Contributors to the Emerging Investigators Issue 2018

David Alsteens is a group leader and professor at the Louvain Institute of Biomolecular Science and Technology at Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) in Belgium. He obtained his PhD in Bioengineering in 2011 and then moved as a long-term EMBO fellow at ETH Zurïch in Basel (Switzerland). He was awarded an ERC starting grant to work on deciphering virus entry at the single-virus level by combining atomic force microscopy with confocal laser scanning microscopy. His group aims at understanding the specific interactions that drive biological processes at the single-molecule level.

Roey Amir was born and raised in Tel-Aviv and, after backpacking through North and South America, he started his undergraduate studies at Tel-Aviv University. After receiving a BSc in chemistry, he stayed at TAU for his graduate studies with Prof. Doron Shabat. After completing his PhD, Roey worked as a post-doctoral researcher with Prof. Craig Hawker at UCSB. In 2012, Roey joined the faculty of the School of Chemistry at TAU as a senior lecturer and his research group focuses on the utilization of high molecular precision for the design of novel stimuli-responsive polymeric amphiphiles. In 2017, Roey was selected as a PMSE Young Investigator and since March 2017 he has also served as the academic head of the medicinal chemistry unit at the Blavatnik Center for Drug Discovery.

Hamidreza Arandiyan obtained his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Junhua Li at Tsinghua University in 2014. Afterwards he worked in the laboratory of Prof. Hongxing Dai at the Beijing University of Technology. In 2015 he was appointed a Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales under the supervision of Scientia Prof. Rose Amal. In 2018 he was awarded a University of Sydney Senior Research Fellowship under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Maschmeyer. His research interests are in synthesizing porous materials for environmental remediation and energy application.

Kanishka Biswas obtained his MS and PhD degree from the Solid State Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science (2009) under the supervision of Prof. C. N. R. Rao and did postdoctoral research with Prof. Mercouri G. Kanatzidis at the Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University (2009–2012). He is an assistant professor in the New Chemistry Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore. He is pursuing research in solid state inorganic chemistry of metal chalcogenides, thermoelectrics, topological materials, 2D materials and perovskite halides. He has published 96 research papers, 1 book and 4 book chapters. He is an Young Affiliate of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and an Associate of the Indian Academy of Science (IASc), Bangalore, India. He is also a recipient of Young Scientist Medal-2016 from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Delhi, India and a Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award-2015 from The National Academy of Sciences (NASI), Allahabad, India. He received the Materials Research Society of India Medal in 2017. He is recipient of an IUMRS-MRS Singapore Young Researcher Merit Award in 2016. He has also received a Young Scientist Wiley Award from the IUMRS 2017 in Kyoto, Japan.

Dr Stephen Butler studied undergraduate Chemistry at Warwick University, before migrating to Australia to study for a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Katrina Jolliffe, developing cyclic peptide scaffolds for anion recognition. In 2010, Stephen undertook postdoctoral research with Prof. Richard Payne, developing a novel synthetic strategy for native sulphated peptides. He returned to the UK to work with Prof. David Parker FRS at Durham University, creating highly emissive lanthanide complexes as cellular imaging stains. In 2013, Stephen was awarded a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship to develop synthetic receptors for the detection of polyphosphate anions. Stephen began a lectureship at Loughborough University in 2015. He leads an enthusiastic group developing synthetic host molecules for binding and sensing bioanalytes, probing enzyme activity, and signalling biochemical events in living cells.

Araceli G. Campaña received her PhD in 2008 from the University of Granada. After a short postdoctoral phase in the group of Prof. D. J. Cárdenas at the UAM (Madrid), in 2010 she joined the group of Prof. David A. Leigh (University of Edinburgh) as postdoctoral researcher. Since 2015, she is a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ Researcher at the University of Granada where she has initiated her independent career. In 2015 she received the ERC-Starting Grant awarded by the ERC. Her current research interests focus on the synthesis and study of curved distorted aromatics searching for interesting (chir)optical and electronic properties.

Sophie Carenco graduated in 2008 from École Polytechnique, in France. She obtained her PhD in 2011 from Sorbonne Université–UPMC, Paris, for her work on the synthesis and applications of metal phosphide nanoparticles. From 2012 to 2013, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, where she used synchrotron-based in situ spectroscopic techniques to monitor the surface state of metal nanoparticles during model catalytic reactions. In 2014, she joined the CNRS as a researcher in the Materials Science department of Sorbonne Université, Paris. She works on developing novel synthetic routes for nanoparticles (metals, metal phosphides, metal oxysulfides and metal carbides) of controlled compositions and surface states, with applications in reactivity and catalysis. She was awarded the European Young Chemist Award in 2010, the L’Oreal-UNESCO Fellowship in 2014, the Bronze Medal of CNRS in 2018 and an ERC Starting Grant in 2017. She is also involved in scientific outreach and, in 2012, published a book about nanomaterials and chemistry.

