systems.

What came first, #life or #evolution?🌱
New research by Prof. Sijbren Otto and his team @unigroningen.bsky.social reveals that Darwinian rules can act on non-living material too.

Curious how that works? Read more via👇 eurekalert.org/news-release...

Published in @naturechemistry.bsky.social

What came first, life or evolution? University of Groningen scientists shows that key principles of Darwinian evolution, such as survival of the fittest, already manifest themselves in simple non-living systems.

What came first, life or evolution?

In a recently published paper, Sijbren Otto and his group demonstrate that key principles of Darwinian evolution also manifest themselves in simple non-living systems.

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Uitzending - Suiker Snoep, koekjes, taart, eigenlijk vindt iedereen dat wel lekker. Ze hebben één ding gemeen: er zit suiker in. Maar waarom vinden we suiker zo lekker? Eva gaat naar Groningen om te kijken ...

Marthe Walvoort was te gast bij @hetklokhuis.bsky.social! Als suikerprof vertelde ze over wat suiker precies is, hoeveel ervan in ons voedsel zit, en wat je lichaam met suiker doet.

Uitzending gemist? Kijk de aflevering dan hier terug.
hetklokhuis.nl/tv-uitzendin...

@unigroningen.bsky.social

Kijk-tip voor vanavond: Het Klokhuis aflevering over suiker! 🍰 🍬 🍭 Want wat is suiker nou eigenlijk, en waarom houden wij mensen toch zo van zoet?!

Vanavond te zien om 18.45u bij NPO3, en daarna online terug te kijken.