Jia-Rong Chen completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Wen-Jing Xiao at the Central China Normal University (CCNU) (2009). From 2011 to 2012, he has worked as a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow with Professor Carsten Bolm at the RWTH Aachen University on asymmetric Lewis acid catalysis. He then returned to CCNU, where he works as a full professor. His group's work has focused primarily on asymmetric catalysis, photoredox catalysis and nitrogen radical chemistry.

Fangyi Cheng received his BS in 2003 and PhD in 2009 from Nankai University, where he was an assistant professor in 2009 and has been a full professor since 2016. From 2015–2016, he was a visiting scholar at UCLA. His research interests encompass controllable synthesis and mechanistic understanding of advanced materials for electrochemical energy storage & conversion, particularly batteries. He has co-authored over 100 peer reviewed journal papers with >11 000 citations and an H-index of 56. His awards include the Chinese Chemical Society Young Chemist Award, the National Natural Science Award (2nd Class, co-winner), and the Youth Chanjiang Scholars Program Award (MOE).

Graduating with undergraduate degrees in mathematics, biochemistry, and genetics from Texas A&M University, Shelley Claridge worked as a software engineer for six years. She obtained a PhD in chemistry from UC Berkeley in 2008, working with Paul Alivisatos and Jean Fréchet on the synthesis and bioconjugation of inorganic nanocrystals with DNA. As a postdoc at UCLA with Paul Weiss, she used STM to study amyloid peptide structure at the nanometer scale. Claridge joined the Purdue faculty in 2013; her work on lipid nanostructures has been recognized with Young Faculty Awards from the NSF, DARPA, DuPont, 3M, and Purdue.

Pau Farràs received his research training at the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (PhD, Prof. Teixidor), Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (PDRA, Prof. Llobet) and Newcastle University (Newton Fellow, Prof. Benniston). Since 2015, he has been a lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at NUI Galway, developing molecular and hybrid systems for solar chemicals production. He has published 30 peer-reviewed and is leading the SEAFUEL project (EU-INTERREG).

Laura De Laporte combines engineering, chemistry and biology to design biomaterials that control the interaction with cells. She is a chemical engineer from Ghent, where she got the tissue engineering bug. To follow her dreams, she did her PhD with Lonnie Shea at Northwestern University and engineered guiding implants for nerve regeneration. At EPFL, she learned about hydrogels in Jeffrey Hubbell's group. Currently, she combines the best of both worlds at the DWI—Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, designing regenerative hydrogels that orient after injection. A thermally induced crosslinking system is here presented to prepare rod-shaped microgels as building blocks for biomaterials.

Luca Dell’Amico was born in Carrara, Tuscany. In 2014, he got his PhD at the University of Parma (Italy) studying vinylogous reactivity under the supervision of Prof. Zanardi. Luca spent a period of research at the Center for Catalysis at Aarhus University (Denmark), working with Prof. Jørgensen. He was post-doctoral associate at the Catalan Institute of Chemical Research, ICIQ (Catalunya, Spain), working with Prof. Melchiorre. Currently, Luca is a tenure-track researcher at the University of Padova (Italy) where he is trying to merge his passions for photochemistry and organic synthesis with poetry.

Roman Dobrovetsky was born in Uzbekistan in 1979. At age of 12, his family moved to Israel. After finishing school in 1998, he joined the army. Soon after the army, he started his BSc in Technion. In 2005, he joined Prof. Apeloig's group for his PhD studies in the field of silicon chemistry. After finishing his PhD, he moved to Toronto to work with Prof. Stephan, where he did his research in the field of frustrated Lewis pairs and Lewis acid catalysis. In 2015, he moved back to Israel to start his independent career at Tel Aviv University. His main research interests are the development of transition metal-free catalysts for different organic transformations.

Jason Dutton completed his PhD studying Se and Te coordination chemistry under Prof. Paul J. Ragogna at The University of Western Ontario in 2010. After a postdoctoral stint under Prof. Warren E. Piers at the University of Calgary, studying aspects of Frustrated Lewis Pair chemistry, Jason decided he never wanted to live through another winter and took up a lecturer position at La Trobe University in July 2011, just in time for the Melbourne winter. When not in the office or lab Jason can be found on the squash court or sitting in meetings that should have been emails.

Feng Gao is an Associate Professor and Wallenberg Academy Fellow at Linköping University in Sweden. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2011, followed by a Marie Curie postdoc fellowship at Linköping University. He received the ERC Starting Grant in 2016. His group currently focuses on research into solution-processed energy materials and devices, mainly based on semiconducting polymers and metal halide perovskites.

Felipe García is originally from the coastal town of Gijón (Spain) and gained both his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry at the local Oviedo University. In 2001, he moved to the University of Cambridge to carry out his graduate studies on main group imides and phosphides as a Cambridge European Trust and Newton Trust Scholar under the supervision of Prof. Dominic Wright. He then gained a Junior Research Fellowship at Wolfson College (2005) and was appointed a College Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at Newnham and Trinity Colleges (2006) before moving to Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) in 2011 as an Assistant Professor. Felipe has published over 60 papers on Main Group Chemistry and maintains a strong interest in the synthesis of novel compounds for industrial and biological application.

Amanda Garner received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh working under the supervision of Prof. Kazunori Koide and completed her NIH-funded postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Prof. Kim Janda at The Scripps Research Institute. She began her independent career in 2013 in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Her laboratory uses chemical biology, medicinal chemistry and molecular and cellular biology approaches to investigate the high-risk/high-reward areas of targeting microRNAs, RNA–protein and protein–protein interactions for probe and drug discovery.

Viktoria H. Gessner received her PhD in 2009 from the TU Dortmund working with Carsten Strohmann. After a postdoctoral stay at UC Berkeley with T. D. Tilley, she started her independent career at the University of Würzburg and became a professor in inorganic chemistry at the Ruhr-University Bochum in 2016. Her research interests involve organometallic and main group chemistry with a focus on carbon-centered ligands. Her work has been recognized by several grants and awards, such as the Emmy Noether Grant of the DFG, the ERC Starting Grant or the IUPAC prize for young scientists.

Joe Gilroy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Western University (a.k.a. The University of Western Ontario). Originally from the West Coast of Canada, he can usually be found near the closest body of water (Lake Huron depicted) when not leading his team of talented students and postdocs. Their work as synthetic materials chemists is focused on developing luminescent and semiconducting molecular and polymeric materials. Gilroy has received several awards, including the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, Western's Petro-Canada Young Innovator and Faculty Scholar Awards, the CNC-IUPAC travel award, and an Ontario Early Researcher Award.

Sunkyu Han (EWon Assistant Professor at KAIST) obtained his BS degree at KAIST in 2006 and his PhD at MIT in 2012 under the supervision of Professor Mo Movassaghi, working on the total synthesis of agelastatin and trigonoliimine alkaloids. He then joined the research group of Professor Scott J. Miller at Yale University, where he worked on peptide-catalyzed site-selective natural products functionalization as a postdoctoral associate. Sunkyu started his independent research career as an assistant professor at KAIST in 2014. Professor Han's laboratory is interested in total synthesis of complex natural products and natural products-inspired development of synthetic methods.

Kenjiro Hanaoka is currently Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo. He received his BS in 2000 from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo, and his PhD in 2005 from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Tokyo. From 2005–2007, he worked with Prof. Thomas Kodadek at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He became Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo in 2007, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. His research interests cover the development of chemical biology tools.

Satoshi Horike received a PhD in 2007 from the laboratory of Prof. Susumu Kitagawa, Kyoto University. He moved to carry out postdoctoral research with Prof. Jeffrey R. Long at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon completion of his postdoctoral studies in 2009, he began to work at Kyoto University. From 2017, he has been working in the current position of Associate Professor at the Institute for Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS-IAS), Kyoto University. His research group focuses on the synthesis of ion-conductive molecular frameworks, and current interests involve liquid or glassy states of metal–organic framework/coordination polymer crystals for exotic ion transport in solids.

Yasuhide Inokuma is an Associate Professor in the Division of Applied Chemistry at Hokkaido University. He received his PhD from Kyoto University under the supervision of Professor Atsuhiro Osuka in 2009. In the same year, he was appointed as an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo (Professor Makoto Fujita's group) where he was promoted to Lecturer in 2014. In 2016, he began his independent career at Hokkaido University. His research focuses on the design, synthesis and application of aliphatic polyketones, so-called ‘carbonyl strings’ (he has a molecular model in the picture).

Nak Cheon Jeong is currently an Associate Professor of chemistry at DGIST. After receiving his MSc and PhD from Sogang University, Korea in 2004 and 2009, respectively, under the supervision of Prof. Kyung Byung Yoon, he spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Joseph T. Hupp at Northwestern University, USA. In 2012, he moved to Daegu and took up his current independent position. His research is focused on the photochemistry, electrochemistry and solid-state coordination chemistry of MOFs.

Jung Min Joo received a BS and a MS from Seoul National University, South Korea (2001 and 2003). She moved to Princeton University, USA in 2004 to study transition-metal-catalyzed alkyne functionalization under the guidance of Prof. Chulbom Lee. After conducting postdoctoral training at Columbia University with Prof. Dalibor Sames, she worked at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis as a process chemist. In 2013, she moved back to her home country and started an independent career at Pusan National University. Her current research includes direct C–H functionalization reactions of heterocycles and their application to transition metal ligands and electroorganic materials.

Keigo Kamata received his BS (2001), MS (2003), and PhD (2006) degrees from The University of Tokyo under the direction of Professor Noritaka Mizuno. In 2007, he joined The University of Tokyo as a research associate in the Department of Applied Chemistry, and began his research on the development of polyoxometalate-based catalysts. In 2014, he moved to the Materials and Structures Laboratory at Tokyo Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. His research interests include the design and synthesis of advanced inorganic catalyst materials and the construction of highly atom-efficient catalytic systems.

Sohini Kar-Narayan is a University Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge, leading a vibrant and interdisciplinary research group working on advanced functional nanomaterials for energy harvesting, sensing and bio-medical applications. She was the recipient of a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship in 2011 and an ERC Starting Grant in 2014, and she was recognised by the World Economic Forum through a Young Scientist award in 2015. She received a PhD in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2009, and has since passionately enjoyed transcending subject boundaries to take on grand challenges in the areas of energy, health and sustainability.

Hyunwoo Kim is an associate professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He obtained his BS degree in 2000 and MS degree in 2004 from Seoul National University under the guidance of Prof. B. Moon Kim. He obtained his PhD degree under the supervision of Prof. Jik Chin at University of Toronto in 2009. After postdoctoral training with Prof. James L. Leighton at Columbia University from 2009–2010, he started his independent career at KAIST in 2011. His research group focuses on designing novel compounds for catalysts, ligands, and sensors. He is the founder and CEO of Chiral Solutions, Inc.

April M. Kloxin, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Delaware and a member of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute. She obtained her BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and subsequently trained as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral research associate. Her group aims to create unique materials with multiscale property control for addressing outstanding problems in human health.

Sabuj Kundu obtained his PhD in 2009 from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA under the supervision of Professor Alan S. Goldman. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor William D. Jones at the University of Rochester, NY (2009–2011) and Professor Maurice Brookhart at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2011–2013). He returned to the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur as an assistant professor in 2013. He received the DST-INSPIRE Faculty fellowship, India. His group is focused on various aspects of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis for sustainable chemical transformations.

Eunsung Lee received his BS and MS degree from POSTECH in 1999 and 2001 and his PhD from Stanford University in 2009. After gaining postdoctoral experience at Harvard University, he joined POSTECH as an assistant professor and IBS (director, Prof. Kimoon Kim) as a research fellow in 2013, and was promoted to an associate professor in 2017. Since then, his research has been focused on N-heterocyclic carbene chemistry including small molecule activation and radical stabilization as well as catalysis in MOFs and radiochemistry.

Dr Tianbiao Liu (Leo) is an assistant professor at Utah State University. Previously he served as a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Leo received his MS with Prof. Licheng Sun and Prof. Mei Wang at Dalian University of Technology and his PhD in Chemistry with Prof. Marcetta Darensbourg at Texas A&M University. His research is broadly spread over energy storage, electrocatalysis, and green chemical transformations. Beyond chemistry, Leo enjoys outdoor activities including photography, skiing, and hiking. The most joyful time for Leo is when he plays with his two lovely daughters, Sophie and Olivia.

Yingying Lu is now a Principal Investigator in the College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University. She received her BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2010, and her PhD degree from Cornell University in 2014 under the supervision of Professor Lynden A. Archer. Afterwards, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Her research focuses on nanomaterials and ionic liquids and their applications in electrochemical energy storage and conversion.

Rylan Lundgren received a BSc from the University of Manitoba (2006) and a PhD from Dalhousie University (2010). He joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta in 2013 after holding an NSERC postdoctoral fellow position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology. His research group is interested in the development and understanding of new catalytic processes involving transition metals.

Caleb D. Martin began his studies in main group chemistry in Canada at Mount Allison University where he obtained his BSc in 2007 and subsequently his PhD at Western University in 2012. Upon completion of post-doctoral studies at UC Riverside and UCSD (US), he began his independent career at Baylor University in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as an Assistant Professor in 2013. His group's research interests are focused on the synthesis, reactivity, and properties of unusual tricoordinate boron species.

Shigeyuki Masaoka received his PhD degree in 2004 from Kyoto University under the guidance of Prof. Susumu Kitagawa. After working as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Matthew J. Rosseinsky at the University of Liverpool from 2004–2005, he joined Kyushu University as an assistant professor and worked with Prof. Ken Sakai. In 2009, he was selected as a researcher of PRESTO, JST. In 2011, he moved to the Institute for Molecular Science as an associate professor. His current research interests focus on the development of functional metal complexes toward the realization of artificial photosynthesis.

Ellen M. Matson received her PhD from Purdue University (Suzanne Bart), and performed her postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Prof. Alison Fout). In 2015, she started her independent career at the University of Rochester (UR). Ellen is captivated by heterometallic metal-oxide clusters and has built a research program focused on their applications in energy storage. Ellen's research has been recognized at UR through the Furth Fund Award from the Office of the Provost and an NSF CAREER award. When not in the lab, Ellen enjoys jogging and snuggling her 1 year-old son.

Tsuyoshi Minami obtained his PhD from Tokyo Metropolitan University (2011), under the direction of Professor Yuji Kubo. During his PhD studies he worked with Professor Tony D. James of the University of Bath on collaborative projects. He was a Postdoctoral Researcher (2011–2013) and a Research Assistant Professor (2013) at Bowling Green State University, working with Associate Professor Pavel Anzenbacher, Jr. He then joined Yamagata University as an Assistant Professor (2014–2016). He has been a tenured lecturer at The University of Tokyo since 2016. His interests include supramolecular analytical chemistry, self-assembled materials and organic transistors for sensing applications.

Katherine Mirica was born and raised in Ukraine and moved with her family to the United States in 1996. In 2004, she received her BS degree in Chemistry (magna cum laude) from Boston College, working in the laboratory of Prof. Lawrence T. Scott. In 2011, she earned her PhD in Chemistry from Harvard University under the guidance of Prof. George M. Whitesides. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Prof. Timothy M. Swager. Katherine began her independent scientific career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Dartmouth College in July 2015.

Javier Montenegro received his PhD (2009, Prof. Susana López) from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) working in synthetic retinoids. He was a visiting scientist with Prof. Steven Ley and Prof. Reza Ghadiri. He performed postdoctoral studies with Prof. Stefan Matile at Geneva University. He returned to Spain in 2012 with Juan de la Cierva and Ramon y Cajal fellowships. In 2016 he was appointed PI at the CIQUS (USC). The Montenegro group studies supramolecular functional systems for intracellular delivery and self-assembly of nanotubular composites. Dr Montenegro received an Stg from the ERC (2015), a YIG from the HFSP (2016) and the Prize for Young Investigators from the RSEQ (2018).

Keiji Mori is currently a principal investigator and an associate professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. He studied chemistry at the Tokyo Institute of technology from 1999. In 2008, he received his PhD at the Tokyo Institute of Technology under the supervision of professor Keisuke Suzuki and associate professor Ken Ohmori. After obtaining his PhD, he was appointed as an assistant professor at Gakushuin University in 2008 (Takahiko Akiyama group). He was promoted to associate professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in 2015 (present position). His current research interests include the development of new synthetic transformations based on hydride shift mediated C(sp³)–H bond functionalization and some asymmetric reactions by organocatalysts.

Yuuya Nagata is an Assistant Professor at Kyoto University. He studied polymer chemistry at Kyoto University, obtaining his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Yoshiki Chujo. Later, he joined Prof. Michinori Suginome's group at Kyoto University. His research interests are focused on the science of helical polymers to figure out the nature of chirality. He is also interested in the use of various techniques to investigate helical polymers, including neutron beam scattering, synchrotron X-ray diffraction and scattering, high-pressure circular dichroism measurements, and large-scale theoretical calculations.

Ming-Yu Ngai was born to a modest farmer's family in Fujian, China and immigrated to Hong Kong at the age of 7. He was the first in his family to receive BSc degree (the University of Hong Kong in 2003) and PhD degree (the University of Texas at Austin in 2008). He pursued his postdoctoral training at Stanford University and Harvard University. In 2013, he started his independent career at Stony Brook University. His research focuses on the design and development of novel reagents, synthetic transformations, and functional molecules to aid the discovery of new drugs, agrochemicals, and materials.

Hirohisa Ohmiya is a Professor at Kanazawa University. He received his PhD degree from Kyoto University (Japan) in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Koichiro Oshima. He spent one year as a JSPS postdoctoral fellow in the group of Professor Timothy F. Jamison at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). In 2008, he became an Assistant Professor at Hokkaido University (Japan) working with Professor Masaya Sawamura. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010. Since 2017, he has been a full professor at Kanazawa University. He received the Chemical Society of Japan Award for Young Scientists (2014) and the Young Scientist's Prize for the Commendation of Science and Technology by MEXT (2015).

Sílvia Osuna received her PhD in 2010 from the University of Girona (UdG) at the Institut de Química Computacional (IQC) under the supervision of Prof. Miquel Solà and Prof. Marcel Swart. In 2010, she moved to the group of Prof. Houk at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) thanks to the IOF Marie Curie fellowship. Since then, Sílvia has worked on the computational design of enzymes of medical and pharmaceutical interest. She currently holds an ICREA research position at the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis (IQCC) at the University of Girona. Sílvia has more than 60 research publications, and recently been awarded the Young Researcher award by the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry (RSEQ 20116), the Research award by the Fundación Princesa de Girona (FPdGi 2016-Science category), and the 2017 Young Investigator Award of EuCheMS Organic Division. Her group works on the computational design of enzymes of medical and pharmaceutical interest, and is funded by the European Research Council – Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG-679001, NetMoDEzyme).

Vittorio Pace received a PhD in Chemical Sciences cum laude from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2010 working with Prof. Alcántara and Sinisterra. After postdoctoral training in Vienna (Prof. Holzer), Manchester (Prof. Procter) and Stockholm (Prof. Olofsson) he obtained a group leader position at the University of Vienna and, a tenure track position in 2018. In 2016 he received the Habilitation in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Vienna and, in 2017 the Habilitation for Full Professor of Organic Chemistry. He received several awards including the Ciamician Medal of the Italian Chemical Society, the Caglioti Prize of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Young Investigator Award of the Faculty of Life Sciences at Vienna. His research core is represented by the design and development of new transformations with functionalized organolithium compounds.

Amit Paul received his BSc from Jadavpur University, MSc from the IIT Bombay, and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh with Prof. David H. Waldeck in 2008. He was then a postdoctoral research associate as a part of the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Prof. Thomas J. Meyer. In October, 2011, he joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal as a faculty member. He was awarded a DAE Young Scientist Award in 2013. His group is interested in the energy applications of nanomaterials such as electrochemical supercapacitors, heterogeneous water oxidation, sensors etc. He is particularly interested in understanding structure–property relationships in energy application.

Katrine Qvortrup obtained her PhD from the University of Copenhagen under the supervision of Prof. Mogens Brøndsted, before doing postdoctoral work at Princeton University (with Prof. David MacMillan) and the Technical University of Denmark, DTU (with Prof. Thomas Nielsen). In July 2017 she was appointed Assistant Professor at DTU, Chemistry Department where she is leading a dynamic research group that aims to develop new approaches to address long-standing problems in Chemical Biology. Her research efforts aims to develop screening technologies and lead compounds for drug discovery. The current focus is directed towards inflammatory diseases, cancer and drug delivery.

Efrain E. Rodriguez's primary interests are in the synthesis of functional inorganic materials with properties related to magnetism, superconductivity, and oxygen storage. His research group utilizes synchrotron, X-ray and neutron scattering techniques for studying structure and dynamics. Efrain received his bachelor's degree from MIT and PhD from the University of California Santa Barbara with Prof. Anthony K. Cheetham, FRS. When not working on the solid-state chemistry of inorganic materials, Efrain works on his bonsai collection, which includes a juniper, Korean hornbeam, Chinese elm and five other species. He is originally from West Texas and can cook a mean chili (see trophy).

Fernando J. Uribe-Romo is originally from Baja California, Mexico. He received a BSc in Chemistry from ITESM in Mexico in 2006. He performed his graduate studies in Inorganic Chemistry at UCLA under the supervision of Prof. Omar M. Yaghi, where he received his PhD in 2011. He was then a visiting scholar at Newcastle University and a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University. He joined the University of Central Florida in 2013. His research focuses on the synthesis of framework materials, in particular crystalline metal–organic and covalent-organic frameworks, for their application in energy conversion, photoredox catalysis, charge transport and optical activity.

Takamasa Sakai is an associate professor at The University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan). He has designed and fabricated polymer gels with controlled network structure named Tetra-PEG gel. He focuses on the fundamentals of polymer gels, including the mechanical properties, swelling, and dynamics. Based on the fundamentals, his group is developing new hydrogels for biomedical applications, such as artificial vitreous body, anti-adhesion agents, vascular embolic agents and scaffolds for regenerative medicine.

Sakya S. Sen received his PhD from the University of Göttingen, Germany under the supervision of Prof. Herbert Roesky and subsequently joined the laboratory of Prof. Holger Braunschweig at the University of Würzburg, Germany as an AvH postdoctoral fellow. Since 2014 he has been working at CSIR-NCL, India as a senior scientist. His research interests include the synthesis and application of compounds with low valent main group elements. Sakya is the recipient of a CSIR-young scientist award in 2017 and a Young Associate of Indian Academy of Sciences. Sakya is an avid fan of sports and enjoys Indian street food delicacies.

Matthew T. Sheldon received his BA from Carleton College, PhD from UC Berkeley (Chemistry, Prof. Paul Alivisatos) and performed his postdoc at Caltech (Mat. Sci./App. Phys., Prof. Harry Atwater). He is the recipient of the 2015 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program (AFOSR YIP) Award, the Kaneka Junior Faculty Award (2017), and was selected as a 2017 Inventor Fellow by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Matt's laboratory considers fundamental questions of optical energy conversion relating to plasmonic and inorganic nanoscale materials. He likes to tell his students that they are not violating laws of thermodynamics, merely circumventing them.

Feng Shi received her PhD degree in 2013 from Soochow University. From 2012 to 2013, she spent half a year working as a visiting scholar at Nanyang Technological University. She started her independent career in 2013 at Jiangsu Normal University and was appointed as a full professor in 2014. Her research interests focus on catalytic asymmetric reactions for the enantioselective construction of heterocyclic frameworks, especially chiral spirooxindole and indole scaffolds. She is a recipient of the “Thieme Chemistry Journal Award” (2015), “Asian Core Program Lectureship Award (2016)” and “Outstanding Youth Funds of Jiangsu Province” (2016).

Natalia B. Shustova joined the faculty at the University of South Carolina in 2013. She received her MS degree in materials science from Moscow State University (MSU), Russia, a PhD degree in physical chemistry from MSU, and a PhD degree in inorganic chemistry from Colorado State University. She completed postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her current research interests include graphitic hybrid materials for sustainable energy conversion, sensors, and artificial biomimetic systems.

Han Sen Soo graduated from MIT with SB and SM degrees in 2003 and completed his PhD studies at the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, he became a post-doctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Han Sen embarked on his independent career as a Nanyang Assistant Professor in the Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2012. The overarching theme of his research program is to create inclusive artificial photosynthetic systems that challenge the dogma of water splitting, by producing both solar fuels and value-added solar chemicals simultaneously.

Mihaiela Stuparu, a Romanian native, got her first taste of organic synthesis in the laboratories of Prof. Ion Grosu at the Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca). Thereafter, she journeyed to Germany (Free University Berlin), Switzerland (ETH Zurich), and the USA (University of Arizona at Tucson) for higher studies. It was upon her return to Zurich and the mentorship of Prof. Jay Siegel that she fell in love with corannulene. Since then her research has focused on introducing this beautiful molecule in the design of functional molecules and soft materials. In 2014, the University of Zurich recognized her efforts by awarding her the title of ‘Privat-Dozent’. Soon afterwards, Mihaiela accepted a Nanyang Assistant Professorship from Nanyang Technological University and the Stuparu group is now based in Singapore.

Dr Kyriakos C. Stylianou was born in Larnaca, Cyprus. He received his PhD from the University of Liverpool under the supervision of Professor Matthew J. Rosseinsky and Professor Darren Bradshaw. Upon completion of his PhD, he was awarded with the prestigious Marie Curie fellowship and collaborated with Professor Daniel Maspoch at the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology and Nanoscience. At EPFL Valais, he is integrated within LSMO, led by Professor Berend Smit, and he leads the synthetic activity of the group. The research focus of his team lies in the synthesis of new porous materials for energy, environmental and sensing applications. In 2016, he was successfully awarded the Ambizione Energy grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to investigate the potential of MOFs as photocatalysts.

Youhei Takeda received his PhD degree from Kyoto University under the supervision of Prof. Tamejiro Hiyama and Masaki Shimizu in 2010 and thereafter joined the Timothy M. Swager group at MIT as a post-doctoral fellow. During this term, he was appointed as JSPS research fellow (DC2 and PD). He started his academic career as Assistant Professor at Osaka University in 2011, and he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015. He is also working as an Adjunct Lecturer at Vietnam-Japan-University, Hanoi. His research program focuses on the design, synthesis, and interdisciplinary application of novel emissive π-conjugated organic compounds and polymers. His interest also includes design and development of novel synthetic transformations through transition-metal catalysis.

Ian Tonks joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in July 2013. His interests primarily revolve around sustainable catalysis (earth abundant metals, biodegradable/biorenewable polymers), and paying forward the huge debt he owes his myriad mentors and friends in the sciences. In particular he would like to acknowledge the late Prof. John Margrave (Rice University) who gave him a paid research position as a high school student. This position let Ian—who was living alone and financially supporting himself at the time—quit his job at Whataburger and develop a love of chemistry while fluorinating carbon nanotubes.

Dajana Vuckovic is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Director of Centre for Biological Applications of Mass Spectrometry at Concordia University. She obtained her PhD from the University of Waterloo (advisor: Dr Janusz Pawliszyn) in 2010, followed by post-doctoral studies in chemical proteomics in the lab of Dr Andrew Emili at the University of Toronto. She won the 2014 PetroCanada Young Innovator Award and currently holds the position of Concordia University Research Chair in Clinical Metabolomics, Biomarkers and Preventive Health. Her main research interests are analytical and clinical metabolomics with the goal of improving biomarker discovery and facilitating personalized health/medicine.

Hui Wei is a Professor at Nanjing University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He received his BS degree from Nanjing University (advisor: Professor Xinghua Xia) and PhD degree from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (advisor: Professor Erkang Wang). He then joined Professors Yi Lu's and Shuming Nie's groups for two post doctoral training positions before he started his independent career at Nanjing University. His research interests are focused on the design and synthesis of functional nanomaterials (such as nanozymes) and the development of new methodologies for analytical and biomedical applications.

Wanqing Wu received her PhD from Peking University with Professor Zhen Yang and Chi-Sing Lee in 2010. She then joined Professor Huanfeng Jiang's group as a postdoctoral fellow at South China University of Technology (SCUT). In 2014, She was promoted to Professor. Her research interests include the development of new transformations of carbon–carbon/carbon–nitrogen triple bonds and their applications in medicinal chemistry and materials science.

Hai-Chao Xu received a BS in Chemistry from Xiamen University in 2002. He then moved across the Pacific to pursue a PhD at Washington University in St. Louis with Kevin D. Moeller and later went on to receive postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Jonathan A. Ellman at Yale University. Hai-Chao returned to Xiamen University to start his independent career in 2013 and is currently a professor in the Department of Chemistry. His research interests include organic electrochemistry and radical chemistry.

Dr Jiangtao Xu is an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney. He received his PhD degree from Fudan University. Following postdoctoral research at UNSW and the University of Melbourne, he joined UNSW again in 2013 to develop visible light-induced living polymerization and precision polymer synthesis. He was awarded a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship in 2016. He has 70 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals, attracting more than 2900 citation and an H-index of 31. His current research interests include green and sustainable polymer synthesis, precision polymer synthesis and advanced polymer materials for nanomedicine applications.

Nobuhiro Yanai is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Kyushu University, Japan. He earned his PhD from Kyoto University in 2011 under Prof. Susumu Kitagawa on guest properties in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)/porous coordination polymers (PCPs). He was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Steve Granick at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, experiencing colloid and soft matter sciences. He joined Kyushu University in 2012, and started to work on photon upconversion in self-assembled materials. He is passionate about developing new concepts in materials science and technology based on the formation, control and stabilization of the excited triplet state in condensed molecular systems.

Eun Jeong Yoo received her PhD in chemistry at the KAIST with Prof. Sukbok Chang (2009). She then joined the group of Jin-Quan Yu for postdoctoral research at the Scripps Research Institute. In 2012, she began her independent career as an assistant professor at Kangwon National University, and recently moved to Kyung Hee University (2018). Her research focuses on the development of organometallic catalysis, especially the synthesis of medicinally important molecules.

Chen Zhu received a BS degree from Xiamen University in 2003 (advisor: Prof. Pei-Qiang Huang), and a PhD degree from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry in 2008 (advisor: Prof. Guo-Qiang Lin). After postdoctoral research at Gakushuin University, Japan with Prof. Takahiko Akiyama, he moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, working with Prof. John R. Falck and Chuo Chen as a postdoctoral fellow. He was appointed Professor at Soochow University, China in Dec. 2013. His current research interests include radical-/transition metal-mediated transformations and their applications in the construction of natural products and biologically active compounds.

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